Like most Bronco fans, we were very pleased with Saturday's 49-7 victory over Idaho State. There were long touchdown passes, big hits, dominating performances, and everybody got to play. It was just like our jayvee football team except without the long touchdown passes, big hits, and dominating performances.
After the game, we threw up some quick thoughts about what we saw. Now, let us expound on those.
Kellen Moore is for real.
The freshman exceeded even our lofty expectations by throwing for 274 yards and two touchdowns in his abbreviated debut. He was smart with the football, accurate with his passes, decisive, controlled, and incredibly calm. We would use more adjectives to describe him, but we need to save some for the next four years.
We thought that his long TD passes were things of beauty, but we were even more impressed by all the passes in between. Moore didn't win the QB job because he could throw long bombs to Titus Young; he won the job because he could go 14-for-19 with no interceptions and only one sack. His instincts showed. He dumped it off to receivers when needed, he stretched the field when the defense gave it to him, and he never made a bad play.
Titus Young is a turnover machine.
Normally, Titus Young fumbles when he is trying to make plays. Saturday, Titus Young fumbled just for the sake of fumbling. He botched a short screen pass on Moore's first career completion (we are still not convinced it was a fumble, however), and he muffed a punt deep in Bronco territory.
Best wishes, Ryan Winterswyk.
The Broncos' most disruptive defensive player had a pretty rough Thursday. He injured his knee in practice, had arthroscopic surgery, and will be out for a few weeks, possibly missing the Bowling Green game. From our perspective, the defensive line wasn't the same without him. The Broncos got their pressure on the quarterback mostly with blitzes and specialty packages, so we wish Winterswyk a speedy recovery and hope he's 100 percent by the time the WAC season rolls around.
Bronco coaches were right about Aaron Tevis.
Who died and made him Colt Brooks? Tevis could not have had a better start to his career, making plays on the Bengals' first series and finishing the night with two sacks and eight tackles. He looks awfully small compared to some of the other guys on the field, but he most certainly does not play like it.
Idaho State can totally beat Idaho.
Enough said, although we will actually say more later during the week.
You can still run on the Broncos.
The stats are deceiving. Idaho State rushed for 115 yards on 45 carries, but minus-48 of those belonged to QB Russell Hill and his sacks and bad decisions. The Bengals' leading rusher, Ken Cornist, had nearly 100 yards and averaged five yards per carry. And he's not even their No. 1 back.
Idaho State got a lot of their yards on off tackle runs or plays to the edge of the defense. We don't pretend to know the Bronco defense well enough to point fingers, but we do pretend to know our own insecurities well enough to be concerned about the next few weeks.
Jeron Johnson nearly killed someone.
Fight Fight BSU's Drew has been convinced that Johnson will indeed end an opposing player this season. On Saturday, Johnson ended Russell Hill's nose.
On top of destroying quarterbacks who do not belong out of the pocket, Johnson led a spirited effort by the secondary. The Bengals only passed for 92 yards, which may or may not have been part of their original gameplan.
Richie Brockel can gain one yard like nobody's business.
Two touchdowns for the Bronco fullback were a pleasant surprise. Brockel looked good on the goalline, and he should be able to pound out the tough yards all season long. We pictured Doug Martin being the short yardage back, so it will be interesting to see who gets those carries once Martin is healthy.
Ian Johnson blocking a kick made our night.
In the race to replace Orlando Scandrick as a special teams demon, the frontrunner is...Ian Johnson? We knew that Johnson and his fellow RBs were going to see time on special teams, but we did not know that they were going to be integral to the punt block. Not that we're complaining.
The KTVB broadcast did not make our night.
Awful camera work. Lack of relevant replays. David Augusto failing to bring anything to the table. This is the last time we think watching an opener against a Division I-AA team at home is any better than being at the stadium.
Now to see how we did on our pre-game predictions.
- Kellen Moore’s first touchdown pass as a Bronco. Check.
- Three or more turnovers by the Boise State defense. Big no check. The Broncos finished with one fumble recovery.
- Appearances at quarterback by Bush Hamdan, Mike Coughlin, Vinny Perretta, Jeremy Avery, and maybe Taylor Tharp. Semi-check.
- Bob Behler butchering someone’s name. Probably Steven Reveles. We don't know about Behler, but we thought Mark Johnson was calling Idaho State RB Ken Cornist "Ken Portis" all night.
- Boise State scoring on special teams…via blocked kick! Well, they did block a kick.
- Jeron Johnson getting flagged for unnecessary roughness. Russell Hill wishes.
- Doug Martin scoring a touchdown on a goalline package. And by "Doug Martin," we mean "Richie Brockel."
- The no-huddle offense. Check.
- Brad Elkin not needing a shower after the game is over. We did not receive an update on Elkin's showering schedule.