9-15-08 Bronco Nation Podcast

Back in the mix this week is Kevan from OBNUG and of course old standbys Buck from Statueleft, me from this here blog and the father of it all JT Ray from BNN. Topics discussed are the Bowling Green positives and negatives, the pathetic WAC weekend, the top 25, surprising(ly good) Broncos thus far, one Moore recruit (guffaw), and the Broncos chances in Eugene this Saturday. Give a listen.

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A win's a win...

Photo by IPT/Greg Kreller

While the Boise State win on Saturday may not have set the nation abuzz like, say, Missouri's demolition of Nevada or BYU's ridiculous beatdown of UCLA, it was not without it's merits. Boise State played a pretty good Bowling Green team and dominated them... far more than the final score indicated.

The Boise State defense was on their game once again, swarming to the ball, pressuring the QB and locking down receivers. The Bronco defense definitely look like they have largely fixed the mistakes of last season and have only given up 7 points in the first two contests of the year. If I were to pick a low point of the game for the D it would be getting fooled on a 4th and goal were the Falcon receiver got it way too easy. Of course, another low point could be that the Falcons were even that close to the endzone anyway after the Bronco D allowed Bowling Green into the redzone following a pass interference call on 3rd and long. The call looked a little suspect, but nonetheless. The Broncos collected 3 turnovers on Saturday and will need to maintain that level of production in Eugene this weekend. Ellis Powers played like a man possessed, Jeron Johnson continued his torrid pace, and Ryan Winterswyk was back in action (though somewhat quiet on the evening). Billy Winn looks like he will be hard to keep off the field as he made his presence known several times during the game. Derrell "hard luck" Acrey was injured in the game...no telling how bad (thanks, Augusto).

The Bronco offense was the other big story from Saturday night. They came out with their hair on fire behind an 11 for 11 start by Kellen Moore. The Broncos were spreading the ball well, flummoxing the Falcon defense en route to a 20-0 halftime score. Then the second half happened. No telling exactly what the issue was, but the Broncos seemed to be flat and confused and did not score again on the night. Thankfully, the Bronco defense was on top of things allowing only one Falcon score in the 4th quarter of play...but clearly, the Bronco offense will need a MUCH better performance at Autzen. The offense in the second half seemed far too cutesy and far too sloppy. Drives were killed by penalties, drops and abandoning a run game that had been very productive in the first half. Also slowing the Bronco offense a bit was the absence of Titus Young, who was serving a (hopefully) one game suspension. Young's ability to stretch the field was sorely missed as the Falcons took away the dink and dunk passing game that Moore had exploited in the first half. The Falcons offense was also on the field longer in the second half which kept the Bronco offense from getting much rhythm back. The sour taste that many felt after the game was certainly due to the yawn-inducing second half offensive effort...the only real detractor of the evening.

The bottom line is that the Bronco offense needs to keep pace with the defense. The defense has been showing an intensity and focus that I haven't seen since 2006 (so far), and the offense, though young, needs to match it. The playcalling has been okay and Moore has run the offense incredibly well for a frosh...but the Bronco receivers need to gain the confidence of Moore and the Bronco run game needs to pick up the production a bit. The O-line play was actually a pleasant surprise...they kept Moore relatively safe and opened some decent running lanes. Mentally, the O-line has a little ways to go. All in all, a very dominant game by the Broncos...they shut down the vaunted spread offense of the Falcons and showed that they can score at will...unfortunately their will was missing in Saturday's second half. We'll give them a 2-quarter mulligan this time...but things need to be fixed by Saturday...you already know that.

Grades
Offense—which quarter?
Defense—A-
Special Teams—B (you can't run into the kicker, IJ)
Derrell Acrey's injury—D
Titus Young's absence—F
Idaho losing to WMU—A+

ADRIANNN!

Good lord, look at this photo of linebacker Kyle Gingg from last night's win over Bowling Green. All I can say is: this personifies what the defense needs to be about this year...and so far, so good. The Defense has been hitting hard, getting turnovers and bending, but not breaking...giving up only 2 scores in two games. I'll have a game wrap-up and reaction in the morning. Photo by the Statesman's Joe Jaszewski

Get Noisy, Boise

Understanding that this headline reinforces the improper pronunciation of the name of our fair city—it still serves as a public notice to Bronco fans who plan on attending tomorrow night's game. In 2005, the Bowling Green Falcons made the trip from Ohio only to be buried 48-20 by the Broncos. The Falcons had highly-touted QB Omar Jacobs and a scary spread offense that had nearly beaten Wisconsin the week prior...and they had the no-huddle. The no-huddle doesn't work in Bronco Stadium (at least for visitors)...and the Falcons still run it. Remember last year's win over a no-huddling Wyoming team that had coach Joe Glenn claiming that the Broncos were illegally "piping in" crowd noise to throw them off their game? Well, Bronco fans now know that Joe Glenn was/is nuttier than a fruitcake and no crowd noise was actually being pumped in, but we certainly don't blame Glenn for thinking that—the stadium was a-rockin' and the no-huddle wasn't a-knockin'...on the door....of the endzone...ahh forget it. My point is that the no-huddle offense (which the Broncos are fiddling with this season) didn't work for Wyoming in Bronco Stadium last season and it certainly didn't work for Bowling Green in 2005—stands to reason that we should get a little loud tomorrow night, eh? Who's with me?

Now seems like a good time to reinforce some fundamentals of stadium noise-making.



Catch the fever.

9-10-08 Bronco Nation Podcast

Buck, JT and some guy named me mull some things over—namely: the WAC's new ESPN deal, Jake Locker's "excessive" celebration, Vinny Perretta the blogger, some predictions, and the key to the Bowling Green game on Saturday. Enjoy the wit and wisdom.

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Oversimplification

The Bowling Green Falcons will roll into town in a couple of days to take on the Broncos. The Falcons are coming off a tough home loss at the hands of Minnesota and prior to that a nice win over sorta-ranked Pitt. Conversely, the Broncos are coming off a half-hearted drubbing of the Idaho State Bengals and an excruciating bye week. It's safe to say that neither team knows exactly what to expect come Saturday. How will Boise State's young team respond to a veteran squad? Will BSU's O-line really be fine? Is Minnesota as terrible as they were last year? We just don't really know these answers, but one thing is clear: Boise State knows a lot more about Bowling Green than their team knows about Boise State. Let's look at the following examples...

Falcon Five-O
It's no surprise that what doomed Bowling Green against Minnesota last week were the turnovers...the Falcons had 5. Certainly, they had the Gophers right where they wanted them, but gave the ball away far too many times. However, insiders in the program appear to believe that a) Minnesota can be compared favorably to Boise State, and b) playing in Boise is something akin to playing at home against a weak Big Ten team. I believe this to be true because of the following head scratcher of a comment from BGSU coach Gregg Brandon:

"If ['5'] happens we're going to lose, probably," Brandon said. "If ['0'] happens, we'll win. We have a great chance."

Oversimplification? So...if the Falcons have 5 turnovers they will lose "probably"...I'd say "definitely". Also, coach Brandon also seems to think that if the Falcons have 0 turnovers they will win. Well, coach...you certainly will have a better shot at winning, but let's not mince words here—Boise State is FAR superior to Minnesota and Pitt offensively, and I think your defense may have to factor into this one too. It will not only take 0 turnovers offensively for the Falcons, but some takeaways by the defense because if you leave the Bronco offense on the field, they will score.

It ain't the uniforms
Bowling Green defensive end Diyral Briggs thinks the Falcons are in for a test. Why? Well because of our jerseys, of course!

"I think it's an advantage," Briggs said. "I went up there my redshirt sophomore year. It was pretty tough to play in there. They got the crowd behind them, and having the blue turf and the blue jerseys, it definitely gives them an advantage."

Oversimplification again? Bingo. The Broncos are also pretty good on the road, Diyral...if it were the jerseys that made the Broncos so good wouldn't Marshall, USF, Oregon, and others have the same "advantage"? I think disciplined football, few errors, good coaching and gameplan, high powered offense and defense factor in as well. I'm just joking...it's the uniforms.

I would welcome Bowling Green players and coaches to believe that they can put up a similar effort against the Broncos that they did against Pitt and Minnesota (sans turnovers) and come away with a win. The Broncos aren't 59-2 since 1999 on the blue for no reason (jerseys, remember?) and have had a bye week to prepare some crazy offensive and clean up any sloppy defensive play. Might want to keep in mind that Boise State is incorporating the no-huddle this year as well, and while the Bowling Green defense sees their own version of the no-huddle all the time...they haven't seen the Broncos run it and it will keep them guessing with the personnel sets that BSU is constantly rotating in and out. If the Falcons can get to Kellen Moore early and often and force the Broncos to run behind their young O-line, they might have a chance to slow the offense a bit—even then, Ian Johnson, Jeremy Avery, Doug Martin and DJ Harper don't need huge holes to run through. Of course, the Falcons are going to have to answer with some offense of their own—how's that for oversimplification?

Know your enemy (for this week, anyway)

Boise State's first real test of the season will come sauntering onto the blue this Saturday in the form of the Bowling Green Falcons. The Falcons started the 2008 season with a bang when they knocked off then #25 Pitt—unfortunately, they promptly fell back to earth losing big this last weekend to Minnesota. So...our SOS remains so-so, but after a excruciating bye-week the Broncos are ready to dine on Falcon. Most fans, like me, know next to nothing about our MAC foes other than the fact that they run a no-huddle offense that doesn't lend itself to loud noises (hint, hint) and that they were soundly beaten in their last trip to the blue. Needless to say, there is a lot to be learned about our week 3 foe (don't worry, Kellen Moore already knows their defense intimately)...so let's explore through the magic of factoids and childish jokes. For the mutual benefit of the Falcon faithful, I will let you get to know us a little bit too...so take notes.

Ten things Bronco fans might not know about Bowling Green

10. Bowling Green State University appears to be aptly named, as it resides in Bowling Green, Ohio. Bowling Green is also the name of cities in New York and Kentucky. You are now ready for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

9. Bowling Green State University was originally known as Bowling Green State Normal School. It was just up the road from Bowling Green State Abnormal School.

8. Bowling Green plays their football games at Doyt Perry Stadium, capacity 24,000. The Stadium is named after coach Doyt Perry, who led the Falcons to a 77-11-5 record in his tenure there in the 50s and 60s. While not huge...the stadium makes the Kibbie Dome look like Papa Smurf's toadstool cottage.

7. Falcons are fond of gibberish. The official fight song of the university is a little ditty called Ay Ziggy which features stirring lyrics like: "Ay Ziggy zoomba zoomba zoomba Ay ziggy zoomba zoomba ze". Now I'm really glad that BSU changed their fight song from Blee bloo bah bah boo bee beep.

6. Bowling Green has been playing football since 1919 and has 16 conference championships to show for it. Their last championship came in 2003 as they went 11-3 and won the MAC west division title. That year, they defeated Purdue and Northwestern of the Big Ten and only lost to Ohio State by 7 in Columbus.

5. Bowling Green has completed 5 undefeated seasons in school history...their last coming in 1959 under Doyt Perry (yes, THAT Doyt Perry!)

4. The Falcons have won 56.5% of their games since their debut in 1919.

3. Bowling Green's highest (and only) national ranking in Division 1-A came in 2003 when they finished at #23 in the AP and Coaches polls. That year, Boise State finished 16th and 15th in the AP and Coaches polls, respectively.

2. Urban Meyer coached at Bowling Green for two seasons and racked up a 17-6 record there before blowing up at Utah and eventually ending up at Florida, where they won the National Championship in 2006.

1. There are currently 5 Bowling Green alums playing in the NFL...one of them, WR Steve Sanders, was played by Ian Zering on Beverly Hills 90210.

Ten things Bowling Green fans might not know about Boise State

10. Boise State has been in existence since 1932, when it was founded by the Episcopal Church as Boise Junior College. In 1968, it achieved 4 year status and was changed to Boise College, then in 1969 changed again to Boise State College and finally became Boise State University in 1974.

9. The father of Boise State football is Lyle H. Smith. I guess you could call him the Doyt Perry of Boise...but a more accurate way would be to describe Doyt Perry as the Lyle Smith of Bowling Green. Smith coached Boise State football from 1947 to 1967, going 153-25-6 in that span. Under Smith, Boise State football went undefeated 5 times and won a national championship. Smith chose his own replacement, Tony Knap, in 1968 and served as the Athletic Director until 1981. Knap was pretty good too...he went 71-19 in his eight years with the Broncos.

8. Many think that Boise State ripped off their colors and mascot from the Denver Broncos...well it may be the other way around. Boise State's mascot and colors were picked in 1932 by student Owen Sproat and others after a basketball game. As Sproat put it:

“most of the guys rode horses — it was pretty much cattle country in those days.”

The johnny-come-lately Denver Broncos didn't come on the scene until 1960.

7. Since 1973, Boise State has won 13 conference championships including 5 straight WAC titles from 2002 to 2006. Prior to 1968, they competed in the JC ranks, and as stated before...were a dominant force at 153-25-6 and winning the JC national championship in 1958. Boise State won the 1-AA national championship in 1980 by defeating Eastern Kentucky and played in the championship again in 1994, but lost to a Jim Tressel-led Youngstown State.

6. Boise State joined the 1-A ranks in 1996...since that time, they have finished the season ranked 4 times (peaking at #5 in 2006) and won 7 conference championships.

5. Bronco Stadium's Lyle Smith Field is the nation's only non-green playing surface. "The Blue" or the "Smurf Turf" as it is affectionately known was first installed in 1986 and is currently in its 4th iteration. Contrary to popular belief...geese do not break their necks after mistaking it for a white lined lake. Jimmy Hoffa is also NOT buried under the field (as far as we know)

4. The Broncos are 59-2 at Bronco Stadium since 1999. Their last regular season loss on the blue was to Washington State in 2001.

3. Boise State currently has 11 players active on NFL rosters. Ryan Clady is the highest ever draft pick from Boise State. He was picked 12th overall in this years draft.

2. Boise State's current QB, redshirt frosh Kellen Moore, owns pretty much every high school football record in the state of Washington. Moore had 787 completions, 173 touchdowns, and over over 11,000 yards passing at Prosser High School. As a junior, he was named the Washington player of the year over Jake Locker, the current QB at UW. He emits awesomeness from every pore.

1. Chris Petersen won the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year award in 2006. In 2007, Mark Mangino of Kansas ate won the award.

So there you are...now we know each other...and knowing is half the battle.