Jeron Johnson's felonious assault

I've been warning people since last season—Jeron Johnson is going to kill somebody. No one listened...people shrugged it off, but I kept repeating my warnings. The sophomore safety has been incredible for the Broncos in his short tenure here...but seems to have a disregard for his own body and a disdain for the bodies of opponents. Witness the following evidence and I defy you to tell me that Jeron Johnson isn't a bad, bad man.

Russell Hill was courageous to take the field again after this hit...it left him with a bloodied nose (most likely due to whiplash). I fear we may witness Jeron snapping someone in half before the year is out, heck, it may be this Saturday against Bowling Green. We're all going to be accessories.

Thanks to JT for finally getting this vicious hit online.

That'll do, Kellen...that'll do

Photo by Joe Jaszewski/Statesman

The Kellen Moore era has begun in earnest and it looks like it may be soon joining other well-known eras such as the paleozoic and mesozoic. Moore looked freakin' great against a game ISU team, but obviously will really show his mettle in the upcoming weeks. Moore's 274 yard, 2 TD day was the best debut we've witnessed in quite some time...let alone from a freshman. Kellen looked poised, confident and showed a great touch when it came to nickel and diming or dropping 80 yard TD bombs. Moore finished the night with no turnovers and a passer rating of well over 200 in the 49-7 drubbing of the Bengals—Nice.

MIA
A few notables sat the game out and will be key returners for Bowling Green (who gave our SOS a boost yesterday by beating a possibly overrated, but still solid #25 Pitt team). Ryan Winterswyk was conspicuously absent at DE, but was filled in for nicely by future star Jarrell Root. Winterswyk has a bit of a knee tweak and may not be a go for the game against the Falcons on the 13th, but "should" be back for the Oregon game (keep your fingers nicely crossed). Kyle Gingg was also absent last night with a minor injury...he is more likely to be healthy for the BGSU tussle, but was not overly missed against ISU as Derrell Acrey recorded 14 tackles and freshman Aaron Tevis recorded 8, a tipped pass and two sacks.

No cause for alarm
Many fans are a little worried about inconsistent line play in the first game...mainly due to the fact that the offense didn't get rolling until nearly the 2nd quarter and the fact that the running game never fully took flight. Let me address those concerns thusly: It was the first FREAKIN' GAME! Let's all take a step back and look at the big picture. Boise State was about half a yard from posting the exact same score against Idaho State last night as they did against Weber State in the 2007 opener. Boise State's O-line is extremely young and untested...were missing behemoth Nate Potter and still allowed a single sack and sprung the runners for some big gainers. I personally thought that the run-blocking last night was not as good as the pass-blocking...but it was nothing terrible...the interior line wasn't opening huge holes, but Kellen stayed relatively pressure free and the run game looked like it could've really taken off if given more time. Also, Doug Martin and DJ Harper played extremely sparingly last night. The D-line looked pretty good...good pressure...a lot of sacks...and if you take out one lackluster drive pretty much shut down the ISU offense entirely. More perspective: In 2006 (considered by some to have been a "pretty good year") Ian Johnson had 89 rushing yards in the opener against Sacramento State. Last night? 87 yards. We're fine, Chicken Little.

Could be cleaner
As I said before, this was the first real live football a lot of these guys have played in months and for a lot of them, the first real live college football of their careers. There were some mistakes made—fumbles, pass interference, missed blocks and poor pursuit angles...but all-in-all this was a solid outing all around. Any mistakes made seemed to be atoned for later on and that is all you can ask of our athletes. Two oddly familiar looking fumbles by Titus Young were atoned for by two beautiful TDs, and bad field position for the Broncos (yep, fumbles) gave way to great defensive stands. Linebackers and secondary played very well...missed tackles were at a minimum and the one long drive given up by the D seemed to be due more to some poor pursuit angles than poor tackling like last year. The D-line was getting a good push, but will need to seal off the ends a bit better...Winterswyk will help with this immensely.

Bright spots
Richie Brockel did his best Mike Alstott impression on two goal line runs. Freshman Tyler Shoemaker from Mountain View showed the coaches that putting him on scholly last week was the right move by hauling in two nice TDs. Derrell Acrey wasn't "supposed" to start this one, but did...led the team in tackles with 14 and looked grrrreat. Jeron Johnson showed that you better think twice before running into him head-on...he isn't going to slow down. Ian Johnson blocked a punt...really. Aaron Tevis is a Colt Brooks clone...and he's only a frosh. One bright spot for the Bengals was their place kicker...he was kicking the crap outta that ball last night. Never got to see our new look kick return team because the balls were sailing out of the endzone.

Passing Grades
Offense—B+
Defense—B
Special Teams—B
BroncoVision—D

Kellen gets Helmet Sticker

Like this...except opposite.

For all of the Bronco games this season—I will be doing in-depth unit breakdowns, gameplans and player profiles for the opposing teams. That said...do I really need to do this for the Idaho State game? I'm not being lazy or anything, I just am not sure what angle to take on this. Sure, the coaching staff and players are giving Idaho State the Lou Holtz treatment in the media...but this game just really will not be close...if it is, we are in serious trouble. No matter...here is my best half-assed shot at it.

Ok, here goes...
Boise State has arguably the best stable of running backs in the west. Ian Johnson is a Doak Walker nominee, finished 8th in Heisman balloting in 2006 and is coming off back to back 1,000+ yard seasons. Jeremy Avery can flip a light switch and be in bed before the room goes dark. DJ Harper torched Fresno State last year and by all accounts is a much badder man this year. Doug Martin was the scout team player of the year when he redshirted last season and looks like he could run, Incredible Hulk-style, through a barrage of M-1 Tank fire.

Boise State also has an extremely talented group of wide receivers. Titus Young and Austin Pettis return for their sophomore seasons after playing as true freshman last year and combined for 11 TDS. Vinny Perretta is back for his senior season after missing most of '07 with a shoulder injury. Perretta has lit up the Broncos Defense in fall camp.

Kellen Moore, a freshman, is the most decorated QB in Washington State history. He wrestled the starting job away from a 5th year senior. He may possess miraculous healing powers.

Idaho State did not place a single defensive player on the All Big-Sky first OR second team last season.

ADVANTAGE—Boise State (small silver lining for the Bengals: Jeremy Childs will not be playing)

Go for 3
Ryan Winterswyk is a bad, bad man. Mike T. Williams is too. Linebackers Kyle Gingg, Derrell Acrey, Tim Brady and Dallas Dobbs are playing like their hair is on fire after a not-so-hot 2007. Redshirt Freshman LB Aaron Tevis has been drawing raves from about everyone in town. Jarrell Root and Billy Winn are no longer redshirting. Kyle Wilson is a potential first team All-WAC pick at DB and sophomore Brandyn Thompson has been impressive this fall. SafetyJeron Johnson wants, very badly, to remove an opponents head on any given play and Jason Robinson has benefitted from the tutelage of Marty Tadman.

Idaho State placed one returning player on an All Big Sky team last season...WR Eddie Thompson.

ADVANTAGE—Boise State (Eddie Thompson will have 0 to 2 catches tomorrow evening)

Blah
If you couldn't tell from my informal style and sentence fragments...this game should be a yawner. Hopefully it will afford our guys an opportunity to get some game time experience in...gel a little bit and then carry that momentum into the rest of their schedule. Boise State will roll in this game 52-3 and I will commence writing actual game previews from here on out.

Cupcakes are good...

Though this weekend's opener lacks the drama or uncertainty that the rest of the Broncos' slate offers...there's no reason to get down about it. Most Bronco fans are just happy that real life football is due to be played at Bronco stadium in only a few short days. But maybe there is more intrigue in this matchup than meets the eye. Just look!

Records will fall
Not only will this Saturday's game be the first start for a Freshman ever in an opener, but for a couple of weeks at least it will be the largest crowd ever to witness a game on the blue turf. The Stueckle Sky Club, Loge boxes and other stadium upgrades will allow for over 32,000 Bronco butts in the seats. No word yet if the Guinness folks will be on hand.

Payback time
The Broncos have played the Bengals 29 times in school history—winning 23. It's finally payback time for the 6 losses to the Bengals. You're gonna pay Zamberlin...you're gonna pay.

Swike streak begins
As the season progresses, I am going to run a graphic showing all of the opposing QBs to get "swiked" by sophomore DE Ryan Winterswyk. No place like Russell Hill to start.

Barbeque scrimmage
You wouldn't want to waste your best tailgating on a 1-AA opponent, would you? Think of this Saturday's game as a tailgate scrimmage so your smokers and chip dips can get into mid-season form before the Falcons come to town.

Bob Behler's coming out party
Think of this as Bob Behler's scrimmage too. Behler and Jadon Dailey will have a full game to talk about the ineffectiveness of Eddie Thompson, Mitch Rudder, the Big Sky conference and Jadon's love for tacos—so tune in and hear the dynamic duo for the first time!

The Century mark
Boise State has yet to score 100 points in their years playing football. All I'm asking is 11 TDs (going for 2 every time) and then 4 simple field goals. You can do it fellas.

O ye of little faith
We all know how special the freshman signal caller is...but this weekend, if you have enough faith...we may witness Kellen Moore heal a blind referee, feed the entire stadium with naught but a handful of nachos, cast a demon out of Buster Bronco.

Flappymouth, we hardly knew ye
Buster Bronco (besides being possessed, apparently) has a new noggin...and it's jaw is 50% less flappy. We can't wait to see him run on the field and chest bump Andrew Woodruff and then go and fight the Carl's Junior Star guy.

You kidding me?
Where else have you got to be? Really...Mr. Stuckup...where've you got to be? I thought so, get down there and watch a good old fashioned beatdown.

8-26-06 Bronco Nation podcast

A rather pared down crew joined the Bronco Nation podcast last night...just JT Ray of Bronco Nation N.O.W. and yours truly. The smaller crew doesn't mean that we didn't make fun of the Vandals, though. Sherm Blaser and Idaho State's Frank What's-his-name signed on during the cast as well to weigh in on Kellen Moore, left-handedness, and Idaho State's chances this weekend. We also break down the opening weekend in WAC football, new NCAA rule changes and Boise State's recruiting boom. Check it out (might wanna just leave this one running while you do your work...it's a long one).

 The Bronco Nation Podcast - It Begins [61:21m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

I like my crow with a dash of Frank's red hot sauce

Ok, so my "gut feeling" the other day was a tad off. This is what happens when you channel Hal Mumme's psychic abilities. Coach Chris Petersen has named his starting quarterback...and Bronco Nation couldn't be happier. The kid stays in the picture and Kellen Moore is the guy. Remember the other day when I said that I thought Bush Hamdan would be the starter? Well, also remember that I said that I was a huge Kellen Moore bandwagoner...so I definitely don't mind being wrong on this one. The very fact that Moore was in as tight a race as he was with a 5th-year senior spoke volumes about the poise and determination of the redshirt frosh. I really like Bush Hamdan and I think he has shown great leadership in his tenure here, but the next 4 years at Boise State may indeed be special with the same signal-caller guiding the offense...especially after these beefy youngsters on the O-line get some playing time under their belts. Petersen offered the following assessment of Moore:

“Kellen has just got great football savvy,” Petersen said. “He understands our offense extremely, extremely well and he has performed very consistently throughout spring ball and fall camp.”

If you were counting, that was two "extremely"s from Coach Pete.

Moore will be the first freshman quarterback ever to start a season opener when the Broncos take the field against ISU in 10 days. If Moore performs close to as well on the blue as he did as a Prosser Mustang, bookkeepers should have the white out very close to Ryan Dinwiddie's name in the Bronco record books. Moore and Coach Pete will speak at a presser at 3 PM today...even EF Hutton will be listening.

OBNUG has a conniption.
Statesman tells it like it is.
Clarence gets his wings.