Season End Awards

It's over. Boise State football has moved from the dawn of a new season to the dusk of imminent darkness that now surrounds us and signifies the end of the 2010-2011 Broncos. That means no more games on The Blue, Kellen to Pettis or Kellen to Young, and Muscle Hamsters trucking Vandals on their way into the end zone. The good part is that we can bid farewell to images of "missed" field goals sailing at or near the shorter-than-standard Reno goal posts. All in all, Bronco football has upped the ante and, naturally, the expectations for future athletes that will play for one of the best, most exciting teams in the nation.

A 12-1 season is something that teams all around the country would kill to have. Bronco Nation has become accustomed to undefeated teams, but expecting that yearly is unwise and as was seen in some fans after the loss to Nevada, unhealthy. With that said, there is plenty to be excited about in Bronco Nation with new players getting ready to make a name for themselves, the move to a new conference, and of course, the all-important annual quest for a BCS bid.

The proper thing to do is give out (fake) awards to Boise State players who exemplified out-of-this-world heart, drive, competitiveness, will, strength, intensity, and excitement all in the face of sheer adversity and conflict. It is important to recognize these athletes, the outstanding plays they made, and the excitement and joy that they provided for their fans. It's Bronco Chase's way of saying "thank you," even if they have no idea who Bronco Chase is... Without further delay:




Biggest Story
Boise State in the National Championship Game.
This was all the rage and debate for the entire season. It even found it's way to the front page of Sports Illustrated.

Best Coaching Job
Pete Kwiatkowski.
He went from a question mark (after Justin Wilcox left for Tennessee) to one of the most important cogs in the Boise State clock. The defense was ferocious and improved from last year, which is really saying something.

Best Freshman
Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe.
Hailing from the Netherlands by way of Boise High School, not only does he have the best name on the team, but he contributed a lot as part of the Bronco defensive line that shut down opponents. He was a key back-up and enjoyed sacking quarterbacks.

Best Catch of the Year
Tommy Gallarda vs. Virginia Tech.
The catch in itself was sweet, but that wouldn't have been enough to push it to the top of a list that includes some amazing grabs by Austin "Sticky-Hands" Pettis and Titus Young. The stage on which it was made and what was at stake make it the best catch of the year. Check it out for yourself on YouTube right here.



Break out Star of the Year
Shea McClellin.
He went from a solid contributor on the D-line to a candidate for WAC Defensive Player of the Year. Whether he was sacking the quarterback, running a beautiful interception in for a touchdown, or stealing Ryan Winterswyk's fumble recovery in the end zone, he was amazing this year. It seemed to have come out of nowhere. McClellin's athleticism, heart, and intelligence make him this season's break out star.

Best Play of the Year
Moore to Pettis for the win.
Again, could it have been anything else? The big stage came for Kellen again and he was more than ready. The catch set up the win and set the table for the rest of a dominating year for the Broncos. Tears of joy are still shed when this play is shown on ESPN.

Biggest Hit of the Year
Jamar Taylor sack vs. Oregon State.
A lot of fans do not remember this one, but it was gorgeous. Taylor came in from the blind side and rocked Ryan Katz' world! The fool didn't know what hit him. It was comparable to the Kyle Wilson sack on Andy Dalton in the Fiesta Bowl.

Game of the Year
Labor Day vs. Virginia Tech
For so many reasons this was the game of the year. The stage, the stakes, the atmosphere, and what transpired on the field were a perfect storm of awesomeness. Bronco Chase still likes to watch replays of the masterful 2-minute drill by Kellen Moore.

Special Teams MVP
Cedric Febis
Febis is another import from the Netherlands. A cornerback by trade, he was out there for every special teams snap, knocking people out and making plays. Bronco fans hope to see him doing much of the same next year.

Defensive MVP
Byron Hout
This was a hard one to pick as there were many qualified candidates. The reason why beautiful neck-roll wearing Hout gets the nod is because of what was missed when he went down with a foot fracture. The defense really needed him and his ferocious, man-devouring self for the Nevada game. He will be back, ready to clean house and light up some more chumps.

Offensive MVP
Kellen Moore
This was easier than hardcore fans would have thought. As the orchestrator of a fluid, seamless, high scoring offense, you get a lot of credit. Kellen continued to improve after a stellar sophomore season and found himself sitting in the front row for the Heisman Trophy presentation in December. While he did not win and finished 4th, the fact that he was there was a milestone for the Boise State program and the culmination of an outstanding 3 years at the helm for Kellen. The only thing that didn't go well for Moore this year was having to share the WAC Player of the Year award with Colin Kaepernick, of which the league copped out. How could a Heisman Trophy finalist not win the conference award outright? Anyway, Kellen will be back next year. Opposing defenses, watch out!

That's it! Bronco Chase has handed out imaginary trophies and trinkets to those deserving of much more credit than he can give them. The seniors on this list will be missed. But Boise State fans everywhere are ecstatic for the years of football that will follow. Go Broncos!

Weekly Player to Watch, 10th Edition

The day has finally arrived and in a mere 9 hours, it all goes down in the biggest little city in the world. That's right, the Boise State vs. Nevada, Reno match up is for all the marbles. Seriously, there is a lot at stake tonight for both teams, but especially for the Broncos. It has been documented over and over again, but the Wolfpack have a really bad defense. But don't be weary, my Pack fans, the defensive players swear that this year will be different. I have my doubts...

Anyway, when I was trying to decide who I would choose as my Weekly Player to Watch, I couldn't get last year's game out of my mind. You know, Boise State's jumps out to a big early lead, Nevada fights back only to see all their efforts go for naught as the Broncos run out the clock and h=get the "W." While i don't expect it to be all that close tonight, the running game for Boise State is going to be huge for controlling the game and eating some clock, keeping "Bird Leg" off the field. Last year on The Blue, a running back physical punished Nevada, especially late in the game. i am foreseeing a whole lot more of that happening. You all know what that means; this week's PTW is none other than the Muscle Hamster himself...Doug Martin!


Martin's numbers have been down a little bit the past couple of games due to the fact that teams are zoning in on Boise State's run game. You would think that they might want to spend a little bit of time trying to defend the pass as well...So Doug is due for a big game. Couple in the fact that the weather is supposed to be pretty bad with some winds (although last week didn't seem to be a problem against Fresno State), and you have a recipe for the Muscle Hamster to be running in the Nevada secondary all night. It happened to Virginia Tech and things didn't go so well for them.


In his senior at Saint Mary's, Martin was named the Best Offensive Back in San Joaquin County by the Stockton Sports Hall of Fame after he led the Tri-City Athletic League in yards per game. It's interesting to know as well that Martin was named second-team All-San Joaquin TV by Comcast Sports, and was named team MVP after rushing for 1,234 yards and 14 touchdowns. He complete his senior season with 1,373 total yards. He also rushed for 1,950 yards and 18 TDs as a junior. He was picked as team MVP, first-team all-section, all-area, and All-San Joaquin TV by Comcast Sports his junior year. Martin was only a 2-star recruit and had just one other scholarship offer, from Cal Poly. It sure looks like other schools missed out on a good one. Boise State is known for getting guys like him. From a 2-star recruit to scoring the winning touchdown at the Fiesta Bowl. That's quite the story.


Since coming to Boise State, Doug has been lighting up defensive backs on a regular basis, just ask that tool Shiloh Keo from Idaho. In fact, as a gray shirt freshman, Martin was named the scout offensive player of the year. He won the award over quarterback Kellen Moore, if that tells you anything about him. His running style is fearless and aggressive, causing pain for any defender who gets in his way. Part way through the season two years ago, Mr. Martin switched to defensive back and was a key part in the Broncos' win over Nevada, being used as a spy on Colin Kaepernick. Last season, after DJ Harper went down with a torn ACL, Doug switched back to his true position as tail back and hasn't looked back since. So let's see some more of this tonight down in Reno, Mr. Muscle Hamster!


As I mentioned above, Doug will be huge tonight in order for Boise State to take care of the Nevada Wolfpack. The offensive line has done great opening up holes for him and he has exploded through them. His success opens up the passing game and the deep bomb to Titus Young. I am picking that Martin will go for over 100 yards tonight and 2 touchdowns. Take it to the bank baby. This will be a great game and you know that the Hamster would love to send the Wolfpack and Kaepernick packing, toting and 0-4 record against the Broncos. He will help get it done. Just look at his face:


So dig in and enjoy tonight. I am really looking forward to it. Come back tomorrow and get my recap of what goes down. As always, let's go Broncos!

Broncos Earn Gritty Win Over the LA Tech Bulldogs

Everything about this game felt weird. It was a Tuesday night in Boise, Idaho, freezing cold, and the starters had not played a complete game in a month. Couple that with the fact that Louisiana Tech had finally found itself offensively and you have a recipe for a sloppy, closer than it probably should have been contest. In the end and without playing anything close to their best game, Boise State was able to come out on top and still win by 29 points. It was definitely hard to watch at times, but we will take the "W." Let's look at some numbers and go from there. A few of them are a little surprising, you will see.

Yardage:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
Rushing-163..........172
Passing-305..........222
..Total-468..........394

Rushing attempts:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
........36............49

First Downs:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
........21............25

Yards per pass:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
.......10.5..........5.6

Fourth down conversions:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
........1-1..........3-7

Penalties-Yardage:
......Broncos......Bulldogs
.......3-21..........5-45

It's weird to see that Boise State was outgained in rushing yards, as that has been the strong point of the defense this year. Tech running back Lennon Creer is a beast, to say the least, and deserves a lot of credit. He was very physical throughout the night and his high rushing total (149 yards) can be attributed to that (remember, he transferred from Tennessee. He has talent, there is no question). But you also must realize that it took LA Tech 49 attempts to gain those 172 yards on the ground. Also, the Bulldogs played very fast, not wasting any time between snaps, and mixed up their play selections very well. I think that had more to do with the rushing total than anything. They had Boise State guessing for 2 quarters of the game or so. As you would guess, Boise State was able to pass for more yards than Louisiana Tech. That is great to see, especially since they put up 422 yards through the air against Idaho in their last game. It was great to see the Broncos stiffen up and stop the Bulldogs when it mattered, especially in the red zone and in fourth down situations, hence the 3 for 7 4th down conversion stat. Boise State will need to do much of the same against Hawai'i in their next game. My favorite stat is the number of penalties. Boise State finally cut down on those. It has gotten better this season as you can see.

What We Learned:

Louisiana Tech is the best WAC team that Boise State has played. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Even with the sloppiness and mistakes, they still won by 29 points. It was also a good warm up for the teams to come (Hawai'i, Nevada). The Bulldogs will be a very tough team in a few years once Sonny Dykes can get his type of players in. Too bad Boise State won't be in the WAC to see it (who knows if LA Tech will be in this conference either).

Kellen Moore might actually be human, maybe. He did throw an interception for the first time since the Wyoming game (it's still only his second one this year), but he did have a beautiful pooch punt, tackled somebody, and caught a touchdown pass from Austin Pettis. So, I guess he's still not human. He is so freaking good! Give him the Heisman now!

Sonny Dykes needs to chill out. I cannot believe that a large, southern man could get as upset as he did about an offsides call on an onside kick, especially when his player was clearly past the ball before it was kicked. In other words, he was offsides. Dykes (he, he...Dykes) will be eating some crow when he sees the tape on that one. He even got a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for screaming at the referees about it, which I'm sure was laced with every kind of profanity and inappropriate slur known to mankind. Good times...

Doug Martin is amazing, especially when he gets to play a full game. How does 150 yards on 21 carries sound? That is an eye-popping 7.1 yards per carry! It's nice to see him trucking fools as he carries the rock up the middle. He broke out on some huge runs and scored 2 touchdowns along the way. He is great for eating up clock when protecting a lead. Plus he is just fun to watch. By they way, the muscle hamster thing needs to go away. They even mentioned it a few times last night. Time to move on...

Even on an imperfect night, the Broncos still dominate. Titus Young fumbled a kick off, Kellen Moore threw an interception and fell down on a hand off (which was also fumbled), and Jeremy Avery fumbled a wildcat snap. But through all that, Boise State still won by 29 (as I have mentioned). They also converted two of those fumbles into immediate touchdowns. The game was never really in doubt, either. Time to continue the rest of the WAC farewell tour. Bring 'em on!

Areas of Concern:

Injuries; I know there is nothing Boise State can do about it but Brandyn Thompson, Kyle Brotzman, Aaron Tevis, Cedric Febis, Jeron Johnson, Chase Baker, and Joe Kellogg all either did not play due to injuries or left the game because of injuries. The Broncos will need all of them to be healthy in order to compete the best that they can as the schedule gets a bit tougher. Kicking game; Kyle Brotzman being out had a lot to do with it, but a missed field goal and some bad kickoffs is something that needs to be fixed. I would have thought by now the kickoffs would have gotten better, but they really haven't. The secondary; They played well, but a couple of lapses and mistakes led to points for Louisiana Tech. Hawai'i comes in next week for a huge showdown. Other than that, they played well.

Favorite Play:

Is there any doubt what I am going to pick? Kellen Moore takes the snap in the shotgun. He turns to the left and tosses the ball to Jeremy Avery who proceeds to run to the left side of the field. Coming the other way is Austin Pettis who gets the pitch from Avery. As Pettis runs to the right side in what appears to be a straight up reverse run, he holds up and tosses the ball toward the end zone. Standing there to receive the pass is a wide open Kellen Moore. Touchdown Broncos! That's right, Pettis to Moore! It's usually the other way around! I knew it was just a matter of time before Moore caught a pass, and it was beautiful! Let's see some more of that!

Thoughts and Tidbits:

Boise State had scored on every single opening drive of the season until last night. Jimmy Pavel missed a field goal on the Broncos first possession to end the streak. Tyler Shoemaker had a career night catching 6 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. Boise State did not sell out the stadium as the student section had a lot of empty seats. A lot of that can be contributed to fact that it was a Tuesday night and it was really cold.

Weekly Player to Watch Recap:

Austin Pettis had a great game. He caught 5 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. It was his first TD since the Oregon State game. He also threw a touchdown pass to quarterback Kellen Moore on what is sure to be a play that goes down as a legendary tale in Boise State history, and will also cause headaches for future opponents' defensive coordinators to try and defend. It was great to see him (as well as the rest of the starters) play a complete game. Pettis is the man. Get used to it.

Perception:

We are at the point now when no matter what Boise State does, it is not going to make a difference as far as perception goes. Whether or not the Broncos end up in the National Championship game will depend on what happens with the other top teams in the nation. Oregon, Auburn, Alabama (still), Oklahoma (still), Missouri, TCU, and Utah will have a lot of say in determining where Boise State ends up. They could get passed in the polls and BCS Rankings by one or all of them, depending on who wins and who loses. The winner of the TCU vs. Utah game has a great chance of leap-frogging them (frog pun intended). Let's just hope Utah loses to Air Force or BYU but also somehow beats TCU. No matter who loses nationally, the BCS and the pollsters will surely be looking for and probably find a reason to not move Boise State up to number 1 or 2. That sucks, but that's how it is. As I have said multiple times and will continue to say, a lot has to happen for the Broncos to be in the NC Game. It has to be a perfect storm of unforeseen chaos. Time will tell. For now, let's enjoy the weekend's action and root for USC, Nebraska, Iowa, Hawai'i, and Nevada!

Photos:

I love idahostatesman.com. Thanks again for the photos. They sure take some good ones!

Check back in tomorrow for something. I haven't decided what it will be yet. Go Broncos!

Muscle Hamster

As mentioned in my previous post, the clueless commentators for CBS College Sports referred to Boise State Bronco running back Doug Martin as a muscle hamster. I still don't know what that is, but I may have a lead:



They were really bad. In fact, they sucked. It's too bad because one of them, Craig Bolerjack, is the voice of the Utah Jazz, which happens to be my favorite NBA team. *sigh* Do I have to start liking the Lakers? Nope, I can't do it. Anyway, enjoy the muscle hamster, who's popularity is growing rapidly.