CFN Analysis
Boise State Gets By The Beavers
By
Pete Fiutak
The great thing about Boise State is that it can play any way you want
to.
Oregon State came up with a big special teams play, and Boise State
answered right back with ten points. Oregon State came up with a field
goal, and Boise State answered with a touchdown pass. The Beavers made
it a game in the third quarter with a touchdown run, Boise State came up
with a touchdown pass. Oregon State got a fumble recovery off a pass for
a score, and the Broncos closed it out with two field goals. You bring a
knife; they bring a gun.
The Broncos showed off the power of Doug Martin and the running game and
the precision of Kellen Moore and the passing attack, while beating p
the Beaver running game, allowing just 76 yards, and allowing just
12-of-26 passes to be completed. The Broncos stopped themselves with
penalties and a few lax moments, but they came up with every answer,
they showed a variety of different ways to win, and they showed that
they absolutely are for real.
Without getting into the national title talk, Boise State keeps on
proving that it's a machine. It's not just that it came up with a win
over a Pac 10 team with the whole world watching; it's that it came up
with a win over a Pac 10 team when everyone was expecting it, and it
still wasn't a shock when it happened. The program has become so good
that the business as usual approach might come across the wrong way, but
the results can't be ignored. Boise State won, again.
This is a complete team that needs to continue to be evaluated based on
how good it is and not automatically dismissed because of its schedule.
While beating Oregon State isn't beating Alabama, it was still a strong
win with all the pressure in the world on.
By
Richard Cirminiello
Boise State is a really good football team. Can’t we just leave it at that for now?
It’s just a month into the season and I’m already tired of hearing about the Broncos and “style points”. Do we have these discussions about any other program in the country? All the time? Honestly, it’s become exhausting, and the crew covering the game beat that dead blue horse right up until the post-game interview with QB Kellen Moore. At the end of November, I get it. At the end of September, what’s the point? The first BCS standings haven’t been released yet, let alone the one that’ll decide who’ll be playing in Glendale on Jan. 10.
Here’s what we know, folks. Boise State is no worse than one of the five or six best teams in the country. By defeating Virginia Tech and Oregon State in September, the Broncos have cleared their two biggest hurdles of the regular season, pocketing quality wins over borderline Top 25 opponents. And finally, the balance of their schedule is conducive to both A) finishing another year unbeaten, and B) the reason why the school gets such incessant scrutiny. That’s what we know. Everything else is a lot of hot air. Anyway, isn’t margin of victory, aka “style points”, not supposed to be a factor as far as the polls and rankings are concerned? Yeah, right.
By Matt Zemek
A noted game from college football’s 141-year history could be compared to Saturday night’s Boise State-Oregon State game: the 1991 Cotton Bowl between Miami (“The U”) and Texas.
The Longhorns were certainly a solid team, but they didn’t have the weapons, the smoothness, or the physicality of Miami. The Hurricanes clearly outclassed Texas and romped to a very easy win. Of course, Miami drilled Texas by a margin far greater than Boise’s 13-point spread against Oregon State, but the superiority established in each game was clear.
The other connection between the two games is as follows: Both Miami and Boise State committed tons of personal foul penalties, racking up cheap shots in an arrogant and almost purposefully reckless display of “we-bad-and-we-know-it” hubris. Actually, with “The U,” the recklessness was clearly purposeful; it’s hard to go quite as far with Boise State. Nevertheless, both teams – in games played almost 20 years apart – were so unconcerned with their penalty-fests and their sustained sloppiness that they conveyed the same basic message: “We don’t give a darn how we’re perceived; deal with us. We’ll beat you no matter how many mistakes we make. See if we care.”
There’s no reason to hate Boise State for being supremely skilled or for winning every game in sight. There’s no point in hating Boise State because of the color of its football field. No one should hate Boise State because Chris Petersen is a phenomenal coach, or because the Broncos – through no fault of their own – exist in a weak conference. (Is being a member of the WAC a sin? You’d think as much, given much of the commentary surrounding the Broncos.) There’s no reason to hate Boise State because the Broncos aren’t in the SEC, either. I realize that the Atlanta Braves used to play in the National League West, and that the Atlanta Falcons used to play in the NFC West, but it’s just not feasible for Boise State to join the SEC. The Pac-10 also chose different schools in the recent realignment round, so unless Larry Scott raids Craig Thompson’s pantry, Boise will be in the Mountain West next year. All in all, any football-based hatred of Boise State is off-the-rails ridiculous.
However, with all of that having been said, this game tonight against Oregon State – filled with cheap shots that “The U” reveled in against Texas on January 1, 1991 – offers a legitimate basis for hating Boise State. The Broncos have a humble coach and an equally humble quarterback, Kellen Moore, but many of the boys in blue acted like thugs on Saturday. That’s no way to earn America’s affection. It certainly seems as though Boise State is following this chip-on-the-shoulder theme a little too fully.
That’s unfortunate, because the Broncos are good enough to let their level of play speak for itself… all the way to a deserved BCS title game bid if Alabama or Ohio State lose.