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December 12, 2025 • 11 mins

Pete Cavender, Boise State football’s Radio Analyst, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to look ahead to tomorrow’s L.A. Bowl against the Huskies and what to watch for.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now back to football frive Age sponsored by Tito's Handmade
Vodka on your Home for the NFL Sports Radio ninety
three point three kjr FL.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, boys and girls, we're back at Tom's Watch
Bar across the street from Climate Pledge Arena. No home
game tonight, but we're hanging out for a little viewing party.
Mikey Benton's got you. He's gonna be handing out free drinks,
buying dinner for everybody starting at five thirty ten. You
get a raise, dude. He doesn't need a raise, Are
you kidding me? He's the highest page studio host in
professional sports by far. It's unbelievable. If you've seen the

(00:34):
way the guy dresses. He's like Craig Sager. He's got
a new suit every single game. We're joining us right
now on the radio show where apparently he's already down
there in LA and he's pulled over to the side
of the road. Is what I'm hearing to do this
interview former Boise State offensive lineman now one half of
the legendary Boise State Bronco radio crew with Bob Baeler.
Former offensive lineman Pete Cavender is with us right now

(00:55):
on the radio show head of the LA Ball tomorrow, Pete,
how are you, man, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm doing great, looking forward to a big matchup obviously
the Morrogans Washington. There's some pies there with coach Pete,
with both programs, so it should be a good game.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, you know what, I don't know about you, but
when these two teams get together, toss out the record books, baby,
crazy things happen with you dub and Boise State, And
I don't know, you know if there's a lot of
enthusiasm for this one back in Seattle. It's the last
LA Bowl ever. They're gonna shut her down after this
thing tomorrow, by the way, it's so fi. But what's
the enthusiasm level you think back in Boise idah hope

(01:30):
for this one tomorrow?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Well, I think Boise fans are excited for this one.
You know, not very often in the Group of five
world you get a shot at a Power fourteen. And
that's why a lot of players for Boise State come
to play on the Blue is to get these kind
of opportunities to win championships, to play against Power four
opponents and hopefully put themselves on some sort of pedestal.
That shows that they're just as good as anyone.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
You guys are getting healthier, got your quarterback back, and
as six and three, I believe with the Maddox Maddox
Madson a quarterback, how are you guys dif front with him?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I just think he just brings a little more experience
to that quarterback position, not tons of depth behind him.
We had to start Max cut Forth for a couple
of games. He had to come in when Max Madson
got injured against Presno State, and you can tell he
was just still a little bit wet behind the ears.
But as each game kind of went along, he got
better and better to actually the last game of the
regular season he was able to win Conference Offensive Player

(02:23):
of the Week, so he did great. But again I
think Max Matson just with his experience, just knowing the playbook,
making smart decisions, protecting the football. Obviously, he's a huge
asset to Boise State. And anytime you know you get
your guy back in that huddle looking in the eyes
of all the offensive players, I think that provides a
huge spark. So Max Madson was was clearly healthy last

(02:45):
week in the Mount West Conference championship game, there's some
questions in Boise if he should maybe be the starter,
maybe being rusty, maybe still being injured. First Max cut
for he just won conference Player of the Week. I
think Matdix Madson with his play winning MVP of that
Mount West Conference champion ship game, I think proved a
lot of doubt is why he should be the starting
quarterback for Boise State.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, Pete Cavender again as a former Boise State offensive lineman.
He's on the radio call for Boise State tomorrow for
the LA Ball with Bob Bieler, And I mean, you
guys are pretty heavy underdogs, you know, ten point dogs
in this game tomorrow, which was a slightly surprising for me.
I mean, you played Notre Dame and got beat twenty
eight to seven, South Florida thirty four to seven. Fresno

(03:25):
without Madsen lost by twenty three, but you got your
quarterback back, right, So paint the picture, man, paint the
picture for Boise State upset tomorrow. What's got to happen?

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Well, the biggest thing for me in this football game,
of course, there's a lot of aspects. When you play
team like Washington, you know, you look at their quarterback,
you look at their running game. But the thing that
concerns me is Washington's defense. They're elite. I think only
Oregon Ducks has scored twenty six points against them. Against them,
everyone else has been below that. And so that's been
my worry with this matchup is the games of Boise

(03:56):
State has struggled this season. With those losses, They've only
scored seven point, haven't been able to get any turnovers,
and essentially just kind of almost beating their head against
the wall. So for Boise State, I think to have
a chance in this football game, they're really gonna have
to lean on their offensive line, which will Cage Casey
is a potential NFL draft pick. He should probably go
in the third round or so. He's actually opting out

(04:17):
of this football game for minunderstanding, he's the only player
from either team sitting out of his ball game. But
I think Boise to State has to lean in that
offensive line, has to get the run game going, because
when Boise State struggles to run the football, Max Mattson
also struggles to throw the football. But when Boise State
has the running game going, of the play action. For
Max Mattson, it's a huge part of his game and

(04:38):
obste much more successful when there's a threat of a
strong running attack from the Broncos.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
Let's flip it over. Washington offense against Boise defense. You guys,
thirteenth best pass defense in America. But when I look
at yards per carry, one hundred and fourteenth in college football.
So do you anticipate just a heavy load of Adam Muhammad,
potentially Jonah Coleman if he's healthy, and Demon Willlliams on
the ground tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah. I expect Washington to have a pretty physical similar
attack to what Boise State wants to do, and that's
what the physical running game. But of course you look
at the Huskies quarterback, very explosive, probably the best running
quarterback of Boise State will face all season long. That
always provides a big challenge. So Boise State's defensive backs
I think have played great. Amario McCoy got hurt a

(05:22):
couple of weeks ago, but was still able to get
first team All Conference at that position. Jeremiah Irby the
opposite side of him, He's been able to get quite
a few picks, especially towards the tail end of the season.
So they're going to play great. I'm pretty confident in that.
But again it's just you know, he being a former
offensive lineman. You gotta win in the trenches. So Boise
State can somehow get pressure in the backfield make things

(05:43):
go a little bit quicker for Washington's offense than maybe
they want to go that would use for Boise State.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Hey, Pete Cavender with US former Boise State offensive lineman,
you were on that Fiesta ball team right that beat Oklahoma.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
I was, and I always kind of joke if you
go to visit Boise and going Walmart to the back
of the TV section still playing that Oklahoma gets.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
The ball, unbelievable. Well, let's gotta tell you, man, Jared
Zabranski's not walking through that door. Maybe tomorrow, Ian Johnson
is not walking through that door, and Chris Peterson's not
walking through that door. I'm trying to get like some
trash talk going here for this thing tomorrow, because again
you haven't heard much of it obviously at all. But
I mean, how good is this Boise State team? Like

(06:22):
we've seen some unbelievable Boised teams. Who saw a team
that was in the CFP a year ago, that team
that you played on obviously in two thousand and seven
was amazing. How does this current version of Boise State
Bronco football stack up?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
You think, Well, you know, I think the thing is
different for this team, and you know, they have an
opportunity to win a tenth game tomorrow. And Boise State,
I believe, is only second to Ohio State in ten
win seasons since the year two thousand. So Boise State's
no mystery having lots of success, winning lots of football games.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
The thing For me though, just just being candid, look
at the grand scheme of thing, there is a concern
that the gap between the P four and the Group
of five is only growing. So hopefully Boise State moving
into the new Pac twelve conference next season, it's essentially
kind of the top upper half of the Mount West
with Oregon State and Washington State than that in Texas State.
Hopefully that puts them a position to kind of keep building,

(07:17):
keep getting more funding because just in this arms race
of college football, it seems like it's just coming down
to funding. So I think the more success Boise State
will have, the more willing boosters will be will be
willing to open up their checkbooks. And again, I just
think it's an arms race for financials. But I think
the biggest thing for Boise State what they've done a
good job of is with all these transfers, you know,

(07:38):
Boise State is still a developmental program. Of course, they'll
probably get a QW guys in the transfer portal, but
there would much rather, I think, go to the high
school ranks and develop the guys and have them in
the program for four to five years. So Boise State
just doing a little bit differently than maybe majority of
the teams out there in college football. But again, it's
just kind of a brick by brick attitude. You know,

(07:58):
control the controllables. You know, that's watching film, that's lifting weights,
that's making sure you getting the treatment room and hopefully
putting out the best product on the football field. So
hopefully Boise State can get a win tomorrow, get that
tenth win, and get tons of momentum as they move
into the Pac twelve Pete.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
One thing I noticed looking at the results from Boise
State this year is they've been all blowouts. It's weird.
You've had one close game. Every single other game has
been decided by double digits both wins and losses. Is
there something about the Broncos style that just leads to
blowouts one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
You know, I just think that really the losses this
year again where Boise State was only able to score
one touchdown in all four of those losses, and those
touchdowns came in the first half just unfortunately, probably a
little bit outmatched there, and and offensively, no doubt, was
a struggle when you only get seven points on the board.
So I think it's just kind of a matter of
Boise State either playing pretty dang good or having some
struggles by you give credit to the opposition, obviously they

(08:53):
created those struggles. So that's been one thing that Boise
States I think been chasing this season is consistency, not
just from game to game, but from play to play,
from quarter to quarter, and Boise State's kind of been
up and down on that consistency level, I guess, if
you want to call it that. But Boise State's obviously
been much better for the last few weeks. After losing
two in a row, One in the Blue was able

(09:14):
to finish strong to win the conference championship on like
it said, trying to hang their hat on another ten
wins season.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Right, Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow kick off at five,
the last game ever the l A Bowl, shutting her
down hardly new. This is a big one tomorrow, Pete.
We're going to be all emotional when this thing shuts
down tomorrow. Up at the end of that here you go,
well listen. Kudos to you, by the way, because I
know working with Bieler is not easy man. So there's

(09:40):
not many men that could stand to be with that
guy for four hours a day on a Saturday.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
After you have like some Hostess donuts or chocolate chip cookies,
you can see them once a while. He's pretty easy going.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I know what booth I'm going into tomorrow, that's for sure,
no doubt about it. Pete, Pete, before you go, Pete Cavender,
former Boys, you stayed off into Lineman. I know Kirby
Moore was it Boise? I think after you were gone.
He just got named the new coach at Washington State.
I'm not sure if it's official, but it's gonna happen.
Any thoughts on thirty five year old former Boise wide

(10:13):
receiver Kirby Moore being the new coach at Wazoo.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
I think it's great for Kirby Moore. I think he's
been a potential coach in the waiting a head coach,
I should say, for a long time. Obviously, what they've
done in Missouri with Coach Drinkwitz has been incredible in
the offense, has kind of been the flag carrier for
that program, and so I think it's great that he's
getting an opportunity. The only question I have with Washington
State specifically is which trajectory are they going now that

(10:38):
they don't have the powerful resources and in the Pac
twelve with the Boise States and the Fresno States of
the world. So I hope he had success there. I
hope Washington State obviously has an up trajectory. I just
concerned that they might have a down trajectory. Carlson bet
a coach, got you?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
I Pete, great stuff. Thanks for doing this. We'll see
you tomorrow and tell Beeler to save some donuts from me,
all right, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Guys. Yeah, I don't need to look like a donut
so we can have all of them.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Pete Cavender is with us on the radio show We're
Gonna Break Lee Sterling, our handicapper, and then Hugh Millen
coming up at four on ninety three to three KJRFM.
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