Prior to the Idaho State
game, I asked BroncoCountry posters what they were looking for.
Spudrunners wanted no turnovers, cohesiveness and a lack of
mental mistakes. The two Young fumbles
negated that wish, but by and large the cohesiveness was there with very few
mental mistakes for an opening game. “I
want to see our young guys, Baker, Tevis, and Thompson, make some plays to get
some confidence,” spudrunners said.
Baker wasn’t a huge factor, but Tevis and Thompson were outstanding.
Soupslam looked for “1) the offensive line to get a good
push and establish a solid running game, 2) the d-line and LB’s to stop the run
game cold, 3) the d-line to get good solid pressure on the QB and 4) no
injuries”. The rushing yards eventually
piled up, but the push was not there consistently. The defensive line did stop the Bengals cold
at times, especially on the nice goal line stand, but again, not
consistently. The pressure on Hill was good
but could have been better.
Unfortunately, there was the injury to Gingg and the minor dings to
Martin. Both should be OK.
Forseyfan11 was looking at the special teams. “I want special teams to explode. With Avery, Martin, Perretta, Young, IJ,
there is just way too much football talent for our special teams to not be amazing
this year. I want a return for a TD, a
blocked kick, etc.” There was the
blocked kick by Ian but also the Young fumble.
I also don’t think Young and Perretta shot through the openings in the Bengal
punt return defense quick enough—we could have seen some 40 or 50-yard returns
had they done that.
Forseyfan also wanted Ian to enjoy a big start to his senior
season. IJ finished with 87 yards and a
short touchdown but against Idaho State,
I don’t think it was vintage IJ.
Hopefully he will rise to the top in two big games ahead. Forseyfan also was rooting for Moore
to have a good game and gain some experience, which I believe Kellen passed
with flying colors.
BroncoFan78 just wanted to “SEE
the offensive line…so I can feel better about it when I sleep at night.” Well after game one, BroncoFan might get
eight hours of sleep, but might toss and turn a bit and perhaps even sit up and
stare once during the night. They had
their moments, but had trouble opening consistent holes against a Football
Championship Series team.
FirstdownBSU was looking for negative Bengal
rushing yards in the first half. The
d-line was too inconsistent and the linebackers were out of position enough to make that happen.
OldBSUBlue was hoping for “a more open offense than what we
saw the first three games of last season.”
With the no-huddle and Moore’s
execution, I think the Broncos hit it out of the park there. He was also looking at “a more solid pass
rush, forced turnovers, ball stripping and picks, the o-line playing better
than last season, and better runbacks on kickoff and punt returns”. The pass rush was there when the Broncos got
after it, although I thought they could have been more consistent in obvious
passing downs. There were no
interceptions with the exception of the one called back, and not a lot of
strips either. The runbacks weren’t near
as good as they should have been on punt returns. The Bengals only had two kickoffs to gauge
those and they were both out of the end zone.
Statueleftbronco called for “Total DOMINATION on both sides
of the ball and special teams.”
“Anything less,” he said, “would e disappointing against a mediocre Big
Sky team.” I would term last night’s performance
as impressive, but not total domination.
His point that it was against a mediocre Big Sky team is well
taken. The critiques offered here and on
the Blue Turf board point not in the direction of the outcome or the
performance but rather to that performance against the caliber of opponent.
Erebus was hoping for “execution of assignments…plain and
simple.” That statement really breaks it
down into the basic game play.
Everything else takes care of itself.
Overall, I think it was there.
There weren’t huge mental mistakes, and a minimum of penalties for the
first game. The linebackers fell back
into getting out of position at times and when they did that, the Bengals
exploited it. The offensive line didn’t
get the push that we talked about earlier, but didn’t make big mistakes either.
Footballfreakyfan was hoping for three turnovers and Kellen
to perform well but most of all “for Boise
State to dominate the line of
scrimmage both offensively and defensively.”
No, Yes and no for footballfreakyfan.
Broncopotamus, meanwhile, put his faith in “the mainline
dancers”. Bronco fans are never
disappointed there!
In summary, the Broncos of this fall went a long way in
satisfying the wishes of Bronco fans and answering questions of the
summer. They did not get there 100% but
after all, it’s the first game. I hope
to make this a weekly feature before each game so look for it on the Blue Turf
board. I’ll take your pre-game notes and
publish the results following each game this fall.