Broncos Smoke San Jose State on the Road

The Boise State Broncos yet again took care of business on the road against a WAC opponent. A 48-0 beat down of the San Jose State Spartans was all part of a day that should bode well overall for the 3rd ranked team in the land. The Spartans were completely over-matched and could barely muster anything close to good football. Granted, they were missing 9 starters due to injury (and one more ended up with crutches on the sideline during the game; Running back Lamon Muldrow). We have witnessed a huge reason why Boise State is bolting from the WAC to the Mountain West. Hopefully there is better competition there that will boost their strength of schedule. Either way, this was such a dominating performance for the boys in Blue. Here are some stats to get us started:

Yardage:
......Broncos......Spartans
Rushing-213..........-12
Passing-322..........92
..Total-535..........80


First Downs:
......Broncos......Spartans
........28............6

Average Gain Per Play:
......Broncos......Spartans
........7.5..........1.5

Number of Sacks on Opposing Quarterback:
......Broncos......Spartans
.........4............0

Third Down Efficiency:
..........Broncos............Spartans
.......55%(6 of 11)........13%(2 of 15)


Penalties:
......Broncos......Spartans
.......5-51..........4-26

As you can easily see, San Jose State was more than over matched in every aspect of the game. Again I am amazed at how Coach Petersen is able to prepare his players mentally for every game, regardless of the opponent. The total yardage allowed by the Broncos' defense was the lowest amount allowed since 1972. It is of worth noting that this is the second time this year that Boise State has held an opponent to negative rushing yardage (Wyoming). I would like to point out that the Broncos' third down conversion percent is getting better. 55% is still not great, but it is alright. Remember, the starters did not even play in the second half and a lot of the plays were rushing attempts, which skews the third down conversion numbers a little bit. Also, way to cut down on penalties Boise State! This was the first game where they had such a low number of penalties and it is really good to see that. Let's hope they can continue that.

What We Learned:

The Spartans have a long way to go. Like I said, they are victims of the injury bug this year, but it is obvious that the talent level at the school is no even close to what it has been, could be, and probably should be. The university is in northern California where this are plenty of great players to recruit. Boise State gets quite a few from that area, by the way. The commentators of the game said that Coach Mike MacIntyre has a notebook of some 200-odd pages detailing his plan to get the program competitive again. I think part of it has to be not scheduling so many top 25 opponents in one season. Let's see if MacIntyre is around long enough to carry out his plan.

Bronco Nation travels! There were about 5,000 Bronco fans out of the 20,000+ people in Spartan Stadium Saturday night. You will see great numbers of them just about everywhere that they play. This game was special, however. As I mentioned, the Broncos get a lot of players from northern California, and plenty of friends and family members of said players were in attendance. Doug Martin had the biggest contingent. They had signs and posters as well. This is great for the team and their morale; to see their own no matter where they are playing.

Kellen Moore did not even play the second half. I really wanted him to. He finished the night going 14 for 16 for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns (and no interceptions, again!). As I mentioned last week and probably will after every game from now on, imagine his numbers if he was to play all four quarters! It would be a mind grenade-it would blow your mind all over the room. The stats would be eye-popping. Alas, it won't happen. Coach Pete and for that matter Kellen himself are saving the quarterback for big games. By they way, Moore passed Bart Hendricks for the most completions ever by a Boise State quarterback. He's only half way through his junior year. Yeah, no one will ever be taking that record from Kellen, guaranteed!

Titus Young is special. He can outrun anybody on any team. That is all there is to it. He seems to go about 3/4 speed and then turn it on as soon as Moore launches the deep pass. Young had a 43 yard touchdown catch. It was a beautiful throw from Kellen right into his bread basket without breaking stride. You cannot defend that. Titus is a great football player. Best of all, he isn't getting excessive celebration penalties this year!

Areas of Concern:

Other than the third down conversion percentage that I mentioned above, there is nothing else. The performance was that outstanding last night!

Favorite Play:

Just like last game, I had quite a few to choose from. However, I am going with the Aaron Tevis pick-six. It was such a beautiful smart read by Tevis and an even better catch by him. The one handed leaping interception was awesome! Plus he rumbled down the sideline and got into the end zone to cap it all off. House call!

Thoughts and Tidbits:

Cornerback Jamar Taylor was suspended for the game for an unspecified violation of teams rules. He did not make the trip to San Jose. Coach Pete doesn't put up with crap, if you haven't noticed yet. The Broncos lead the nation in total defense (210.2), rushing defense (59.3), pass efficiency (188.11) and sacks allowed (0.17). Moore is No. 1 in pass efficiency (190.35). Chris Potter, who was the third choice as the punt returner, is eighth in the nation with a 16.8-yard average. In other words, the Broncos are really freaking good!

Perception:

Oh boy! There is a lot to talk about here. The Broncos did what they had to do and win in a dominating way. That in itself will not do much to change the national view of Boise State. What took place in other games on Saturday will undoubtedly affect the Broncos and their ranking and bowl destination. Number one ranked Ohio State lost on the road to Wisconsin. It was actually a fairly dominating performance from the Badgers. Also, unranked Texas beat undefeated and 5th ranked Nebraska on the road. I think Nebraska's chances of a National Championship are over, but the Buckeyes still have time to move back up in the polls. Still, their loss appears to have removed another roadblock out of the Broncos' path. I mentioned last week that in the projected BCS standings to be released today, that Boise State should get the nod to be number one. However, according to this story, Oklahoma somehow has a shot at getting it. I have no idea how, but it is just another example of biased and scared voters trying to keep Boise State away from the precious BCS Championship that they have selfishly created for the "big boys." Still, Boise State is looking good and if a few more teams lose for the first time and some for a second time, there is no way to keep them out. Some of that mass chaos that I have been talking about has taken place. Let's hope for the rest! Virginia Tech also won again, their 5th straight. They crushed Wake Forest. The Hokies might not end up in the top 25 quite yet, but it will happen soon.

That was the good new. The bad news comes in two parts. After beating the 9th ranked Arizona Wildcats on the road last week, the Oregon State Beavers fell at Washington in double overtime. They went for the two point conversion to win but the pass was batted away to preserve the Huskies' victory. The Beavers will fall out of the top 25 again. Also, Hawai'i beat Nevada on the islands late Saturday night, also knocking the Wolfpack out of the rankings. Nevada was supposed to be the showdown between two undefeated teams for the WAC championship. It would have boosted the Broncos' strength of schedule greatly. But now, it is looking like the home game against the Rainbow Warriors on November 6 could be the defacto WAC championship game. I told you Hawai'i was looking really good! Colin "Bird Leg" Kaepernick had a really bad game. Still, I think the pros outweigh the cons from Saturday and Boise State should find itself just fine when the BCS Ranking come out today. We will see how long it lasts and who else loses as the weeks go by.


Photos:

Thanks again idahostatesman.com for the great photos of the game. Enjoy, fans of Bronco Chase!

Check back in tomorrow for my WAC Weekend Recap and some more takes on Boise State's status.