Broncos Take Down Hapless Aggies

In what may have appeared like there was only one team on the field, the Boise State Broncos completely dismantled the New Mexico State Aggies at their home stadium, winning 59-0. The game was over after the Aggies' second possession, when Ryan Winterswyk (that's right, a defensive lineman) intercepted a Matt Christian pass. The game was even more lopsided than the final score indicated, if that is even possible. Let's take a look at some stats to start off and go from there.

Yardage:

.........Broncos......Aggies
Rushing...299.......118
Passing...309.......90
Total......608.......208

First Downs:
......Broncos......Aggies
.........26............11

Turnovers:

......Broncos......Aggies
..........0.............3

Average Gain Per Play:

......Broncos......Aggies
........9.7...........3.3

I think the one that stand out to me the most is the average gain per play stat. Boise State was averaging almost a first down on every single play that they ran. You will always win if you can do that. Granted, New Mexico State is one of the worst teams in the nation, but those are still some impressive stats. The Broncos were giving up an average of just over 60 yards per game on the ground, but the Aggies were able to eat up 118. Some of you may ask why. The answer is this; of the 63 total plays they ran, 41 of them were rushing calls. When it takes a team 41 attempts to gain only 118 yards, the defense has done their job. Besides, it's not like they were getting anywhere throwing the ball anyway. When you beat a team so badly, there are not many story lines to follow, get all excited, and blog about, but let's see what my little brain comes up with...

What We Learned:

The Broncos defensive line is amazing. I believe that they are a bunch of man-yeti's out there mauling opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks. It is seriously amazing what Chase Baker, Billy Winn, Ryan Winterswyk, Shea McClellin, and all of their back ups have been able to do thus far this season. They only got one recorded sack last night, but that gives them 12 on the year so far. What they were able to do very well was bottle up the rushing attack and force turnovers. Ricky Tjong-a-tjoe stripped the quarterback twice (Boise State recovered both fumbles) and McClellin was able to bat a pass into the waiting arms of Winterswyk (actually, Swyk swooped in and took the INT from McClellin!). Giving your offense a short field to score with is great a sign of a successful program.

Michael Couglin and Joe Southwick are capable back ups: First of all, Coughlin can run and he scored the first 6 points of the game with his legs. It was great to see him have some success after what could only be considered a disappointing 5 years at Boise State (remember, he won scout player of the year when he was a gray shirt freshman. He was supposed to be the next great Bronco QB). When it was announced that Coughlin and Southwick were going to get a few more snaps per game during crunch time, I was excited to see what the heir-appearant to Kellen Moore could do. Southwick can do a lot with his legs, but when I saw that pass that he zipped to Chris Potter for a 78 yard TD, I almost peed my pants! It was a beautiful sight! Now if Moore goes down injured (please no! It won't happen, it can't!), I feel comfortable with who we have to replace him. Plus we know that Boise State will be set at quarterback for years to come.

The WAC Sports Network Sucks Really Bad: I thought Altitude Sports Network was bad! Listening to that verbal diarrhea spewing from the two commentators' mouths was enough to force me to change the channel (which I did frequently. That or mute the TV). Dick Tomey (the more annoying, less knowledgeable of the pair), I understand you coached at San Jose State and that means you have sub par intelligence and wit, but holy heck you are terrible! I have no idea how half the stuff they were talking about related to football, much less the Broncos or Aggies. Sadly and shockingly, it made me long for the days of KTVB broadcasting the games and Mark Johnson slaughtering the names of every player on the field, as well as screwing up the action on most plays. I would also prefer the muscle hamster guy from CBS CS over that garbage. Seriously, I am not looking forward to next week when they get to disgrace broadcasting again as the Broncos take on Toledo at home. Kill me now...


Coach Pete is a Master at Mental Preparation: The Broncos had made it through the toughest part of their early season schedule unscathed. Now they face a long line of cupcakes and crappy teams before finally getting to play Fresno State and Nevada. How many teams and players in the nation would have taken time off, plays off, or even games off (mentally, of course)? The answer is a lot. But from the beginning of time, Chris Petersen has preached the "one game at a time" attitude and it has never been more appearant than it was last night. Boise State never let up, never quit, never eased-up, and never even thought about doing anything but playing their best. Petersen wouldn't have it any other way. All coaches' attitude, morals, beliefs, and mentality are reflected in their players and how they perform on the field. There are few (if any) better than Coach Pete at instilling an attitude of preparedness in his players. Do not expect the Broncos to slow down at all. It will not happen.


New Mexico State Has a Long Way to Go, but They are Getting There: Coach DeWayne Walker is trying to pound toughness into his players, starting with a decent rushing attack. I have already mentioned that the Aggies gained 118 yards on 41 attempts. It is a long and hard road when the offense that was put onto the field before he got there averaged about 75 passes per game. It takes time to get your own style of players in there and install the offense and defense that you want. Like I said, there is a lot of work to do, but I think Walker is a good coach and the Aggies will be good with him as their leader, eventually.

Areas of Concern:

It gets pretty difficult to find any problems when we played such an overwhelming and complete game. Looking at the stats on si.com here, the Broncos were only 3 of 9 on third down conversions. That is 33%. They can definitely get better at that, although a few of them were towards the end of the game when they were running the ball and not even thinking about passing it. Special teams; they did not play as bad on special teams as they did against Oregon State, but there are some kick off issues that need to be ironed out. It seems that Boise State has not gotten a touch back after their first kick off in any games so far. It's either really short or they don't cover very well and it goes for a good return. There is a lot of work to do there. Penalties; I hate sounding like a broken record, but we had some mistakes that took back some points and gave the Aggies some extra yardage. A Jason Robinson late hit out of bounds added fifteen. I know it was his first game back and he was excited to play, but chill out dude. A facemask by an offensive lineman brought back a sweet touchdown pass from Moore. Again, it's getting better, but the Broncos need to cut down on the yellow flags.

Favorite Play:

It has to be the Shea McClellin batted ball for an interception. McClellin got some air when he went up to swat the Matt Christian pass. It was a very athletic play for which he deserves all the credit. The best part was when Ryan Winterswyk swooped in and stole the interception. It was great. Idahostatesman.com tells us that they are equal now, since McClellin jumped on a fumble in the end zone against Wyoming that Winterswyk had "gifted" him. Anyway, the play was great and showed the versatility and athleticism of the Bronco D-line.

Thoughts and Tidbits:

The touchdown pass from Southwick to Potter was Southwick's first TD pass as a Bronco and Potter's first TD catch as a Bronco. Ricky Tjong-a-tjoe (again, freaking awesome name) is a beast and will be for years to come. Jason Robinson played in his first game since pleading guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge. He was suspended for the first 3 games. Also coming back from suspension was Daron Mackey.

My player NOT to watch was Brandyn Thompson. He didn't do anything during the game. In fact, I don't remember his name being mentioned at all. I guess that means that he did another good job of taking care of the wide receiver he was on and took him out of the game. He did not have any interceptions, which is kind of disappointing, but the season is long and there are a lot of games yet to play. At least I did not get him injured! My player to watch, Boyblue Aoelua, got his name dropped quite a few times. It turns out he was starting as a linebacker and made some tackles. Good job Boyblue!

This game will do nothing to harm the national perception of the Boise State Broncos. They problem is nobody was able to watch it. A 59-0 victory on the road is a good thing, but will it be enough to keep them at number 3 in the polls? Oregon took control of their game against Stanford late and pulled away to win. The battle between two top ten teams was watched by a lot of people and the victory will go far for the Ducks. I don't know if they pass the Broncos this week, but if they keep winning like they are now, which is by scoring a lot of points, then I think it will eventually happen. Like I said, hopefully and probably not this week, but it's just a matter of time, unless Oregon loses, which isn't looking very likely right now. Just as I type this, I look and Oregon has jumped Boise State in the AP poll. The Broncos are now 4th. So I was wrong. I didn't think it would happen this early but it has. Oh well, let's go Broncos!

Photos:

Like always, I get my pictures from idahostatesman.com, mainly because they have some really good ones! Enjoy!

Here is a video on youtube that shows highlights from the game. I tried to embed it in the post but the loser who uploaded it disabled the feature.

Check in tomorrow for my WAC weekend recap. There is a lot to talk about!

Weekly PTW, 3rd Edition-With a Twist

Weekly PTW take three! Again, there is a difference between the previous two Weekly PTW's and this one in an attempt to not get another Bronco injured. I hope it works.

As you all know, my last two picks have gotten injured towards the beginning of the game and couldn’t finish. The most recent, running back DJ Harper, is out for the season with a torn ACL. I feel personally responsible for this happening and so this week I am going to try something different. In fact, I am going to attempt to fake out the curse and deflect it elsewhere. We will see how it goes. This week’s player to watch is... Boyblue Aoelua!


Actually, this guy isn’t even a starter. I just went down the roster for the New Mexico State Aggies and picked out the guy with the coolest name. His picture is pretty awesome as well! Aoelua is a linebacker hailing from Fagaitua High School in American Samoa. He is a sophomore and followed his older brother, A.T. to New Mexico State. Boyblue played in nine games last season and tallied two tackles, both on special teams. He is majoring in Geography. Just for good measure, here is a picture of A.T.



So there it is! This week's PTW! Moving on...

This week’s player NOT to watch…
Brandyn Thompson!



I figured since the Broncos have had a hard time forcing turnovers thus far this season, they are ripe for a huge game! I am guessing that with a pass happy offense (not by choice, New Mexico State has absolutely no rushing game), there will be a few interceptions to go around. Thompson, being an experienced senior, should have no problem finding his hands wrapped around a couple of errant passes and possibly even taking one in for a house call. But again, do not watch for him. He is just another player on the field. Watch Boyblue out there!

Brandyn is from Franklin High School in Elk Grove, California. He was an outstanding three sport athlete in high school, playing both ways in football and killing it! He was only rated a two star athlete and his only offer was from Boise State. He was named to BCS’s all bowl team after the Fiesta Bowl in January. Here is the picture of Thompson CBS put up while talking to him on the phone:



After receiving the honors for defensive MVP in the Fiesta Bowl last year, a lot was expected from Mr. Thompson in this his senior year. However, his play has been inconsistent, with a few bad plays and a few good plays mixed in there. Against Virginia Tech, he lazily “tackled” some receivers, allowing them to score or get huge gains. He was out of position a lot and that hurt what otherwise was a good defensive performance against the Hokies. One of the last plays of the game was him furiously running back into coverage and finger-tip batting a Tyrod Taylor pass to the ground to help seal the Broncos’ win. Against Wyoming, he never got a chance to show his improvement as their QB found himself on the ground with the ball in his hands frequently. The Oregon State game was by far his best. He blanketed the Beavers’ star receiver James Rodgers, limiting him to two catches for 11 yards. It was a great performance, though he was not able to snag an interception. Like I said, I think he is ripe for one or two (or three) against the Aggies.

Brandyn Thompson snags an Andy Dalton pass for an INT (Horned Frog receiver behind him)


Brandyn Thompson’s best game came two years ago when he picked off 3 passes in one game against Hawai’i. That season he finished with only 4, so it was obviously one of his greatest performances. In 2009, he led the team with 6 interceptions and had one heck of a time playing alongside future NFL first round draft pick Kyle Wilson. Wilson was a great leader and taught Thompson many things. In a defense that lacks a true leader in the secondary, Brandyn must step up and make some plays. As inconsistent as he has been this year, he makes huge plays when he has to. Expect more of that. As mentioned, Brandyn Thompson is not this week’s player to watch. Boyblue Aoelua is and please do so. Thompson is the player not to watch. Do not watch him do something like this against the New Mexico State Aggies:

House call!


So there we have it! Our Weekly PTW! Check back in and see my review of the weekend's action either Sunday or Monday.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way wishing bad luck or injuries upon Mr. Aoelua or his older brother. I hope they have a great game and make some plays. Brandyn Thompson is the player NOT to watch this week. My little sister would kill me if I was the one responsible for getting her favorite player injured. Don’t watch him…wink wink…