UGA alum Bob Behler is calling Boise State over the Bulldogs
Because the voice of the Boise State Broncos happens to be a UGA graduate, people assume Bob Behler must be torn about how he wants Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome to turn out.
Think again.
Behler
“There’s no question about it, I want Boise State to win,” Behler said Sunday. “That’s my team; it’s where I live; I know those kids. I don’t know Mark Richt. He seems like a nice guy. But I’m friends with Chris Petersen. I’m wearing blue and orange to the stadium and I think Boise State is going to win the game.”
So let’s just go ahead and get that out of the way.
While extremely proud of his broadcast journalism degree from UGA’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and very grateful for his two productive years in Athens, Behler has put in a lot of miles at a lot of places since 1985. Most recently that has been Boise, Idaho, where he came to succeed Paul J. Schneider as the play-by-play voice in 2008.
You could say Behler’s timing is pretty good. He happened to catch the Broncos during the takeoff of what has continued to be a pretty awesome flight above the college football landscape.
“Thirty-eight and two since I’ve been here,” Behler spouts proudly. “Of course, [quarterback] Kellen Moore is 38-2 during that time, too, so that might have something to do with it.”
Behler didn’t know exactly what he was going to be in for when he accepted the Broncos’ gig. He’d spent 22 years calling I-AA games at Bucknell and UMass and, frankly, was just looking to call some Division I football.
In fact, he actually didn’t set out seeking Boise State. He applied for the play-by-play job at Virginia and the search firm handling that opening also happened to be involved with the Broncos. They asked Behler if he’d consider them, too.
“I said ’sure, why not,’” Behler recalled with a laugh. “You know which job I didn’t get.”
He got the better job. At this particular point Boise State is one of the hottest college football properties in the country and Behler has been along for every minute of the ride.
“I knew I was getting a team that had won a Fiesta Bowl [in 2007],” Behler said. “But did I think we’d be a Top 10 team every year? Probably not.”
So Behler was there when the Broncos won a second Fiesta Bowl in 2010 to cap off a 14-0 2009 season. He was behind the mic when they knocked off Oregon in 2008 and ‘09. And he was there last year in Washington, D.C., when everybody and their brother was assuring us that Boise couldn’t get it done against a Virginia Tech team which was clearly too big and physical and had more tradition and whose fans were going to make up 80-plus percent of spectators in a pro football venue.
Sound familiar?
“I think this will be a great game, just like that one was,” Behler said, referring to Boise’s 33-30 win over the Hokies at FedEx Field. “I give us the edge with Kellen Moore at quarterback and our defense is very, very good. Led the nation in sacks last year. I also think our situation at running back is better. I think Georgia gets a big edge in the kicking game. Not sure about the lines.”
I asked Bob how the Bulldogs were being viewed out in Idaho.
“People think Georgia is a very talented and they know it’s going to be tough to play somebody from the SEC,” he said. “They’re concerned with their size and athleticism. All the same things they were concerned about with Virginia Tech.”
Behler was thrilled when he first learned his two favorite schools were hooking up. While his roots aren’t deep in the Georgia red clay of Athens, he credits the school for getting him where he is today.
A native of Stockton, Calif., Behler enrolled at UGA in 1983 because he wanted to “go someplace different” and because his high school journalism teacher new somebody on the UGA journalism faculty. Behler had called his high school’s games on radio and stayed behind the mic for two years of junior college.
At Georgia he was introduced to sports information director Claude Felton, who said he could work for him and call women’s basketball and baseball.
“Claude always impressed me in that he let his students do things that were important,” Behler said. “He was always around to help but he gave you real responsibility and let you get in there and do it.”
From Athens, Behler got a job broadcasting games for the Chattanooga Lookouts. Then he went north and worked for Bucknell for 13 years, then nine at UMass. Just about the time he felt like true Easterner, he was whisked back west.
“It’s different,” he said. “The town reminds me a little of Northern California. We’re in a valley and it’s not as rural as you might think. It’s a city of 500,000 people. But it gets pretty sparse a few miles out of town. You can’t just get in your car and drive to a lot of places.”
No need to leave. The Broncos are the biggest thing around. Behler is looking forward to watching Moore get the eight wins he needs to become the winningest college quarterback ever. And he’ll like it even more if the first victory comes against the old alma mater.
“Sometimes you get lucky and I certainly did,” he said being a Bronco.
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397 comments Add your comment
Bobby Dodd
August 29th, 2011
12:50 pm
@AltamahaDawg….it’s because jobless puds like you are at home on your mother’s computer
WDE
August 29th, 2011
12:53 pm
@Ray Drew time to shut up and get back to the tickle pile you Bugimite troll you…
Time
August 29th, 2011
12:58 pm
Boise is a joke, should never get the pub that they do. Same thing happens to them this time as happened last time Boise was talked up and came to Georgia looking to prove themselves….they get drubbed. UGA 52 Boise 17 (scoring 10 of those points in garbage time).
UCF Pounder
August 29th, 2011
1:01 pm
Time I guess that makes UGA a joke also eh?
AltamahaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:01 pm
……said the tech fan with the all the ambition of trolling a UGA blog all day.
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:02 pm
Time ,
Will you be making the same comments if uga loses ? Im sure you thought UCF was a joke? The joke is that you homers think your team is in the same league as BSU.
WDE
August 29th, 2011
1:02 pm
@Bobby Dodd I have question Dragon Con starts this Friday the day after your Bugs open against the dreaded Catamounts of some directional school in one of the Carolinas..the entire city will be awash in Nerds of all shapes and sizes preparing for Dragon Con…..so why can’t you sell out the Joke by Coke…hmmmmmmmmm?
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:04 pm
Come Monday these homers will make comments like “We will be lucky yo win 3 SEC games”.
Athens Dawg
August 29th, 2011
1:04 pm
I don’t think Ben Jones will have a problem with Billy Winn.
WDE
August 29th, 2011
1:05 pm
@Dogs Smell right as if your bunch could stay within 50 of us….we aren’t in the same league as Boise we are in the SEC and they ain’t…
aarh
August 29th, 2011
1:05 pm
Boise in Atl- I think Boise’s a good team, & VT losing to Boise could very well have taken a bit out the sails of them & ended up affecting them the following them the following week against James Madison. I just know VT had lost a lot of their defensive starters from the yr.t earlier before, & I’ve seen many teams that have lost a lot of players start out slow before they start to improve, & end up the season much better than they started it. I was impressed by Boise’s win, but not as much so after the James Madison game, & especially considering the amount of players VT had lost. The last time Boise beat Oregon it was the 1st game of the yr., & I believe it was Chip Kelly’s 1st yr. as coach. So, it’s reasonable to think that they very well may have struggled a bit earlier in the season. They appeared to have really gotten hot after that game though.
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:07 pm
Altamaha, guessing Bobby Dodd is actually GT Joe ..
@UCF Pounder – you won a game against UGA, congratulations. Holy crap, look, someone changed the calendar to 2011!!! We should play games again this year.
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:07 pm
WDE ,
Did your parents produce any children that lived? You’re brain dead. Ignorance is in there somewhere.
Time
August 29th, 2011
1:08 pm
LOL, at all the goofs trying to take shots at me. You’re probably the same lot that thought there was no chance UF could ever beat OSU in the title game a few years back. I might have been the only one in the country saying that not only would UF win, they would win going away.
Simply put, Boise is a media creation. They play a weak schedule, beat up on nobodies, then sneak up on major programs at bowl games the big schools don’t even really want to be at. Again, we heard all this crap the last time Boise played UGA. What happened? Learn from history people, or be doomed to repeat it.
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:09 pm
TampaDawg,
It is 2011 and the page has turned. Uga is not as talented this year as they were last. BTW, Tampa have you ever been to Athens on a weekday?
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:13 pm
Time ,
I guess if history is your lesson, you pray you never face Colorado or UCF ever again. In addition history does repeat year after year as UF will tell you. Even when they field their worst team in 20 yrs they still beat the Homers. What is one of the top 5 dumbest breads of dogs ? The English Bulldog.
PMC
August 29th, 2011
1:13 pm
Time, Boise is a media creation? Why would the media overhype a team from Boise Idaho?
Notre Dame is a media creation. Boise has earned it, same as UGA. They’ve trended up now for over 5 years. UGA, well they are rock bottom at the moment until they win one.
Jimmy Crack
August 29th, 2011
1:14 pm
Who cares about this guy, Dorky Bumlicker. Even Mussolini graduated from somewhere.
HEY, georgiadogs.com web “managers” (or general lazy arses)…UPDATE YOUR DEPTH CHART, you still have Samuel as a linebacker and King is STILL our #1 tail back.
After all, you collegians are the future of American, so keep up!!!
AltamahaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:14 pm
Really dumb not to draw from that. I can’t tell the difference between the tech football game stands and a fairly robust CosPlay anyway. Well the empty seats give it away as not an official DragonCon event, but still. Why not capitalize? Would fit right along with the team down there engaged in a LARP.
Nothing Could Be Finer
August 29th, 2011
1:15 pm
Branden Smith has lights out speed and can outrun all of Boise’s WR’s.
————————————————
Pretty sure Smith is hurt and might not even play.
DawginLex
August 29th, 2011
1:15 pm
Dogs smell
so if UGA wins can we COUNT on you being permanently removed from this blog?
ga gator
August 29th, 2011
1:15 pm
Dogs Smell go back to your Pakastani classmates at Tech.
FLA DAWG
August 29th, 2011
1:17 pm
The Dawgs have not been prepared for an opening game since before 2008 (remember how lousy the execution was against Georgia Southern). It’s hard to think they could change that much in less than a year following such a dismal performance against UCF in postseason last year.
Boise State is flying high and has alot to prove.
Richt is trying to survive.
The last time I checked Vegas had Boise State beating The Dawgs by 3.
We’ll soon find out if Richt, Bobo & Grantham have turned this program around.
Dogs Smell
August 29th, 2011
1:18 pm
Once again you guys truly show your ignorance asI am a UT fan and an SEC fan just being a realist.
ga gator
August 29th, 2011
1:20 pm
Dogs Smell that explains it. Since your team sucks you have to go on other blogs to talk crap. Lame Kitten got the VOLs just what they deserved.
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:24 pm
LOL ga gator .. how ironic that now they are counting on a Dooley to get them back to prominence.
Just Sayin
August 29th, 2011
1:25 pm
Can we swap Scott Howard for this guy?
WDE
August 29th, 2011
1:27 pm
@Dogs Smell wow that was a great comeback…took you a while to come up with that gem I’ll bet..troll boy. You just think we pounded that UT butt last year….we are going to school you…..
NorcrossDog
August 29th, 2011
1:28 pm
Dogs Smell- If you are going to make fun of a group of people for being stupid, you should probably learn how to spell.
Boise fans- You seem like a class act. I hope you are disappointed Saturday night, but good luck the rest of the season.
nodoginthisfight
August 29th, 2011
1:34 pm
ga gator, the one positive lame did get ut was a win over the dogs.
Athens Dawg
August 29th, 2011
1:35 pm
Nothing Finer, he’ll be out there ready for us. Branden Smith that is. He’s fine.
nodoginthisfight
August 29th, 2011
1:37 pm
So based on your logic, they deserved that…..
Athens Dawg
August 29th, 2011
1:38 pm
Nothing Finer, why do you constantly spend your time writing on a UGA blog? I can honestly say I never go to any other teams’ blog. I just don’t care. Apparently you care about us. That goes for the rest of the people that are fans of other teams but are constantly on the UGA blog.
Nothing Could Be Finer
August 29th, 2011
1:40 pm
he’ll be out there ready for us. Branden Smith that is. He’s fine.
————————————————————————-
Richt tends to keep major injuries close to the vest.
Don’t be surprised if Branden Smith does not play.
AltamahaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:41 pm
I have some freinds that are TN fans. As much as I would love to raz them, I would never show them this guy professing to be one.
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:41 pm
Athens, I think they find themselves on here because they can jump on here without the need for a login. That must take too much time and energy. Even on BSU blogs, they were posting links to this site promo’ing it as “you can just jump on and start blogging, you don’t even need a login so go on there and stir up the dawg fans”
nodoginthisfight
August 29th, 2011
1:42 pm
Sounds like a man crush, athens dog
AltamahaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:50 pm
It would be one thing is they said something of substance once in a while.
gt4ever
August 29th, 2011
1:52 pm
UGA will Destroy Boise State…. Sorry to say….
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
1:57 pm
Thank you “Homo” for another nonsense post. Let me guess, you’re gonna reference Caleb King’s twitter post or something. Better athletes? Even Stevie Wonder knows your wrong there. And paper champions? Are you feeling ok?
I-DOG
August 29th, 2011
2:08 pm
Mike,
Wasn’t Boise’s graduation rate like 17% a couple of years ago, I don’t know about all this good student suff? Are you telling me that Coach Pete turns down Keith Marshall if Marshall wanted to play at Boise?
I would also anticipate that Boise’s recruiting has gotten better and will get better as they continue to rack up wins and play in big bowl games and upset some of the “big boys” of college football. How can anyone say that this guy isn’t a heckuva a coach and he will attract “better athletes” if things continue this way.
As it stands now, Boise is not loaded with 4 and 5 star athletes and I don’t think it is because the coach doesn’t want them. I expect a well conditioned, disciplined, and well coached team overall to be facing my Dawgs on Saturday, but I don’t think we will be outsized, speeded, and athleted (I made those words up, but I like them) and I just hope we play well enough to get a W.
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
2:08 pm
gt4ever – nice post
CDAWG
August 29th, 2011
2:20 pm
Boise in Atl you can talk all the stats that you want BUT Boise does not play the same type of schedule year in and out that UGA does. Do you REALLY think if Boise played this type of competition year in and out that they would be ranked #5…..NO! Yea UGA lost 7 games last year and lost to a team UCF that they should have never lost to but did you see how close UGA was to SC, Ark and Auburn? When you play in a conference like this you are going to have down cycles but guess what, we are coming out of the down cycle and you guys are about to get your shot! GO DAWGS and GATA! Can I get an Amen?
Gerald
August 29th, 2011
2:23 pm
” because his high school journalism teacher NEW somebody on the UGA journalism faculty.”
Maybe someone should have caught that. GO DAWGS!
Alphare
August 29th, 2011
2:23 pm
At least Boise is whole lot bigger than Athens. 500K vs 50K in population?
RedandBlackDAWG
August 29th, 2011
2:24 pm
TampaGawg,
I think some folks for other teams come on to a blog concerning UGA because ofa few things. In the case of tech. fans, it is really just jealousy. It really bothers them to know they will not beat UGA the great majority of the time.
The second reason is because some of these people for other teams, really think they can somehow affect the outcome of the game, by trash talking. They change names to hide their idenity because they are embarrassed by what they type. It could also be the fact that, they are really scared UGA will beat their team. Possibly, also, is the fact that some of them need these blogs to make them feel important. They are lacking any real relevance or repsect from their peers, in their lives so, this is it. A pretty poor way to try and gain respect though.
GO DAWGS and GATA
TampaDawg
August 29th, 2011
2:24 pm
Amen!
RedandBlackDAWG
August 29th, 2011
2:24 pm
Make that TAMPADAWG and I even used a spell checker. Woah iz me!
Alabama | MrSEC.com
August 29th, 2011
2:27 pm
[...] 1. Dan Mullen has a lot of respect for Memphis coach Larry Porter.2. On Thursday, State will visit a Memphis squad that absolutely horrible on offense last season.3. Several new faces dot the Week One depth chart as Ole Miss readies for BYU.4. The “story behind the story” on Saturday will be which set of new assistant coaches can best get a read on what the other team is doing.5. New Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis is viewed as a “genius” by his players.6. Here’s a list of “five potential disasters awaiting the Gators in 2011.”7. Two Gators escaped injury in minor one-car accident yesterday.8. Here are five things for Georgia fans to worry about in Fall 2011.9. With the goal of getting things back to normal in Athens, Saturday’s game with Boise State is a season opener UGA needed.10. Boise State’s play-by-play man is a Georgia alum. [...]
SatillaDawg
August 29th, 2011
2:27 pm
First two games are MUST WINS, Dawgs!
Don’t blow it.
Go Dawgs!
Sic ‘em!
Woof, Woof, Woof!