By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com

Boise State coach Chris Petersen (coach of the year) and quarterback Kellen Moore (freshman of the year) landed two of the WAC’s major awards Monday and five Broncos were placed on the All-WAC first team.

The Broncos’ first-teamers were wide receiver Jeremy Childs, offensive lineman Andrew Woodruff, defensive end Ryan Winterswyk, linebacker/safety Ellis Powers and cornerback Kyle Wilson. The second-teamers were wide receiver Austin Pettis, Moore, tailback Ian Johnson, defensive end Mike T. Williams, safety Jeron Johnson and punt returner Wilson.

Here are some quick thoughts on the All-WAC team, which was announced Monday and is available here. Post your thoughts about the team at the bottom of this blog.

-- Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick sealed the Player of the Year award and first-team quarterback honor when he torched Louisiana Tech on Saturday. I would have loved to see the WAC do something different and name two quarterbacks to the first team or something — they’ve done some odd things in the past — to recognize the fact that Boise State’s Kellen Moore is the league’s best quarterback. Kaepernick is the league’s only running quarterback and he won the award because of what he has done with his legs.

-- I don’t understand Hawaii’s Solomon Elimimian getting co-defensive player of the year honors. San Jose State defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert deserved the award alone with his 22 tackles for loss. Elimimian (101 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups) didn’t do anything more than Boise State defensive backs Johnson (84 tackles, 4 TFL, two interceptions, six breakups, three fumble recoveries), Powers (71 tackles, 8 TFL, 2.5 sacks, one interception, two fumble returns for touchdowns, one FF, one breakup) and Wilson (28 tackles, 5 interceptions, 10 breakups). In fact, Hawaii coach Greg McMackin said all year that end David Veikune (a hard-luck second-teamer) was his best player in every game.

-- I’m glad to see the WAC found room for Winterswyk, whose numbers were hurt by the Broncos’ depth, and Powers, who was inserted at linebacker even though the Broncos call him a safety.

-- Not sure how Hawaii DB Ryan Mouton beat out Johnson for the last spot on the first team. Mouton, who was moved to offense briefly this season, has 33 tackles, 5 TFLs, one sack, one interception, seven breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery — at best, comparable numbers. And he played on a defense that wasn’t nearly as good as Johnson’s.

-- The biggest snub of the day from a Boise State perspective: punter Kyle Brotzman. He was not given the second-team honor, apparently because the coaches don’t respect his rugby style. All that should matter are the results — 45.5-yard average (second in the WAC), 13 of 33 punts downed inside the 20-yard line and a WAC-leading 39.3-yard team net.

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The State Board of Education meets this week. Boise State had a “placeholder” on the agenda to discuss a new contract for Petersen, with no specifics provided. That item has been removed from the agenda because contract talks have broken off, as I reported Sunday.

I still expect Petersen to be here in 2009 and probably for several years, but it surprises me that a deal wasn’t done. Job rumors are going to circulate around Petersen all month. In fact, I got an e-mail today from a reporter who covers Mississippi State and expects Petersen to be a candidate because of a prior relationship with the athletic director. I don’t see Petersen moving to Mississippi, but if his name can come up there, it’s going to come up almost everywhere.

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Some interesting tidbits:

-- The TCU team that holds the WAC record for fewest points allowed in an eight-game league schedule allowed all 89 points on defense. Boise State allowed 94 points this season, with 27 of them on interception returns.

-- The Broncos’ scoring margin through 12 games would be the highest during their seven-year run of WAC dominance. The Broncos have outscored opponents 473-147 — or by 27.166 points per game. They outscored their opponents by 27.154 points per game in 2002, including the bowl game. This year’s WAC scoring margin of 31.1 is second to the 2002 team, which had a WAC-record scoring margin of 37.3.

-- The three MAC teams that are on the Broncos’ upcoming schedules all fired their coaches this year — Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and Toledo. Southern Miss fired its coach between last year’s game and this year’s game and Wyoming, who the Broncos played last year and will have back on the schedule in 2010, fired its coach this year. All that turmoil can’t help the Broncos’ schedule strength.

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Boise State’s Wilson was named the WAC special teams player of the week Monday for his 90-yard touchdown last week against Fresno State.

The other honorees were Kaepernick (24-of-42, 397 yards, four TDs) on offense and Utah State defensive lineman Ben Calderwood (three sacks, fumble recovery) on defense.