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Boise St. is back

Well, the game and post game threads always seem to bring out the naysayers it seems. I understand realistic, but it sure seems like pessimistic gets mislabeled as realistic by pessimists an awful lot.

I'm going to write a little bit on why I think we're back. But before I even start, I'd imagine some people wonder why they should believe I've got it all figured out. I don't know, quite frankly, and I probably don't...but I think I got some of it figured out at least. I got two examples of why what I have to say should at least be considered.

1) I don't have a crystal ball, and one opinion is as good as another in the grand scheme of things. But, I think a person would be hard pressed to find someone who knows me in person, or on this forum, that would say I don't have a clue about football, football teams, or football programs.

2) It'll sound cold, but Boise St. losing doesn't rip my guts out. It never has. Part of that is because I know how hard it can be to go undefeated, even when you have a great team. The other, more significant part, is that I root for Boise St. because it's a well run, small school program, that has overcome a huge amount of adversity to play above what is normally considered possible. We manage to do this fairly consistently also. The two teams I root for are so different, and exist in such different stratospheres and circumstances, that they are apples to oranges in my view of them. In other words, I get excited about a few different things, and for different reasons, for each of them.

So Boise St. is my against all odds, small school team, and I like them for different reasons than I like Florida St. But, all the things we tend to frown upon are all the things that really matter a lot at the very top. Coaching is all pretty much on par at the very top, so it's the players that make the difference. Recruiting matters, and is one of the chief factors. Facilities matter, talented depth matters, location matters, money, alumni, and boosters all matter, 5 star athletes are real difference makers. For the programs that live at the top, it's a way different world.

So we lost tonight, and Saturday night I'll happily watch my "big boy" program dismantle the Oklahoma St. Cowboys in Dallas in a bid to be invited to the first annual CFP. Florida St. received 56 first place votes, wow. Things look real good from here. They're so loaded that, even with three consecutive seasons of high attrition rate to the NFL draft, I would still trade my entire pro team's defense (Dallas) for Florida St.'s defense, sight unseen. Simply for the potential I could develop over the next three years.

Why did I write all that? To show that I have no reason to disillusion myself by trying to turn BSU negatives into positives that result in a false hope for the future. What I write is utterly free of emotional or psychological need. It's purely how I see it. And things look pretty good for Boise St. too.

So, here we go...

I wrote pregame that I was concerned about the following;

- Ole Miss team wide seniority and experience (validated)

- Our CBs' ability to seal edge and stop sweeps/WR Bubble Screens. (invalidated)

- Grant Hedrick's ability to run the offense (validated)

- Keeping their offense off the field so they couldn't run us ragged and dominate 4th (validated)

Based on how my concerns played out, I would think I'd have every reason to be pessimistic, and yet I am the opposite. This was not anything like the UW loss. This team entered the game with some serious challenges. They were facing a veteran team with a lot of positive momentum. They were under a new coaching staff...and I do mean STAFF, as in multiple new hires. We changed our defensive approach and offensive playbook. These kids soaked up a lot of academic learning and basics while Ole Miss was honing what they already know. We have a QB better suited to play for the Oregon Ducks than in this offense imo, and this offense is absolutely dependent upon the QB being smart with the ball. Our defense played lights out for as long as they could hold up. This game, as others have said, was more like the Michigan St. game, despite the lopsided final score.

There are lots of reasons to explain final scores, and this one was for different reasons than UW. I think it boils down to three things, one of which is simply a fact of life for a school like Boise St.

- Grant Hedrick did not protect the ball and allow us to play field position

- Our OL could not beat their DL in goal to go situations

- Our defense lacks Power 5 depth, and I mean upper echelon Power 5. Our depth is not atrocious like it used to be

But make no mistake, we were competitive on that football field.

We could probably point to several things that "went right" for Boise St. tonight. But I'd like to point out one that I think transcends this lone game. Tonight, the Boise St. SPIRIT was resurrected. That's really it in a nutshell. That's why we're back. Our guys never gave up, they fought for each other, they battled no matter how things felt out there, and I think we lacked that at times last season. When you're the small guy, the guy that has to make his own way rather than inherit a silver spoon, the guy who receives skeptic doubt rather than benefit of the doubt, you have to have some intangibles if you're going to succeed. One of those is a fiesty, never say die, spirit. A personality that likes to fight just to fight, regardless what the outcome will be, the risks are, or the what the odds are. I saw that tonight. I mean, who saw 157 pound Donte Deayon scrap with 225 pound Laquan Treadwell? Donte held his ground and wouldn't quit, Donte carried himself like he was 250, not 150.

As tough as we played tonight, I fully expect this team to win its first, undisputed, MWC title...and that's with a sub optimal QB type. I think grant is our QB this year, and I think Grant will look much better against conference opponents. Bryan Harsin did a good recruiting job under circumstances he NEVER should have been able to do better than mediocre. I believe he will bring in a strong recruiting class this year as well. And the best news of all is that it gets even better for us next year I think. Our OL is going to be nasty next year, and everything I hear of Finley says he is the prototypical type of QB for this system. I think it could be so good, Pete might wonder why he didn't just wait it out. A friend of mine once told me that his dad taught him to value character over talent. A talented guy with no character is not as valuable as an average guy with high character. Even an untalented guy with high character can produce. I think there's value in that statement for Boise St. We, more than most, are dependent upon great character, and I saw great character on full display tonight.

In 2007, Florida St. hired LSU OC, Jimbo Fisher, as OC and Head Coach in Waiting for Bobby Bowden. In 2009, Florida St. went 7-6 in the ACC and somehow got a win against West Virginia (33-21) in the Gator Bowl to see Bowden off. In 2010, Jimbo took over a program that was a decade behind in recruiting and coaching practices. He went 10-4, got his team to the ACC CG where they barely lost to Va. Tech, and beat South Carolina 26-17 in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. In 2011, Florida St. went 9-4, finished 2nd in the ACC, and defeated Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl, 18-14. In 2012, FSU went 12-2, won the ACC, and beat Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl 31-10, their first BCS Bowl win since 2000. Everyone knows about 2013's undefeated season, when the FSU offense set a CFB record for points scored (doing so without using a hurry up offense) and took the National Championship. All of that began in 2010 when Jimbo took over. That was when Florida St. was back, it's just that no one else really recognized it until last year.

So for those who feel Boise St. failed in their national ambitions. We're really not national at this point, we're regional. But we could be national. We're like a really good race car that a few parts have gone bad on. 90% of the car is fine, we just need to find those parts again. But that spirit is back, and that's like the driver of the race car. What good is the world's fastest car without a driver? It goes as far as the rust bucket of junk that's been sitting in Bubba's front yard the past 15 years.

Boise St. IS back, and the future is happening right before our eyes. For those who can't see it, I am truly sorry for you, because it's the process that makes the end result so breathtaking. That spark has ridden back into town, we're going to have a great season, next year will be even better, and I'm really excited to see what happens with recruiting.

This content was not created by OBNUG and therefore may not meet our standards. On the contrary, it probably exceeds them.

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