In the opening edition of Fan’s Corner, we review how
Boise
State
fans grade the Broncos’ performance against #16
Oregon
. Prior to each game, we ask
BroncoCountry fans what specific achievements they are looking for in the upcoming
game. Here are their wishes:
Upbronco and BlueandorangeDynasty wanted no turnovers and
that is probably the greatest emphasis during practice this week.
Boise
State
fumbled the ball four times and lost it three of those times.
A fumble on a pitch from quarterback Kellen Moore to Jeremy Avery at the
Oregon
one-yard line resulted in a field goal try that missed.
The botched field goal try should be considered a turnover since it took
points off the board as well. So the
Bronco team has much to work on as far as taking care of the football.
Other goals for Upbronco leading into the game were 180
yards rushing,
Moore
’s usual high standards passing and two interceptions and at least one fumble
recovery by the Bronco defense. Dynasty
was just hoping for “some running game, even if it is just a little.”
Despite a record 59 rushing attempts,
Boise
State
recorded 164 rushing yards. However,
against a Pac-10 defense as good as
Oregon
’s, the Broncos did establish the run game.
Moore’s passing was did meet expectations, going
19-29 for 197 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Time and time again Moore fired the ball into traffic for first-down completions and floated beautiful touch passes past outstretched Duck defenders and into the hands of Bronco receivers.
The Bronco defense nearly met the goal with a fumble recovery and an
interception and I doubt anyone would be dissatisfied with the dominant
performance.
BlueandorangeDynasty was looking for Red Zone D.
Now
Oregon
was 1-1 in red zone opportunities and there’s two ways to look at that.
The statistics released by the NCAA show
Boise
State at the bottom, allowing 100% of opportunities to score.
Give me a break. When you
only allow your opponent one chance inside the red zone, I think it’s safe to
say you did a good job! Dynasty was
also looking for the Broncos to “stop the big play.
Masoli and Blount are going to get their yards, but keeping containment
will be important.” I don’t
think anyone could have imagined how well
Boise
State
would keep Blount in check with a negative five yards.
Same goes for the Bronco defense against the #4 Heisman Trophy candidate.
Masoli ran seven times for 14 yards and was 14-27 with no touchdowns and
an interception.
Keleka24 was looking for big plays on offense, force
turnovers on defense and both she and Jojobro wanted great special teams play.
D.J. Harper (The Texas Tornado) made the biggest play of the night on a
33-yard run but the Broncos did not connect for big yards through the
air—definitely something to work on. Had
they been able to do that, the running game might have opened up a bit more.
There were a couple of long
Oregon
kickoff returns but overall the Bronco return defense did well.
Punting by Kyle Brotzman was excellent, averaging 43.7 and landing one
kick at the Duck four-yard line. The
field goal unit was another story, with two missed kicks and a botched snap that
resulted in no points.
Jojobro called for “good run blocking execution by the
o-line”. While they were
inconsistent, the improvement over last year was immense.
In the 2008 game against these same Ducks,
Boise
State
ran 35 times for 38 yards; this time the Broncos improved that number by a
factor of over four.
He was also counting on the receiving corps to catch balls
thrown to them. I don’t recall any
obvious drops—I think by and large the Broncos met expectations here.
They didn’t stretch the field as hoped but they made huge clutch
catches in traffic. Jojo wanted the
defense to execute and play smart. “We
know the d-line, as long as
Boise
State
avoids injuries with the tackles, should do its job,” he said.
“And the secondary will keep their assignments, play tough.
Oregon
’s offense will come in confident and motivated.”
They left shaken and stirred.
The defensive line played incredible, largely responsible
for the ineffectiveness of Blount and Masoli and even notching a safety by Billy Winn in the season opener. The
secondary has to be credited with excellent coverage as well.
They were not beaten deep once and handled their assignments with the
proficiency that their experience should indicate.
Nice job!
Forseyfan11 had a different take.
“I think this is always fun,” he said, “but I honestly look at this
game and say what can the fans do for the Broncos.
I hope the fans are the loudest, craziest, most-supportive group that we
have ever had at Bronco Stadium. If
this happens I think it will give the guys a whole new gear that might be the
factor to this game.” This very
well could be the most insightful comment. At
decibel levels exceeding 120, the Bronco crowd was electric from start to
finish. There is no doubt that it
helped the
Boise
State
defense.
Forsey wanted “smashmouth football, from a team that is
not intimidated by
Oregon
one bit.” We have reached the day
(in fact we did on
January 1, 2007
) in which
Boise
State
can play smashmouth football against a highly-ranked opponent and win.
Excellent call, Forsey. He
and BroncoPacker also wanted solid control of the edges, the outsides of the
Bronco defense. I believe that is
exactly what we saw. No long runs
around the end or scrambles for first downs by Masoli.
Will the Pac-10 defenses be able to say the same thing?
His other wish was to see the team execute at a high level
on both sides of the ball. From the
defense, it doesn’t get better than that; surprisingly a Duck fan said that
the Bronco defense would rank 5th or 6th in the Pac-10.
How many Pac-10 defenses could hold
Oregon
without a first down until halfway through the third quarter?
No defenses in the Pac-10, including USC, held Blount to -5 yards or
Masoli to 14 net rushing yards. Sorry,
that was the best defensive performance against
Oregon
in 15 years.
BroncoPacker was looking for the
Boise
State
linebackers to step up and hit hard and don’t try to arm-tackle Blount.
Mission
accomplished with a superb job by Derrell Acrey, Hunter White, Aaron Tevis and
J.C. Percy! Also, “average
starting position of the 25 for
Oregon
and I will be a happy camper,” BroncoPacker said.
Let’s break it down and see how the Broncos did:
Oregon
started with a great kickoff return that took it to the 42.
Not good there, but after that, their starting possessions were on the 30
(after a missed field goal), the 29 (following the first Bronco touchdown), the
four-yard line after the great Brotzman punt which resulted in Billy Winn
shooting through on the next play for the safety(!) and the 19 following the
Brotzman field goal and kickoff. The
average starting point for
Oregon
in the first half was 24.8—how’s that for BroncoPacker nailing it?
In the second half, Oregon started on the 36 following a
Bronco touchdown, the 46-yard line following a punt, the 39 after a fumble, the
41 after the botched field goal try, the Boise State 31 after a fumble, their
own 11-yard line following another great Brotzman punt, the Boise State 37 after
a fumble and their own 33 at the end of the game after a missed fourth-down
conversion. Ordinarily, you would
make the comment “They should have quit when they were ahead,” except in
this case maybe it was because Boise State quit when they were ahead that the
field position changed for Oregon.
The offensive creativity was gone, largely because I
believe Coach Petersen and Offensive Coordinator Bryan Harsin wanted to
establish the run at all expense. They
did that, but not without negative consequences.
The miscues in the second half really began to pile up with three fumbles
and the poor execution on the field goal try.
The average starting position for
Oregon
in the second half was the 44.9. Not
so good there.
Opposing teams usually collapse after facing
Boise
State
because they are so devastated. It
remains to be seen if
Oregon
can rebound following the humiliating defeat.
So while we heard in the offseason that they were a strong contender for
a national championship, we really won’t know how good they are.
They were so beaten that they could lose to Purdue or
Utah
and then crumble.
It was a fun Fan’s Corner to open the week and we look
forward to comments prior to the game with Miami of Ohio.