Last Friday night’s game certainly gave this member the announcement of Bronco Nation the long awaited return of Bronco Football. Considering the fan response after the game on theblueturfs Facebook fan page they to reflected this.
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For me it was more a wave that finally crested at home on the Blue. The wave had started earlier with the first conference win against Colorado State which has a incredible team that is built around Sr. leadership with a great coach. It was a hard fought game heavy hits, big plays it simply was a war and thankfully that war was fought early and on the Blue. Today considering CSU’s continued success we look back on that game and realize this team of Bronco’s, the 20th youngest team in the nation showed real mantle with its 13 point win. However the following games tempered the wave with not so dominating performances against Uconn on the road and the Ragin’ Cajuns at home. Certainly years of beating teams like these into the ground with 40-50 points by the end of 3qt in the past tempered the wave just below the surface.
To many Boise State’s offense seemed limited in go to players and play calling. Add in the number of injuries the defense had suffered there was an awful lot of youth and inexperience on the field. Other than Armand Nance we haven’t seen a lot of underclassmen these last 5 years playing quality minutes on the D-line certainly not since Billy Winn. Yet even at this very deep spot on the Boise State roster we saw guys like Elliot Hoyte, Kamalei and then there is Dylan Summer-Gardner starting as a true freshmen. I can only think of one time in the past a true freshmen starting a game this early at safety and that was George Iloka.
When the schedule came out last fall and I saw that Air force game I circled it. This was going to be the first ever a Boise State team to traveled to Colorado Springs and I was concerned, a concern I mentioned only once in public the week of the game. Our history playing this team under the best of circumstances on the Blue with Kellen the boys was not the greatest of game experiences. Sure we beat them the first two times but that was on our field and Air Force let’s be frank here is a pain in the ass to prepare for. The history of Air Force teams getting up for a single game is too long and too great to mention. I have witnessed Air Force play to the last second against OSU in the shoe and just 2 years ago against Michigan to the last play of the game in the big house.
Most of us didn’t know the extent of Matt Millers injury and we certainly didn’t know this would be the last time we would see him make a catch in the regular season against Air force.
The stars were aligned against us; new staff, young team walking into an institution that is all about attitude, motivation and who no doubt from the first spring practice marked this game as the most important game on their schedule. All things considering the result could have been far worse then it was. However the team didn’t quit, the coaching staff made hard decisions and for a brief time there was hope that a great comeback was possible. It was not to be however.
The after math Air Force game has in retrospect cemented this team’s future and the future today is brighter than it has been for the past 2 years. For the media and the fan base declared a second QB controversy in as many years, but not for the ship’s captain. Coach made no bones about who was going to QB the next game and every game after that for the remainder of the season. Moans were herd throughout Bronco Nation. Certainly Rf Finely showed he could be counted on to come into a game on the road and lead this team. In that Bronco Nation does take comfort and I am sure the team does as well. There in lays how you build a foundation for a team. Teammate’s need to know they can count on each other to do their job and when they believe, it frees them to play all out all the time under any and every circumstance.
We also learned in the Air Force game So. Thomas Sperbeck is going to be a hell of a player. We also got glimpse of the speed, rout running and hands of Troy Ware. We’ve seen the future in RB Jeremy Mc Nichols.
Since the Air Force game the corral of TE’s has been playing more and more important rolls in the offense. We have witnessed more toughness of Grant Hedrick and growth in play calling with him at the helm. We’ve seen the play book get more and more open and the near full return of Boise State Football.
Going back to Reno after what happened in Colorado Springs, another Senior laden team itching to pile on Boise State and what we saw was a straight up war ! Going in we had a Wolf Pack team who if you take out the AZ game, a game they nearly won in AZ and who is now a top 20 team that beat down Criminal U. The Wolf Pack had given up less than 20 points a game. Only giving up 13 to the high flying Pirate led WSU in a victory. If you felt good about that game you are a liar and if you though this team would put 50 plus points on the Wolf Pack in Reno you are a bigger liar.
In fact that is what happened. In the first 3 qt’s Boise State out played and compiled the points to hold on for the win in the 4th to upset Nevada and make no mistake by all accounts before that game it was an upset, 51-46 in regulation.
All those things that went against us against at Air Force proved to be teachable moments, which required coaches and players to come to new conclusions. Grant Hedrick no longer had a single option on passing downs he discovered he had 9. Completing 26 passes on 31 attempts for 346 yards and 2 TD’s in Reno to 9 different receivers. The rush game however was an even bigger part of the game 48 run plays for 224 yards 4.7 team average and 4 TD’s. Boise State had powered to 51 points.
Boise State lined up with it’s youth and said to the Wolf Pack we are going to out muscle you, we are going to beat you in the trenches, we are going to power right over you and that’s what they did.
They also however kept the Wolf Pack on it’s heels stretching the field from time to time like the 55 yarder to Chaz Anderson. The game was pure old fashioning Boise State power football.
Friday night under the big lights here comes the first prime time nationally covered game in Boise this year and the team that denied us our shot at the first MW Champions game. Fresno State without Derrick Carr is not that same Fresno State, but it takes more than one player to make a great team. Certainly past history being what it is we have all seen Fresno be able to switch from a passing to a running team and today their best offensive players are to big backs. Fresno does as well have some skilled and experience defensive players with speed and strength.
Having the game on the Blue was again another important factor. Certainly we were favorites in the gamblers eyes, but we all know what that really means when it’s Boise State vs. Fresno. There is no team these last 12 years that the Fresno fan base hates more then Boise State. After years of being the darlings of the little guy that could go into Madison Wisconsin and beat a power team and eventual B10 champs as Fresno had been doing earning themselves high rankings and then watching as we took it all away.
History plays roles in games any coach that tells you otherwise is lying and certainly successful teams always have a target on their back but here is the difference as far as the Bull Dogs go it’s not just a target it’s a goal, a goal of total destruction. The only thing that keeps the Boise State Fresno State rivalry from becoming an all-out war is the respect both bases for the others team coaches and institutions. Boise States first victory over Fresno in 2002 late in the season with Fresno being on the brink of a top 3 ranking was a kin to the 1996 Michigan victory over OSU at the Shoe, when OSU was ranked #1. Michigan’s victory so rankled the then OSU head coach John Cooper that a year later he purposely did the math to figure where to rank Michigan in the finally coaches poll to deny them a unanimous National Championship, giving the coaches poll to Nebraska and giving us our last split National Championship season.
Friday night’s game feature all the in conference pressure, all the rivalry, and it delivered. Bronco Nation saw the past replayed on the field. We saw as well two teams and coaching staff’s giving their all to win at what was a very high stakes game in regards to making it to what should be the #1 goal ever season the MW championship game. We saw 3 attempted flanker option passes two of which were completed for big plays at critical moments one for what turned out to be the game winning TD the other to a run for gain. We saw diversities in play calling we saw leadership by Grant Hedrick and we saw the guts and determination of Jay Ajayi.
There was something else we saw but didn’t know. I’m going to go out on the limb here and I will freely admit this could be 100% of my imagination but I don’t think so. Coaching is about a lot of things and in college football the best coaches are coaching into the future. Allow me to give you an example of my belief that at a very critical moment in Friday’s game Coach Harsin was doing two things at once. One coaching in the present, he had inside knowledge of extra motivation of a young player on his team as did I and this is why I believe I am right in what I am about to share. Many know I friend a lot of players over the years you also know I never talk about anything they discuss with me, mainly because mostly there is nothing there to share I am a fan plus when someone trust you to friend they will not trust you for long if all you do is pass around privet conversation all be it those conversation never are about the team the other players or the coaches. They are personal and privet and most light hearted and motivating. On Friday Oct 10th I shared with Elliot Hoyte someone I have communicated here and there with since he first became a Boise State signee. We talk about cars and football in general nothing you would care about. After sharing with him how the posting of just one video of his first tackle for loss ,the Blue Turf FB page was visited by over 13k visits from the UK. I also stated that if he was to get a sack it might blow it up. His reply was short and sweet he said his Father was coming over from the UK to see him play on the Blue for the first time and he would get him a sack.
Now if Elliot would share that with me you can be sure he said the same thing to every player and every coach. Elliot is a raw talent and certainly anyone of the guys whether they be on the Basketball team or any other sport coming from a far to be here is not easy. Add in there is not a ton of competitions in American Football in other countries. So as a RS Elliot was just starting to get time on the field.
So here we are there is less then 6 minutes to go it’s a 1 score game Fresno’s got the ball on a 3rd and 8 and everyone knows if they fall even just short of that they will go for it. You know this is a passing down no doubt about it who do you want in there at DT for this play? Anyone being honest with themselves will say Nance and Turner but that’s not what Coach does he sends in Elliot the Rso. Who has very few stats only one tackle for loss, and he goes a step further he calls a line rush that is designed to get Elliot a gap up the middle to rush the QB.
If you have never played this game or if you have never been that guy that’s young and coming up biting at the bit to play, if you have never had a personal reason such as a parent in the stands for the first time then it may be hard to understand this decision but with time running out and with limited opportunities to make his lifelong goal happen with his father in the stands you have to know there was going to be no other result then what we all witnessed Friday on that play. Superman himself would not have contained Elliott. I believe Coach knew this I believe Coach didn’t just set Elliot up for this one moment but for many more in the future.
There is very little that separates these men on the field just look at any roster sure you can find an inch here a few pounds there but as overall percentages these are very minor difference. What makes great players great is when in these moments the feeling and energy levels max out, not to get all Water Boy on you but in any sarcasm you will find truth and I can tell you when a player experience such a high level and learns how to use it, it becomes the difference between them and everyone else.
People constantly second guess coaches, and we know not how many times situation such as Elliot’s present themselves on the field but I do know good coaches indeed make these calculations even more so at the end of seasons when all else is lost. I believe what happened on that play was pure genus and Coach not only knew what he was doing but he knew what its result would be. And now for the next 2 plus years he’s going to cash that chip in!
BYU is up next and I will be having much more to follow I know this was long but my health has been not good until recently so activity here will pick up. Be sure to like our fb fan page we are the best at getting up Boise State game highlights.
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