Boise State
will put its #10 ranking on the line when they face Utah
State Saturday in Bronco
Stadium. The Aggies have found their
rhythm and are playing as well as anyone in the Western Athletic Conference
right now. Utah
State is coming off a 30-14 win
over the defending WAC champion and Sugar Bowl team Hawai’i. The week before that,
highly-regarded Fresno State needed a miracle 58-yard field goal in the final seconds to steal
a 30-28 victory away from the Aggies.
These two games have the Broncos’ attention. They fully expect another all-out battle this
weekend. Utah State cannot make a bowl
game this season, but a win over the Broncos would give the program a landmark
win to head into next season, not to mention the valuable recruits they could
pull in if they upset Boise State.
Boise State
always has trouble with running quarterbacks.
Guess what Utah State
has? Yes that’s right, a running
quarterback. Diondre
Borel is the lifeblood of the Aggie offense, the leading rusher with 511 yards so far this
season and a 55% passer. The way to stop
a running quarterback is to tackle him at the line of scrimmage and force him
to pitch the ball to a running back. Boise
State always has a linebacker in
position, but rather than tackle the QB, he runs with him downfield until the
quarterback is 6-7 yards downfield and then he tackles him, respecting the
pitch rather than the quarterback keeper.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a team can march all the way
down the field against a defense like that.
The Utah State
coaches see a great way to beat the Broncos because they’ve seen film from last
year’s Nevada game in which Boise
State allowed quarterback Colin Kaepernick to run wild.
Robert Turbin (319 yards) is the
top running back this fall for Utah State. When the Aggies do pass (about 40% of the
time), Otis Nelson (30 receptions for 375 yards and four touchdowns) is the
prime target. If Utah
State can take advantage of the
Bronco defense with the run and mix in the pass in key situations, they will be
hard to stop.
A better offense? No, just one that is
positioned to take advantage of Boise State’s
weakness.
Kickoff is set for noon
Saturday in Bronco Stadium.