The Boise State Broncos, ranked second in this week's AP poll, get the spotlight all to themselves on Tuesday night as they entertain the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in a Western Athletic Conference battle on the blue turf.
Tuesday Night WACtion: No. 2 Boise State Vs. Louisiana Tech
The Broncos, who are rated third behind Auburn and Oregon in the most recent BCS rankings, are again expected to shake up college football this year as they throw a proverbial wrench into the entire BCS process. Back on October 16th the team ran its win streak to 20 in a row (longest in the nation), thanks to a 48-0 drubbing of San Jose State on the road. Not only was it the team’s 31st consecutive regular-season victory, it was also the 11th win in as many tries versus the Spartans for BSU.
If competing against the Broncos were not tough enough, taking on Boise State on its home field is an even more monumental challenge, considering the team has not lost a home, regular-season date since September 8, 2001 when Washington State turned the trick in a 42-20 final. Granted, Boise did fall to Boston College in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl on the blue turf (27-21), but as far as regular-season decisions go the Broncos have put together a run of 58 wins in a row at home and have never lost a WAC home date since joining the conference back in 2001.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs seem to be finally picking up some momentum, thanks to their first wins of the season over opponents from the Football Bowl Subdivision. First, the team recorded a 24-6 victory against Utah State at home on October 9th and then followed that up with a thrilling 48-35 victory versus Idaho in Ruston as well. The decisions not only snapped a four-game slide for LaTech, they also moved the team to 2-1 in conference play with five games to go in the regular season.
In terms of the all-time series between these two programs, BSU owns an 8-4 mark thanks in part to a 45-35 win on the road in Louisiana last season.
“I’m really proud of our team,” said LaTech head coach Sonny Dykes after his team took down Idaho. “Two weeks ago, people were writing us off, but we’ve got a lot of fight in us. Our players never had a sense of panic.”
Quarterback Ross Jenkins, who was named the WAC Offensive Player of the Week, had a huge game for the Bulldogs as he completed 31-of-44 passes for 422 yards and three touchdowns, marking the first time since 2003 that a LaTech QB had thrown for more than 400 yards in a game.
Richie Casey finished with nine catches for a team-best 117 yards, but it was Ahmad Paige who turned his five grabs into 95 yards and a pair of scores. Coming out of the backfield and providing the Bulldogs with another offensive option was Lennon Creer who generated a game-high 179 yards and hit the end zone twice on 23 carries as the team logged 261 yards on the ground. Thanks to the efforts of Jenkins and Creer, the Bulldogs rolled up an astounding 683 yards of total offense, fourth most in program history and the first time the team has eclipsed the 600-yard barrier since 2003.
Unfortunately, as strong a game as it was for the offense, the LaTech defense showed a number of holes that were exploited by the visiting Vandals. More specifically, the pass defense was hit hard as a pair of Idaho quarterbacks completed 32-of-60 passes for 513 yards and five touchdowns. Granted, the defense did post three sacks and intercepted one pass, but still the overall effort was one that coach Dykes and his staff should be concerned about moving forward.
The Bulldogs have one of the worst pass defenses in all of college football, permitting an unsightly 296.7 ypg to rank 118th in the country at the moment. Giving up grand yardage totals can sometimes be a symptom of opponents having to pass to get back in contention, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this time around with the Bulldogs who are also 100th in pass efficiency defense with a rating of 145.28 at this stage of the season. In terms of total defense, LaTech is giving up close to 450 ypg and if not for holding both Grambling and Utah State to a mere six points apiece one can only imagine where the team would sit with respect to scoring defense (26.6 ppg).
The effort by Jenkins in the last outing was somewhat misleading, given that his 456 yards of total offense were exactly one-half of what he has generated in four appearances so far in 2010. In fact, heading into this season Jenkins had just one other game in which he managed to produce more than 300 yards of offense, and that effort (358 yards) came against Nicholls State in a 48-13 thrashing early last year.
Getting Creer in gear has been a big deal for the team in the last two outings because the back has gained a combined 299 yards and scored all four of his rushing scores versus the Vandals and Utah State, so perhaps he could be the team’s secret weapon moving forward.
Quarterback Kellen Moore again dominated for the Broncos in their most recent win, completing 14-of-16 pass attempts for 231 yards and two touchdowns before taking a seat on the bench and cheering on his backups. Moore, who now holds the school record for most career completions with 663, has tossed at least two TDs in all six games this season and now has a total of 16, against just a single interception. One can only imagine what his stats would look like if he didn't come out in favor of the second team in most instances, but Moore sees the bigger picture when it comes to his own numbers and the tallies in the win column.
“It just means we are all playing well,” Moore says of watching his backups take snaps once a game is already in hand. “We all want to be out there, but it’s great for Joe (Southwick) and Mike (Coughlin) to be out there getting reps.”
Also getting in on the action and spreading the wealth on offense were Doug Martin and Titus Young, both of whom scored a pair of touchdowns in the recent battle against San Jose State. The Broncos generated a hefty 535 yards of offense in the meeting, but once again the defense stepped up and had a huge effort as it held the Spartans to a mere 80 yards, including minus-12 yards rushing.
Giving the BSU defense some well-deserved recognition was Aaron Tevis who, late in the second quarter, intercepted a pass and returned it 43 yards for a score to put the Broncos up 34-0, an effort that was not lost on head coach Chris Petersen.
“I think it was the best catch of the night! The guy can catch as good as anyone that we have on our team, I think, and you saw it out there tonight.”
As dominant as Moore and the offense are for the Broncos again this year, the unit placing fourth in the nation with 523.8 ypg and fourth in scoring with 47.5 ppg, the defense is actually performing at an even higher level right now. Since allowing Virginia Tech 30 points in the season opener, BSU has permitted a combined 44 points to the next five opponents, shutting out both New Mexico State and SJSU along the way. With that effort the Broncos are now tops in the nation in stopping the run, giving up just 59.3 ypg and first in overall defense, allowing 210.2 ypg. Put it all together and with opponents scoring a measly 12.3 ppg, Boise State is now second in the country in that department as well.
Having an offense that operates at such a high level is one thing, but the Broncos make it almost impossible for opponents to even think that they can compete for a full 60 minutes given how completely dominant the defense has been week in and week out. LaTech might be able to stay close in the early going, but once coach Petersen and Moore get in a groove they are difficult to stop.
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