It was great to watch the young men handle their business Saturday against the Cowboys of Wyoming, and certainly the domino’s fell right for Boise State in the other games that allowed Boise State to jump to #14 in the coach’s poll and 19th in the BCS. No game had a greater impact for Boise State then the MSU OT win in Madison Wisconsin, one more win by Sparty this Saturday should clear the way for Boise State to earn it’s first automatic BCS bid in the school’s history. Saturday also brought bad news as well.
Bryan Douglas, Boise States new super corner who’s come on and shined while Jerrell Gavins worked his way back to 100% went down in the first quarter of Saturday’s game with a season ending ACL tear. As the game opened we all learned that Super Sophomore SS Lee Hightower was suspended from the game for a team rules violation, only to learn after the game this suspension is indefinite and that coach and Mr. Hightower have not spoken in over a week. With no information on what this is all about Bronco Nation is left to speculate something I won’t do here. Young men no matter what their back ground make mistakes and certainly anyone who was offered an Ivy League scholarship has a great back ground such as Mr. Hightower. Mr. Hightower has no previous issues with the team I would make two recommendations, 1. Bronco Nation take a chill pill and not be critical until the facts are known and we have a result to judge. 2. Mr. Hightower talk to Coach Pete.
One of the biggest noticeable differences between this team and teams from 4 and 5years ago is it’s got depth, which showed up Saturday with Dextrell Simmons playing SS for Hightower, the downside of that is Simmons went down injured, but that injury appears to be one he should quickly recover from and we should see him this Saturday.
The good news for Boise State over these next 4 weeks is that we only play 1 team with a winning recorded and that team is a rushing team with the 18th best rushing attack in SDSU, and two teams that don’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of winning in Hawaii and Colorado State followed by an off week leading up to the final show down with Nevada.
With the 5th best scoring Defense in the country I look for Boise State Defense to control the home game against SDSU putting the team on a glide path of recovery from this last week’s ill’s.
SDSU brings a three man rush attack with Adam Muena leading the way and the QB Ryan Katz being the 3rd leading rusher on the team. Certainly the New Mexico game experience is going to come in handy for this meeting. I look for SDSU to try a passing attack Boise State secondary thinking they will catch the team off guard looking for the run as well thinking Boise State’s secondary is weakened. This is a Mistake as Jerrrell Gavins is back to 100% and Jamar Taylor will be back there looking to put a dent on Katz 13 TD’s to 4 int’s ratio. With Jeremy Ioane anchoring the safety spots with ,Darian Thompson, Dillion Lukeheart, and Detrell Simmons (if healthy) holding court .
The SDSU game will come down to Dline pay and LB play and here is the true strength of the Boise State’s defense. Look for as many as 6 guys to play the LB position with Samuel Ukwuachu having his best game yet, using his length and speed to disrupt SDSU run game and pressuring the Katz on passing downs.
The Big games this weekend for Boise State are 1. #20 Nebraska vs. MSU a win here by MSU assure Boise State that the B1G champion cannot pass Boise State in the BCS polls, a key component to getting the automatic bid. 2. #12 Oklahoma vs. Iowa State a 3rd loss on OU will do a couple things one assures they fall behind Boise State opening up a slot in front of us to move into. Two prevents a twisted BCS rematch, not that I wouldn’t enjoy such a game I would I just think right now I would like us to play someone new.
Other games that will help #16 Texas A&M vs. #15 Mississippi State, either way this should allow another step forward for the Bronco’s however the team we would most like to see win this is Texas A&M as they have already lost two games and have Bama left on their schedule . #23 Texas over #18 Texas Tech. Texas is forever back of Boise State in the BCS and has no chance of making that ground up. #4 Oregon vs. #17 USC With a win over USC, Oregon will not only help themselves but give Boise State a nice boost in the BCS.
While there are more than enough head to head games this Saturday to move Boise State into the top 16 in the BCS a Nebraska win over MSU could ruin all of that, not only could a Nebraska win keep us out of the top 16 it could also propel then ahead of us which would take away the automatic bid. So just like every other year Boise State opening day opponent will play a major role in Boise State’s chances of busting into the BCS. The Irony that this opening day matchup resulted in a loss yet MSU can help Boise State get a BCS bowl automatic bid.
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