Courtesy Winnipeg Sun:
It was Friday, Oct. 19, 2001, and the Boise State University Broncos were facing the No. 8-ranked and undefeated Fresno State Bulldogs on national TV.

The leader of Fresno State’s eye-popping offence that season was none other than David Carr, who would go on to be the first pick in the NFL draft the following spring.

Boise State’s quarterback, meanwhile, was a young man by the name of Ryan Dinwiddie, a sophomore out of Elk Grove, Calif., a suburb of Sacramento, who was in his first year as the Broncos’ No. 1 pivot.

Most young quarterbacks in that situation — on ESPN versus a ranked squad that had been squashing opponents like bugs — probably would have stopped to vomit on the way out to the field and folded like a cheap tent once he got on it.

Not Ryan Dinwiddie.

The man wearing No. 7 for the Blue and Orange shone under the bright lights of a national TV audience that night, completing 20 of 32 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns in Boise State’s 35-30 win.

“I was a newcomer, it was my first year starting, and I was in the top three in efficiency in the nation and no one had talked about me,” Dinwiddie said. “So I had a little chip on my shoulder.

“All they talked about was David Carr, and I just wanted to go in that game and kind of prove ‘yeah, hey, he’s a great player, but this young kid’s here, too.’ I took a lot of pride in that week, and it was by far my first big game.”

It not only made the U.S. take notice of Dinwiddie, but his team as well.

“That was the first marquee win for this program, beating a nationally ranked team on national television,” said Max Corbet, Boise State’s assistant athletic director for the past 21 years. “That was the first win that really kind of got us on the map and really got it going. And fortunately we’ve been able to keep it going.”

So basically, it could be argued that Dinwiddie’s performance that night in Fresno was the catalyst for a program that went undefeated last season, capping a remarkable campaign with a 43-42 overtime win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, one of the greatest college football games ever played.

“I still see number seven jerseys here in town from time to time,” Corbet said. “… When he was the quarterback on our team those three years, he was by far one of the most popular, if not the most popular person on the team. No. 7 jerseys were everywhere.”

Dinwiddie is now sporting No. 4 for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and he will start for the Blue and Gold in this Sunday’s Grey Cup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Rogers Centre after starter Kevin Glenn broke his arm in Sunday’s East Division final.

It will be Dinwiddie’s first start as a Bomber.

It will be his first start in the CFL.

It will be his first start as a pro.

It will be his first start since 2003.

Gulp?

Nah. The kid, now 26, lives for this stuff.

“Some guys kind of do get nervous in those deals, but I’m one of those guys where I’m more excited than nervous,” Dinwiddie said, “because it’s my opportunity to do something big in front of an audience and really showcase my talents.”

Dinwiddie was simply sensational as the starter at Boise State between 2001 and 2003, building the Broncos into a national powerhouse. He threw 82 touchdown passes, completed 62.7% of his passes for 9,819 yards and amassed an NCAA-record pass efficiency rating of 168.9 that still stands today.

The Broncos were 12-1 in his junior year, when they won the Humanitarian Bowl over Iowa State, and they were 13-1 in his senior year, when they went to Texas and downed the host Texas Christian University Horned Frogs in the Fort Worth Bowl.

Now, beating Fresno State in your first year as a college starter is a little different than beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders in your first pro start on Canada’s grandest football stage. All you can do, however, is believe that you can do it.

“A Grey Cup’s a lot bigger,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s professional football. It’s been a goal of mine since I was a kid, so just the opportunity is amazing, to come in here and win a game.”

Corbet recalls Dinwiddie was never short in the belief department, although some of his Bomber teammates call it cockiness.

“It’s more of a confidence,” Corbet said. “There is a fine line there between cocky and being confident. He’s very sure of himself. When he was here, even if he made a mistake or threw an interception, it didn’t faze him. He was ready to come right back out and throw a touchdown the next play. He never got down on himself.

“He knows every time he comes out there he thinks he’s going to be able to beat you. You’ve gotta have that in a quarterback.”

What Dinwiddie didn’t have was overwhelming size — he’s 6-foot, 180 pounds — and it’s likely what kept him out of the NFL. He tried out for the Chicago Bears in 2004, but they assigned him to NFL Europe.

He didn’t get to start during his one season with the Hamburg Sea Devils in 2005, and he ended up on the negotiation list of the Montreal Alouettes, who added him to their practice roster later that year.

The co-offensive co-ordinator in Montreal that year was Doug Berry, who would earn the Bombers vacant head coaching position in December 2005. When Glenn went down with an ankle injury in August 2006, Berry got GM Brendan Taman to give a call to Dinwiddie, who was thinking about going to grad school.

He decided to pursue the dream a little longer, and the folks down in Idaho believe their alum can get it done.

“He’s been in some big games,” Corbet said. “He’s a winner, and hopefully he’ll do the same for Winnipeg come Sunday.”

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THE DINWIDDIE FILE

- Born: Nov. 27, 1980, Sacramento, Calif.

- Education: Elk Grove (Calif.) High School (1998); Boise State University (2003).

- Guided Boise State to two Western Athletic Conference championships, in 2002 and 2003, as well as a pair of bowl victories.

- Spent one season in NFL Europe, in 2005, with the Hamburg Sea Devils, where one of his teammates was former Bomber and current Montreal Alouette defensive tackle Eric Wilson.

- Parents are Wayne and Sandy, and he has a younger sister, Carly. All three are coming to Toronto on Friday.