All WAC Team - Theirs and Mine

As you all know, the Western Athletic Conference handed out their season awards on Monday, and the Boise State Broncos made off like bandits with 11 total players on the first team and 3 on the second team. I thought that whoever makes the decisions on first team, second team, etc. did a really good job. However, there are a couple of changes that I personally would have made, including the awards for Player(s) of the Year. Here is the list of who won what. I will follow that up with what I would have done differently.

WAC top individual awards:

* Offensive Player of the Year: Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State, and Colin Kaepernick, QB, Nevada
* Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Carter, DE, Fresno State
* Freshman of the Year: Keith Smith, LB, San Jose State
* Coach of the Year: Chris Ault, Nevada

First-team All-WAC:

Offense:

* WR-Austin Pettis, Boise State, 6-3, 197, Sr.
* WR-Titus Young, Boise State, 5-11, 168, Sr.
* WR-Greg Salas, Hawai‘i, 6-2, 200, Sr.
* TE-Virgil Green, Nevada, 6-5, 240, Sr.
* OL-Thomas Byrd, Boise State, 5-11, 279, Jr.
* OL-Nate Potter, Boise State, 6-6, 297, Jr.
* OL-Kenny Wiggins, Fresno State, 6-7, 310, Sr.
* OL-Rob McGill, Louisiana Tech, 6-6, 310, Sr.
* OL-John Bender, Nevada, 6-8, 325, Sr.
* QB-Kellen Moore, Boise State, 6-0, 186, Jr.
* QB-Colin Kaepernick, Nevada, 6-6, 215, Sr.
* RB-Doug Martin, Boise State, 5-9, 212, Jr.
* RB-Vai Taua, Nevada, 5-10, 220, Sr.

Defense:

* DL-Shea McClellin, Boise State, 6-3, 258, Jr.
* DL-Ryan Winterswyk, Boise State, 6-4, 267, Sr.
* DL-Chris Carter, Fresno State, 6-2, 230, Sr.
* DL-Logan Harrell, Fresno State, 6-2, 275, Jr.
* DL-Dontay Moch, Nevada, 6-1, 245, Sr.
* LB-Winston Venable, Boise State, 5-11, 218, Sr.
* LB-Ben Jacobs, Fresno State, 6-3, 225, Sr.
* LB-Corey Paredes, Hawai‘i, 5-11, 230, Jr.
* LB-Bobby Wagner, Utah State, 6-1, 230, Jr.
* DB-George Iloka, Boise State, 6-3, 207, Jr.
* DB-Jeron Johnson, Boise State, 5-11, 195, Sr.
* DB-Mana Silva, Hawai‘i, 6-1, 220, Sr.
* DB-Davon House, New Mexico State, 6-0, 178, Sr.

Specialists:

* PK-Kevin Goessling, Fresno State, 6-0, 195, Jr.
* P-Bobby Cowan, Idaho, 6-5, 220, So.
* ST-Phillip Livas, Louisiana Tech, 5-8, 175, Sr.

Second-team All-WAC:

Offense:

* WR-Jamel Hamler, Jr., Fresno State
* WR-Kealoha Pilares, Sr., Hawai‘i
* WR-Eric Greenwood, Sr., Idaho
* WR-Rishard Matthews, Jr., Nevada
* TE-Daniel Hardy, Sr., Idaho
* OL-Bryce Harris, Jr., Fresno State
* OL-Lupepa Letuli, Sr., Hawai‘i
* OL-Adrian Thomas, Sr., Hawai‘i
* OL-Chris Barker, So., Nevada
* OL-Ailao Eliapo, Sr., San Jose State
* QB-Bryant Moniz, Jr., Hawai‘i
* RB-Alex Green, Sr., Hawai‘i
* RB-Lennon Creer, Jr., Louisiana Tech

Defense:

* DL-Billy Winn, Jr., Boise State
* DL-Kaniela Tuipulotu, Jr., Hawai‘i
* DL-Aaron Lavarias, Sr., Idaho
* DL-Matt Broha, Jr., Louisiana Tech
* LB-Byron Hout, Jr., Boise State
* LB-Travis Brown, So., Fresno State
* LB-Adrien Cole, Jr., Louisiana Tech
* LB-James-Michael Johnson, Jr., Nevada
* LB-Keith Smith, Fr., San Jose State
* DB-Brandyn Thompson, Sr., Boise State
* DB-Desia Dunn, Sr., Fresno State
* DB-Shiloh Keo, Sr., Idaho
* DB-Isaiah Frey, Jr., Nevada
* DB-Curtis Marsh, Sr., Utah State

Specialists:

* PK-Scott Enos, Sr., Hawai‘i
* P-Harrison Waid, Fr., San Jose State
* ST-Taveon Rogers, Jr., New Mexico State

There we have it. Like I mentioned, I have no problem with most of what was decided. With that said, here are a few changes that I would have made.

1. Defensive Player of the Year, how in the world could it be anybody besides Dontay Moch of Nevada? It's ridiculous! I don't want to take anything away from Chris Carter. After all, he did have a great season. But Moch single-handedly won the award in when Boise State played them in Reno. That man is a holy terror and a yeti-beast! He should have won it.

2. Offensive Player of the Year. This on is a bit tricky. Kellen Moore is the better player and is going to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation. But Kaepernick beat him head to head. I guess it feels a little bit like a cop out by the WAC, but I guess there wasn't much else they could have done. I would almost lean towards giving it to the senior. Kellen has another year to get another one.

3. Billy Winn. He should have been first team all WAC. That man has been huge for the Broncos, clogging up the middle and wreaking havoc on quarterbacks. I would take Logan Harrell off of the first team and put Winn there. At least Billy didn't get completely shafted like this next player was.

4. Will Lawrence. The Boise State senior offensive lineman has had a stellar season. Not just that, but he has strung together 2 or 3 of them in a row now. How he was left completely off both the first and second team is beyond me. I would put him probably on the second team in place of Ailao Eliapo from San Jose State.

5. Punter. Hawai'i's Alex Dunnachie got shafted. He should have been on at least the second team. I was in person at Bronco Stadium when Dunnachie got off plenty of booming, amazing punts. He should have been mentioned here.

6. I was somewhat surprised to see Winterswyk and George Iloka on the first team. Both are great players, but haven't had stand out years like we were expecting. I guess Winterswyk is in because of his track record. As far as Iloka, maybe there was no one else worthy of it. He did pick up his game towards the end of the regular season (remember the balancing act/interception against Nevada? Beautiful.).

What do you think? Let me know if I've missed anybody or if I am wrong somewhere. As always, Bronco Chase is open for discussion. Let's continue to cheer on our Broncos as they get ready to take on Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl!