Broncos Rise, Rockets Crash

The Boise State Broncos did what they had to do on Saturday and crushed the Toledo Rockets by a final score of 57 to 14. I am continuously impressed by how Coach Chris Petersen is able to prepare his team every single week to get out there and play the best they can. The only time I have seen a let down or a lazy game from them was last year against UC Davis. In any case, Boise State is taking care of business week in and week out. With Alabama losing to South Carolina yesterday, it will be interesting to see what happens. Let's take a look at some stats that I found interesting from the Toledo game:

Yardage:
......Broncos......Rockets
Rushing-207..........65
Passing-293..........222
...Total-500.........287


First Downs:

......Broncos......Rockets
........25.............18

Average Gain Per Play:

......Broncos......Rockets
........7.9............4.8

Sacks on Opposing Quarterback:

......Broncos......Rockets
.........4..............0

Turnovers:

......Broncos......Rockets
.........0..............5

This game was a little weird to watch and take in. It appeared that Boise State was not able to stop Toledo's offense hardly at all (look at the average gain per play stat. They got almost five yards per play). But somehow the Broncos had a 36-7 lead at halftime. That is where the turnover stat comes into play. Every time the Rockets got something going and had pushed the ball close to the end zone, Boise State forced a turnover. Nabbing 3 fumbles and 2 interceptions is a good way to demoralize a team. Couple that with the fact that Toledo was amongst the best in the nation in turnover margin, and you have a blowout on your hands. The Broncos did give up a lot of yardage through the air, and most of it can be attributed to Eric Page. I said to watch out for him and he did not disappoint. Page ended the game with 11 catches for 120 yards. He also ran a couple of kick offs back, with a long of 41 yards. He did plenty of damage.

What We Learned:

The Broncos offensive line deserves a lot of credit for protecting Kellen Moore the way they have. Don't forget the massive, gaping holes they are creating for the running backs to rush through. They have only given up one sack this year, and that was against Virginia Tech. A lot is made about Moore's escapibility, but he is so protected and comfortable back there thanks to the big fellas up front. Even with the players shuffling positions and new guys stepping in, they get the job done. It's called great coaching and lots of talent.

Boise State is deep, everywhere. From Ricky Tjong-a-tjoe to Jonathan Brown (who?) to Joe Southwick, the Broncos have a lot of depth across the roster. It's nice to see these guys get playing time with huge leads, but they are also dominating when they are out there. Needless to say, the Broncos are set for years to come in just about every position.

Kellen Moore will be in New York in December, but he probably won't win the Heisman, even though he should. If Coach Pete would leave the kid out there the entire game, he would throw for 600 yards and 9 touchdowns every time! It is insane how calm he is. After throwing a touchdown pass to Tyler Shoemaker, he was seen on the sidelines not even sweating, chatting with his teammates, and laughing. Did he even play??? He should win the award, he is the best player in college football, but Petersen wants to save him for future games, and at the same time it possibly ends his chances of bringing home the stiff-arm trophy, much in the same way that he is not lobbying for the team to move up in the polls. They refuse to play "the game." Good for them! Stick it to the man!

You shouldn't try to run the ball against Boise State. It's just not a good idea and it won't get you anywhere. Toledo gained 65 yards on 31 attempts. That is 2.1 yards per rush. In fact, there have only been two teams to gain more than 100 yards against the Broncos this year. They are Virginia Tech (44 attempts, 2.9 yards per) and New Mexico State (41 attempts, 2.9 yards per). In other words, you might have more success passing it, maybe.

Maybe the WAC Sports Network isn't as bad as I thought it was. I think the big difference was that Dick Tomey was nowhere to be heard. The camera quality and camera work were just as bad, but at least I wasn't considering jabbing a rusty screw driver into my temple from having to hear the garbage pouring out of Tomey's mouth. The two commentators yesterday were much better and actually fairly intelligent. Like I said, the whole network is still a terrible idea, but I feel better this week about it. Sigh...

Areas of Concern:

Again with the penalties. We saw yet another time when the Broncos had forced their opponent to punt only to see it disappear with a penalty. The roughing the kicker was just a stupid play. Kick off coverage. It is still really bad. Granted, Eric Page may or may not be human, but that is still no excuse for letting them gash the coverage team for 30 or 40 yard returns every time. The secondary was pretty bad. Toledo had receiver's open all night. That will not fly against Hawai'i. That's it for this game. It seems like there has been a lot of improvement through 5 games, which is great to see.

Favorite Play:

There were so many to choose from. Let's make a list and go from there;

1. Titus Young's jump for a Moore pass, catching it, rolling over the defender, and getting into the end zone even though his knee clearly touched the 2 yard line first. Sick catch! Suck it instant replay!!!

2. Jarvis Hodge trucking some line backer who tried to get in his way as he was toting the rock up the middle. The fool got owned!

3. Shea McClellin sniffing out the screen pass from Dantin and Supermanning into the air to snatch it and take it in for a house call the other way. Pick-six baby!

4. The play where Moore faked an end around hand off, and the entire defense chased after the alleged hand off-e, even though Kellen still had the ball in his hands. They got duped bad!

5. The fake punt that was called back for holding. It was so beautiful! Too bad it didn't count, but it is still in the running for my favorite play! You will see it again this season, mark my words.

I don't know which one was the best. I think I will go with the McClellin interception just because of how athletic one must be to pull it off. Plus he outran the quarterback to the end zone. You could see he really wanted to stiff arm Dantin if he had gotten the chance. Remember, he played a lot of running back in high school, so it was familiar ground to him.

Thoughts and Tidbits:

Michael "Canadian Bacon" Atkinson was suspended for the game and as we found out later, is indefinitely suspended for the rest of the season for a violation of team rules. We don't know what he did, but this is his second suspension of his short career at Boise State. It would not surprise me if we did not see the Bacon for a
long time, if ever again. It's too bad too, because he is a really good player. Toledo lost a quarterback, a running back, and a defensive lineman to injury during the game. It was very physical out there.

My Weekly PTW was wide receiver Tyler Shoemaker. He finished the game with 2 receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown. His TD catch was the last pass Moore threw for the game. He was also the recipient of a Kyle Brotzman fake punt-pass that unfortunately got called back for holding. "Shoe" also laid down some pretty sweet blocks for his teammates when the situation called for it. He played a good game and finally we have a Weekly PTW who did something and did not get injured! Good job Tyler!

Perception:

The score of this game is a little mis-leading. Like I said, the Rockets were moving the ball down the field fine for most of the game. Unlike the Broncos, however, they were not able to make the plays when it mattered. 5 turnovers spelled doom for Toledo, especially when they happened they way they did, in the red zone and during almost every promising drive. Still, with the Broncos out of the spotlight, all the voters see is the final score and the stats. It will look very good and with Alabama's loss to South Carolina, they will move back up to number three in the nation. What will be interesting is where they will land when the BCS Rankings come out early Sunday evening. My guess is either 2, 3, or 4, but most likely number 3. As long as Boise State can continue to put up good numbers, play great defense, and be prepared mentally, things will stay looking good. Next up for the boys in Blue, the San Jose State Spartans!

Photos:

Thank you yet again idahostatesman.com for taking great pictures that I can post a link to on my blog. Enjoy.

Make sure to check back in tomorrow to see my WAC football weekend recap. I have chosen the upset two weeks in a row! Yeah baby! Go Broncos!!!!!!!

Weekly Player to Watch, 4th Edition

Since last week's player to watch was Brandyn Thompson and his name didn't even get mentioned once in the ridiculously bad WAC Sports Network telecast, I knew that I had only succeeded in not getting him injured, unlike the first two...At least there was a positive to come out of it. I'm not even sure the Broncos needed to put a defense out there at New Mexico State anyway. This week I am going to pick a player and that will be that. If he gets injured, I will have to think up some new creative way to do this where the player does not leave the game early, but at the same time plays great and has success. So for now, the Weekly PTW is...Tyler Shoemaker!



As mentioned in my previous post, the Toledo Rockets have the 103rd ranked pass defense in the nation. In other words, teams have been able to throw the ball against them, achieving plenty of success. At the same time, their run defense is pretty stout so I knew I couldn't pick a running back. But a wide receiver will do just fine! After catching a Kellen Moore laser for a touchdown against the Oregon State Beavers two weeks ago, it made sense to think the Shoemaker was back. Let's take a look at him in action against Hawai'i last year;


Tyler is from my old stomping grounds of Meridian, Idaho (actually, he is from the western side, I was more east, but you get the point). He graduated from Mountain View High School in 2007, but not before racking up 8 athlete letters and earning first team all-state honors his senior year. Despite all that, he was not offered any scholarships and decided to walk-on at Boise State. By 2008, Shoemaker was awarded one and had also become the new "SHOE" at Boise State (every fan in the stadium chants "shoooooooooooe" and holds up their right shoe whenever he does something good for the team. This was started in honor of former Bronco tight-end Derek Schouman). Here is to hoping that Tyler Shoemaker uses his under-the-radar talent to do a little bit more of this against the Rockets tomorrow!

I love this picture!

Shoemaker had a stellar freshman year, but his second campaign was cut short due to a hernia injury. Like I said, it appears he is back and ready to score some more touchdowns. He looks pretty thick out there when he has all his pads on. Not (offensive lineman) fat by any means, but probably tough to bring down when he's at full speed! At times it looks like he is capable of being one of Kellen Moore's best weapons, but other times he just fades away and does nothing. I think that this will definitely be an advantage against Toledo. Whatever defense/coverage the Rockets can muster in the secondary will be aimed at super stars Austin Pettis and Titus Young. If that is the case then guess who gets left all by himself with plenty of room to run? We are hoping that it is Tyler Shoemaker (the tight ends should have plenty of catches as well, by the way). I would not be the least bit surprised to see this exact scenario play out in the first half, then after intermission watching the Toledo secondary stumbling around, confused out of their minds, not knowing who to stay on. Ahhhh, such are the benefits of having a fantastic receiving core and a quarterback that can hit them with ease. Can we get a little Boise State wide receiver/tight end love up in here?!


The fourth edition of the Bronco Chase's Weekly PTW features junior wide receiver Tyler Shoemaker. We hope he catches lots of passes, a few of which end up with him celebrating in the end zone! Go Broncos!

Check back in Sunday for my take on the outcome of the game against the Toledo Rockets. Let's hope nobody gets injured, especially Mr. Shoemaker!