Former Boise State coach Chris Petersen still gets asked about the Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma on the first day of 2007. That game had everything. Underdog Boise State took a 28-10 lead over one of college football's blue bloods that was followed by a 25-point Sooners run capped by what could have been a back-breaking interception return for a touchdown with 1:02 left. Then the Broncos used three trick plays that remain sensations to not only force overtime but win 43-42. And then there was the marriage proposal by Boise State running back Ian Johnson — shortly after scoring the winning two-point play — to cheerleader Chrissy Popadics that was accepted on national TV. That game put Broncos football on the national map for most fans, but looking back 18 years later, Petersen sees it differently. “Everybody wants to talk about that Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game, which is great how it all worked out and all those things,” Petersen said. “But we go back to play TCU (three years later) again on the big stage. It's not as flashy a game, but to me, that was an even better win.” Going back to the Fiesta Bowl and winning, Petersen reasoned, showed the Broncos weren't a splash soon to fade away, that there was something longer lasting and more substantive happening on the famed blue turf. The winning has continued with few interruptions. No. 8 and third-seeded Boise State is preparing for another trip to the Fiesta Bowl, this time in a playoff quarterfinal against No. 5 and sixth-seeded Penn State on New Year's Eve. That success has continued through a series of coaches, though with a lot more of a common thread than readily apparent. Dirk Koetter was hired from Oregon, where Petersen was the wide receivers coach. Not only did Koetter bring Petersen with him to Oregon, Petersen introduced him to Dan Hawkins, who also was hired for the staff. So the transition from Koetter to Hawkins to Petersen ensured at least some level of consistency. Koetter and Hawkins engineered double-digit victory seasons five times over a six-year span that led to power-conference jobs. Koetter went to Arizona State after three seasons and Hawkins to Colorado after five. Then when Petersen became the coach after the 2005 season, he led Boise State to double-digit wins his first seven seasons and made bowls all eight years. He resisted the temptation to leave for a power-conference program until Washington lured him away toward the end of the 2013 season. Then former Boise State quarterback and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin took over and posted five double-digit victory seasons over his first six years. After going 5-2 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he left for Auburn. “They just needed consistency of leadership,” said Koetter, who is back as Boise State's offensive coordinator. “This program had always won at the junior-college level, the Division II level, the I-AA (now FCS) level.” But Koetter referred to “an unfortunate chain of events” that made Boise State a reclamation project when he took over in 1998. Coach Pokey Allen led Boise State to the Division I-AA national championship game in 1994, but was diagnosed with cancer two days later. He died on Dec. 30, 1996, at 53. Allen coached the final two games that season, Boise State's first in Division I-A (now FBS). Houston Nutt became the coach in 1997, went 4-7 and headed to Arkansas. Then Koetter took over. “One coach dies and the other wasn't the right fit for this program,” Koetter said. “Was a really good coach, did a lot of good things, but just wasn't a good fit for here.” But because of Boise State's success at the lower levels, Koetter said the program was set up for success. “As Boise State has risen up the conference food chain, they’ve pretty much always been at the top from a player talent standpoint,” Koetter said. “So it was fairly clear if we got things headed in the right direction and did a good job recruiting, we would be able to win within our conference for sure.” Success didn't take long. He went 6-5 in 1998 and then won 10 games each of the following two seasons. Hawkins built on that winning and Petersen took it to another level. But there is one season, really one game, no really one half that still bugs Petersen. He thought his best team was in 2010, one that entered that late-November game at Nevada ranked No. 3 and had a legitimate chance to play for the national championship. The Colin Kaepernick-led Wolf Pack won 34-31. “I think the best team that I might've been a part of as the head coach was the team that lost one game to Nevada,” Petersen said. "That team, to me, played one poor half of football on offense the entire season. We were winning by a bunch at half (24-7) and we came out and did nothing on offense in the second half and still had a chance to win. “That team would've done some damage.” There aren't any what-ifs with this season's Boise State team. The Broncos are in the field of the first 12-team playoff, representing the Group of Five as its highest-ranked conference champion. That got Boise State a bye into the quarterfinals. Spencer Danielson has restored the championship-level play after taking over as the interim coach late last season during a rare downturn that led to Andy Avalos' dismissal . Danielson received the job full time after leading Boise State to the Mountain West championship . Now the Broncos are 12-1 with their only defeat to top-ranked and No. 1 seed Oregon on a last-second field goal . Running back Ashton Jeanty also was the runner-up to the Heisman Trophy . “Boise State has been built on the backs of years and years of success way before I got here,” Danielson said. "So even this season is not because of me. It’s because the group of young men wanted to leave a legacy, be different. We haven’t been to the Fiesta Bowl in a decade. They said in January, ‘We’re going to get that done.’ They went to work.” As was the case with Danielson, Petersen and Koetter said attracting top talent is the primary reason Boise State has succeeded all these years. Winning, obviously, is the driving force, and with more entry points to the playoffs, the Broncos could make opportunities to keep returning to the postseason a selling point. But there's also something about the blue carpet. Petersen said he didn't get what it was about when he arrived as an assistant coach, and there was some talk about replacing it with more conventional green grass. A poll in the Idaho Statesman was completely against that idea, and Petersen has come to appreciate what that field means to the program. “It's a cumulative period of time where young kids see big-time games when they're in seventh and eighth and ninth and 10th grade and go, ‘Oh, I know that blue turf. I want to go there,’” Petersen said. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballFBI Director Christopher Wray announced his plans to resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term. Wray told bureau employees on Wednesday he would be stepping down “after weeks of careful thought,” the Associated Press reported. This comes after President-elect Donald Trump picked Kash Patel, a close ally and former national security aide who has criticized the Justice Department and the media, to replace Wray. Wray was previously named by Trump and began his 10-year term in 2017, after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey. The incoming president wrote on his social media platform, “The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice,” following Wray’s announcement. Trump added, “I just don’t know what happened to him.” In an interview over the weekend, Trump was asked if he was going to fire Wray. “I can’t say I’m thrilled with him. He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-lago,” Trump said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done. Crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country from prisons and mental institutions.” The incoming president slammed Biden during that interview, saying, “I don’t want to be Joe Biden and give you an answer and then do the exact opposite.” Trump also brought up Wray’s “shrapnel” comment he made after he was shot in the ear during the assassination attempt in July. “I have a lot of respect for the FBI, but the FBI’s respect has gone way down over the last couple of years,” Trump added in his second interview since winning the election. Wray was 7 years into his 10-year term. His last day remains unknown at this time, but it’s expected to be before Trump’s inauguration.A lot of ink has been spilled about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI), and with good reason. Since the dawn of AI early last year, companies have been flocking to the technology, which promises to streamline processes, create original content of all stripes, and dramatically increase productivity. The potential has businesses ponying up to reap the windfall of AI, and spending is increasing at a blistering pace. In fact, spending by the four horsemen of big tech -- Microsoft , Meta Platforms , Alphabet , and Amazon -- is expected to hit nearly $250 billion for the capital expenditures to support AI this year, with no end in sight. If there's one unquestionable beneficiary of all this spending, it's Nvidia ( NVDA -3.22% ) . The company supplies the graphics processing units (GPUs) that are powering the AI revolution and will likely ride that wave to become a founding member of the $10 trillion club. Yet, beyond its AI prowess, Nvidia has a number of other growth drivers that could help propel the stock to new heights. From humble beginnings Nvidia pioneered the GPU back in 1999 to render lifelike images in video games. This was made possible thanks to parallel processing, or the ability to conduct a multitude of mathematical calculations simultaneously. By breaking up a computing task into smaller, more manageable bits, Nvidia revolutionized an industry -- but that was just the beginning. The chipmaker soon pivoted, applying the same technology to a number of other applications and breaking ground across the tech landscape. Nvidia GPUs are now a staple in data centers, cloud computing, autonomous driving, machine learning, and, most recently, generative AI. The numbers tell the tale During the past 10 years, Nvidia's revenue has grown by 2,300% (as of market close on Wednesday), while its net income has surged 8,460%. While it's been a rollercoaster ride, the company's consistently strong financial performance has driven impressive growth in its stock price, which has soared 29,050%. In its fiscal 2025 third quarter (ended Oct. 27), Nvidia delivered record revenue of $35 billion, up 94% year over year and 17% sequentially. This drove adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81, up 103%. Fueling the results was the data center segment, which includes chips used in AI, data centers, and cloud computing. Revenue for the segment surged 112% to $30.8 billion, driven by unquenchable demand for AI. Given that demand, the runway ahead is long. Analysts at Goldman Sachs Research estimate the market for AI could top $7 trillion by 2030. Furthermore, thanks to the improving economy, businesses are more willing to invest in this new and revolutionary technology, a trend that will benefit Nvidia. Many ways to win The growing adoption of AI is clearly Nvidia's biggest opportunity, but there are others. Before the advent of AI, gaming had long been Nvidia's primary growth industry. That changed over the past few years when its dominance was usurped by AI. The segment still represents 10% of Nvidia's revenue, and it could see significant upside now that the economy is on the mend. Inflation took a toll on the gaming business, as users made do with their existing graphics cards, biding their time until conditions improved. Now, many industry experts believe pent-up demand is about to be unleashed, causing a long-awaited upgrade cycle, especially as we head into the holiday season. In the second quarter, Nvidia captured 88% of the discrete desktop GPU market, according to Jon Peddie Research. While the industrywide third-quarter results aren't yet available, Nvidia's dominance isn't expected to change. Furthermore, demand for videogame processors is expected to surge over the next five years, jumping from $3.6 billion in 2024 to $15.7 billion by 2029, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34%, according to Mordor Intelligence. As the leading provider of cutting-edge gaming processors, Nvidia is likely to benefit from these secular tailwinds. Let's not forget the data center market, which was already experiencing robust growth thanks to the digital transformation. As the demand for cloud computing grows, so too does the need for data centers to support that growth. Nvidia controls an estimated 95% of the data center GPU market, according to CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino. Furthermore, it's estimated that the data center market will more than double, climbing from $302 billion in 2024 to $622 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 10%, according to Prescient and Strategic Intelligence Market Research. While generative AI is making all the headlines, there are established branches of AI that are powered by Nvidia's processors -- including machine learning . The company dominates an estimated 95% share of that market, according to New Street Research. Nvidia's dominance and the expectations for continued growth in each of these markets give the company plenty of additional low-hanging fruit to pluck. The path to $10 trillion Nvidia currently sports a market cap of roughly $3.58 trillion, which means it will take stock price gains of 179% to drive its value to $10 trillion. According to Wall Street, Nvidia is poised to generate revenue of nearly $126 billion in fiscal 2025 (which ends in January), giving the stock a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of roughly 28. Assuming its P/S remains constant, Nvidia would need to grow its revenue to roughly $352 billion annually to support a $10 trillion market cap. Wall Street is currently forecasting revenue growth for Nvidia of 47% annually over the next five years. If the company can achieve that benchmark, it could achieve a $10 trillion market cap as soon as 2028. While that might seem ambitious, I'm not the only one who believes it's only a matter of time. Beth Kindig, CEO and lead tech analyst for the I/O Fund, calculates that Nvidia will reach a $10 trillion market cap by 2030: Given the multiple paths for growth ahead and the rapid and accelerating adoption of AI, I think Kindig has done her homework. That said, Nvidia isn't for the faint of heart. This past summer, the stock plunged 27% in just six weeks between June and July as reports suggested the launch of its AI-centric Blackwell chips could be delayed. Cooler heads have prevailed since then, and the stock has run to new heights. But the lesson stands. Wall Street expects Nvidia to generate EPS of $4.20 in fiscal 2026, which begins in late January. That works out to roughly 33 times forward earnings (as of this writing). I think that an attractive price to pay for a company supplying the gold standard processors needed to power one of the most important technology shifts in a generation.
Chargers-Broncos Week 16 game flexed to 'Thursday Night Football,' a first for NFL
By MICHELLE L. PRICE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Related Articles National Politics | Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers? National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case National Politics | New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
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