Yes, we did attend Boise State's second scrimmage of the fall on Saturday night. And yes, we are still buzzed from the performance that we saw.
What a difference a week makes, huh? The Bronco offense that we saw on Saturday was nothing like the depressing unit that showed up in Monday's first scrimmage. Perhaps we should say what a difference Kyle Wilson and Jeron Johnson make, too. Without those defensive stars, the Bronco "D" looked far more vulnerable than before.
If you've read the reviews of the Bronco scrimmage, you already know that both Bush Hamdan and Kellen Moore looked solid and that neither separated himself enough for us to have a QB decision any time soon. No matter. There were plenty of other Bronco players and trends to notice on Saturday night. Here are some that stood out:
The hurry-up offense looked fantastic. We are totally okay with this happening as often as possible during the season. The defense had a hard time adjusting, the offense looked crisp, and the shotgun snaps were entirely admissable.
Brandyn Thompson will be solid. The replacement for Orlando Scandrick picked off Bush Hamdan and had some other solid plays, too. He may get burned by being over-aggressive at times, which only makes him an even more perfect replacement for Scandrick.
The resiliency of George Iloka is commendable. The freshman safety was embarrassed by a devastating Jeremy Avery juke, but he bounced back a few plays later with a pick in the end zone. The Kid 'n Play haircut must have had something to do with it.
We have a new least favorite fan: the wives/girlfriends/academic tutors of the football players. If you're attending a scrimmage out of obligation, then you shouldn't be attending a scrimmage.
Ian Johnson prefers to watch. We joked on Friday that Johnson might not play much in the scrimmage, and he ended up not playing at all. In the battle for Johnson's back-up, Avery might have had the best day, but we're still leaning toward D.J. Harper.
The offensive line is not hopeless. In fact, they played relatively solid at times on Saturday. At least it wasn't the embarrassment that several other public scrimmages have shown. There was time to throw, holes to run through, and multiple occasions where the quarterback was not picking himself up off the ground afterward.
Bronco Nation is eager for football. We will never show up at a 6:00 scrimmage at 6:02 ever again. Bronco fans were thick around the stadium, in the stadium, pretty much everywhere you turned. It took us a good 10 minutes to even find a seat. There is no doubt that the Broncos are the hottest ticket in town, and it was good to see that not even a two-game losing streak can dampen the mood.