Records & Series Meetings:
Boise State: 6-0 (2-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech: 3-4 (2-1 WAC)
Last Meeting:
45-35 Boise State in Ruston, LA (2009)
Coaches:
Boise State:
Chris Petersen is in his fifth season at Boise State with a record of 55-4 and 33-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.
Louisiana Tech:
Sonny Dykes is in his first season at Louisiana Tech with a record of 3-4 and 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.
BTN did not do a Blog Swap for the SJSU game so, here are a few comments from a Spartan Aluni and his take on last Saturdays match-up with Boise State.
The SJSU Boise State game represented a microcosm into the state of affairs with both football programs. Boise State’s fans enthusiastically represented nearly one-half the total attendance at Spartan Stadium. Meanwhile, the remaining Spartan faithful sat stoically to witness their team go down to a defeat that was imminent within the first 3 minutes of play. Why would we expect anything different? For the last, oh, 20 years we’ve have watched our program in a slow but steady decline while Boise (especially), Nevada and Fresno State have made tremendous strides to become nationally relevant. It has been frustrating indeed. I doubt many Boise fans remember when San Jose State was a formidable opponent. It certainly has not been the case since Boise entered the WAC.
Records & Series Meetings:
Boise State: 5-0 (1-0 WAC)
San Jose State: 1-5 (0-1 WAC)
Series Record:
Boise State leads the all time series record with a mark of 10-0. The Broncos won last year’s meeting in Boise 45-7. However, the Broncos have struggled while visiting San Jose state with two of the closest games in the series occurring in San Jose. A 59-46 double overtime Bronco victory in 2004 and a 23-20 Boise State victory in 2006.
Coaches:
Boise State:
Chris Petersen is in his fifth season at Boise State with a record of 54-4 and 32-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.
San Jose State:
Kellen Moore for Heisman
Have you seen the recent Heisman Predictions? Kellen Moore is #1 again! Where else would you have a guy whose touchdown to interception ratio is 14-1? He also plays for the #3 team in the Nation, and soon to be released BCS, which will likely have his team #1. These rankings will likely change as BSU enters conference play, but that shouldn’t take away from the facts of what Moore has done so far. He is the best player on the best team at this point in the season. Period.
ESPN’s Brad Edwards has done a BCS projection and shows the Broncos at #1.
Read Here: ESPN’s BCS projection has BSU #1
Kellen Moore
Why is Boise State predicted to be the #1 spot when the BCS debuts next Sunday? The BCS is 1/3 Harris Poll, 1/3 USA Today Coaches Poll, and 1/3 BCS Computers. Nobody really knows exactly how the computers calculate their rankings, but strength of schedule, quality of win, wins away and wins at home, etc, all figure into the calculations. Let’s take a quick look at the Strength of Schedule part of the equation;
It’s difficult to critique a game played with so much vigor and passion. The Boise State Broncos benched Austin Pettis for exerting some of that passion – A flip in the end zone, a 15 yard penalty and a seat on the bench. Laramie Wyoming is not what you would consider a hostile environment, it was sold out and there was an emotional factor with the loss of a freshman player that died in a car accident Labor Day weekend. There were five thousand yellow shirts donning #12 in his memory. Boise State and 17 unanswered first quarter points quickly silenced the 29,014 sold out crowd.
Doug Martin was a machine and dominated the game, so much so when Avery came in for a carry the announcers didn’t notice (not that they were the best of announcers in the first place). Doug had 17 carries for 105 yards and a TD. Kellen had a great day at the office, calm, cool and collected he racked up 370 yards with a couple of TD’s, but gave up an interception (almost two – one called back) which is rare for Mr. Moore. Boise established their ground game and put up 275 yards compared the negative yards from Wyoming. We got the chance to see some of the future Broncos - Southwick engineered the final scoring drive to cape the game with a Jarvis Hodge 11 yard TD run.
So how do you critique 51 points? Holding the Cowboys to just 6? I think Wyoming self destructed and could not handle the pressure Boise State was presenting, as a result they became very mistake prone. The cowboys held Texas to just 34 points the previous week and they couldn’t manage to control the Broncos who seemed to score almost at will. The forth quarter became the time to see some of the future faces, which was a good thing. I would guess we will see more of this in games to come. The bottom line is there were mistakes made, but most of them by the Cowboys and if Boise State can continue with this sort of performance, forcing the opposition to make more of the mistakes everything will work itself out. Next up the home opener with #25 Oregon State Beavers. BTN had contacted two of the Beavers bloggers and we are hoping to do a blog swap this week.
The results of our recent blog swap. A Q&A with Robert Gagliardi of Cowboy Chronicles. Click here to read BTN’s answers to Cowboy Chronicles questions and below are Cowboy Chronicles answers to BTN’s questions. A big thanks from BTN to Robert Gagliardi of Cowboy Chronicles for allowing us this opportunity. Good luck on Saturday (the 25th as you battle with the Air Force Falcons).
I would say building the overall talent level throughout the program. You can never have enough speed and athleticism and Wyoming got better in the off-season in those areas at receiver. But more is always needed. Wyoming also needs to become more physical along both lines. The defensive line is rebuilding after losing its top four guys last season who were seniors. Keeping coaches in Laramie always is a challenge, especially when they win. That always will be an issue here. But in a more broader picture, Wyoming’s athletics budget is at or near the bottom of the Mountain West. It will never be at the top, but it needs to be closer to the middle for it to continue to be able to be competitive and relevant in Division I athletics.
The game is sold out, what can Bronco Nation expect from the Wyoming fan base?
Fans that love their Wyoming football and loves to see good teams come to Laramie. If Wyoming stays in the game early the fans will be a factor in terms of noise. Wyoming athletics is the only show in town (or the state) for the residents of this state. Many will drive eight hours one-way to see this game. There will be a lot of gold in the stands, but I also imagine a decent smattering of Blue and Orange from Boise State fans.
With a mobile quarterback will there be a different strategy of play against Boise State?
If QB Austyn Carta-Samuels is the only consistent running production for Wyoming, then there might be a different strategy. But if the Cowboys can get their run game going with the running backs, coupled with what Carta-Samuels can do then that could keep the Broncos on their heels somewhat. Carta-Samuels is very good at improvising and freelancing when a play breaks down or coverage is good down field. I think the Wyoming coaches would like to see him take less hits and less chances, but they also don’t want to take away his competitiveness, either. Carta-Samuels also has a way of making things happen late in games. He led Wyoming to five come-from-behind victories in the fourth quarter last season as a true freshman. None were against the caliber of team like Boise State, but Fresno State found out first hand in last year’s New Mexico Bowl. No matter what, Carta-Samuels needs to make some plays with his feet — and his arm — for Wyoming to have a chance. But he also can’t do it all by himself. He needs some help.
What impact will Boise State joining the MWC will have on the conference?
To me it’s impact will be big with the BCS prowess the Broncos have had in the past. Sure, Boise State doesn’t have the history in terms of longevity as Utah or BYU, but in this day and age college football and the BCS is a “What have you done for me lately” business and its tough to argue against Boise State’s track record. Boise State still makes the Mountain West relevant in the national picture despite losing Utah and BYU. Will it have the same type of success in the MWC as the WAC? I think it will be more difficult, but that doesn’t mean its not possible.
What is your prediction for the outcome of the game?
If Wyoming plays well it has an outside shot at an upset. I expect Wyoming to play well and do some nice things. But in the end Boise State wins. I see a game kind of like the previous two between these two teams: somewhat of a defensive struggle.
Final score: Boise State 27, Wyoming 16
Since the Bronco’s have beaten one of the biggest bumps in the road for them they still have a lot to do this year. After Wyoming, who won their bowl game last year against Fresno State in overtime, we have to play Oregon State who just lost to TCU. But them losing to TCU does not ruin them, Oregon State will be wanting to get revenge for the last 3 meetings with BSU. The Rodgers brothers will be playing top notch this game and we have to win this game to get to the BCS Bowl.
After that we have New Mexico State, Toledo, San Jose State, and Louisiana Tech. Which during these games the Bronco’s have to get style points during these games, what I am trying to say is completely annihilate these teams. I’m not saying these teams are bad I’m just trying to say that these teams are not the strongest teams in the conference.
Now the last 5 games are going to be the hardest for the rest of their schedule. It starts with Hawaii, who came close to beating USC this first week of the season. Kealoha Pilares the receiver for Hawaii caught all 3 touchdowns thrown by the 2 quarterbacks that they used. This offense will be a bump in the road for their race to the BCS bowl.
Idaho is the next game after that, and this team is on the rise. They won the Humanitarian Bowl last year against Bowling Green University 43 to 42. They lost a couple of players last year. The two big one’s are Mike Iupati and Max Komar. Be expecting a good game especially since the entire town of Moscow, ID is pissed at Boise State for no apparent reason about the whole BSU moving to the MWC and not wanting to play them.
Fresno State is the biggest one out of them all the rest of the season I believe. This team has just won against the Cincinnati Bearcats and are looking for wins against Ole’ Mississippi, and Illinois to have a great season and will be looking to beat Boise State and ruin their season. But if you watched this team playing the Bearcats, they looked really good against them.
Nevada and Colin Kaepernick are going to compete with us to try to beat us this year. Luke Lippincott has graduated and they don’t have a huge running game this year. But they will try to take us down and it won’t be easy to beat this team.
Last but not least, Utah State will surprise us this year. The game against Oklahoma surprised the hell out of me and should you, they actually had a chance against the Sooners. Utah has not beaten Boise State for who knows how long, but this team will put up a good fight this year.
The whole schedule is going to be hard to beat no matter how much a person says a team “sucks”. On any given day at any given time a good team can lose. That is the motto that my family goes by. Never under estimate a team and how well they can do. But I am still predicting a 13-0 season.
ALL LISTED TIMES ARE EASTERN
