In what has become a popular feature on BroncoCountry, we
turn to the fans to review
Boise
State
’s 48-0 win over
Miami
.
BSU96 hoped the Broncos would find another receiver to make
big plays besides Pettis and Young. “Shoemaker
preferably,” he said. And
Shoemaker it is. “Shoe” had
three catches for 55 yards and was thrown to several times.
He proved he could get in the creases of the defense for big yards.
Three great receivers at one time has been a trademark at
Boise
State
and it appears that trend will continue. Toolbag
and Jayman1023 were looking specifically for Young to become involved, and Titus
passed the century mark with six catches for 114 yards.
At least as important if not more so, he helped stretch the defense even
on plays in which he couldn’t convert. Jayman
wanted a long TD reception by TY; he got a long one and a short one!
Similarly, BroncoBlueGrass wanted “a couple of long ones
to Pettis and Young. Sunthas also
wanted big plays by Harper, Avery, or Moore and 50+ yarders at least twice.
“Perhaps a TY coming out party!”
How’s a 54-yarder for a touchdown to Titus and a career-long 65-yarder
to Pettis?
Timbuckbsu also picked up on the theme of getting other
receivers involved, looking for “someone from the Shoe, Mitch, Potter trio to
step up and make plays.” Not only
was Shoemaker a big factor, but Potter caught a pass and made a great punt
return. Further, we now know that
high school record holder Kirby Moore will not redshirt.
While he didn’t show up in the box score, he made some good blocks that
were not unnoticed.
OldBSUBlue was hoping the offensive line could “establish
a downhill running game early” before the Redhawk defensive line was worn
down. I don’t believe that’s
what we saw unfortunately. What I
noticed was that once backs got past the line, they were all by themselves.
Boise
State
has been famous during the last decade for linemen raging downfield delivering
crushing blocks to further aid backs. This
is seriously something that the line needs to work on.
Similarly, nocoolnamejim emphasized the need to establish
the run, not only if Boise State were fortunate enough to make a big bowl game
but to avoid the impression that the Broncos are just a “gimmicky WAC team
that can’t play “real football” by pounding the ball down people’s
throats.” Well said and quite
insightful. If the current offensive
line isn’t helping to pound the ball down throats, there must be players on
the roster that can do just that.
Brad999, Fotograffir, cajunbronco and timbuckbsu wanted
improved exchanges on offense and I think they cleaned that up quite a bit for
the most part. Brad999 wanted a few
huge plays on offense and the Broncos improved notably from the
Oregon
game there. Brad looked for a Kyle Wilson interception but I think he would take four from others on the Bronco
defense. He and sheard also counted
on the offense to score in the red zone and they did noticeably better.
Nocoolnamejim was hoping
Boise
State
could “avoid the turnover bug”. Much
improvement from game one with just the one interception.
Overall, BlueBludded looked for a balanced attack with a
couple of touchdowns each quarter—“the
Boise
State
offense of old.” The Broncos
delivered on that goal every quarter except the second.
Jayman wanted a fifty point win but 48 will have to do.
He was also hoping for 300 yards rushing and 200 passing.
Moore
went over 300 yards but only 127 yards from the running game—definitely an
area
Boise
State
has to improve upon.
Beef Zerkie said it was “pretty simple—win by seven
touchdowns.” “With
Boise
State
’s schedule, he noted, RUTS is all the Broncos have to hang their hats on.”
BZ wanted seven touchdowns; he got them!
Special teams play was definitely on the minds of Bronco
fans. Tundrarat wanted clean special
teams play and no miscues on offense. He
also was looking for the Broncos to stretch the field with the deep pass.
He mentioned Titus Young, but Bronco quarterback Kellen Moore threw the
ball deep to all three of the starters.
Boise
State
replaced their holder after the missed extra point—let’s hope that got the
problem solved. The offense was
definitely more fluid, with few penalties, only the one interception and one
fumbled snap which
Moore
fell on. Still work to do there.
CouchCat, BlueBludded, PHXbronco, Upbronco, sheard, Jojobro and others
all mentioned special teams as an area to focus on.
BlueandorangeDynasty and nocoolnamejim were looking to get
some young guys in—
Boise
State
played a lot of their roster. Dynasty
was right on when he called on the backup kicker to get in a kick or two.
Not only did Jimmy Pavel kick an extra point and handle a kickoff but it
was good to see Brad Elkin in as well. Even
a super talented athlete like Kyle Brotzman cannot do everything and it could be
that he needs help in one or two areas so he can concentrate on his specialties.
Nocool pointed out that part of
Boise
State
’s secret is getting ahead enough to get their reserves plenty of action so
that “the next crop is always ready before they are starters.”
Given the “Blu-Nami” performance against
Oregon
, nocoolnamejim and antjr felt it important to maintain that same level of
effort and intensity. As nocool
said, “It wouldn’t look good to give up eight points to
Oregon
one week and then come back and give up 21 to
Miami
.” Antjr called on the Blu-Nami to
“play at the level or better than the
Oregon
game.” Hayzer and Upbronco too
were looking for a lock down defense. Bar 4 d wanted another 8 point or less
“D” effort.
Boise
State
seemed willing to give up the short pass but overall another strong performance
in getting the shutout. Frankly, a
performance like we saw against the Ducks only comes around once or twice in a
lifetime but I agree—as close to that as possible!
Jojobro wanted discipline in the secondary to keep to their
assignments and was looking for at least two picks from the defensive backs.
Bingo—Iloka and Johnson. Jojo
also wanted “workmanlike destruction by the d-line—no less than that.”
It may be tough to find fault with a defense that doesn’t allow points
but I felt the defensive penetration was less against
Miami
than against
Oregon
. Sorry but I have to say an
off-performance up front from a very talented group; they had their moments but
against a line filled with lowerclassmen, the Broncos should have dominated the
line of scrimmage. One thing’s for
sure—they won’t find the going nearly as easy against
Fresno
State
Friday.