At various times during the preseason, people picked the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs to be the third or fourth best team in the WAC. At various times during Wednesday night's game, we said to ourselves, "Really?! The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs?!"
The gap between the Bulldogs and the Broncos was so vast that you could have filled the divide with the metaphorical weight of Daniel Porter's regret over signing his letter of intent. At no point during the game could anyone ever have thought that LaTech was in the same league (literally and figuratively) as the Broncos, yet somehow the Bulldogs were once expected to be one of BSU's chief rivals. Karl Benson must be so proud.
As Bronco fans, we'll take the win no matter who it is against. We had just hoped to see more of a fight. Still, we found plenty of interesting tidbits to take away from the game, and we didn't even bother putting them into a coherent blog post. Enjoy.
Kellen Moore, Kellen Moore, Kellen Moore ... Coach Pete > Derek Dooley ... Ian Johnson found a way to have an impact, which is a departure from 2006 yet strangely necessary in 2008 ... D.J. Harper spent the past seven months earning those two touchdowns ... trick plays never get old ... three-and-outs do ... Good to see Julian Hawkins and Austin Pettis getting involved again ... Was anyone else disappointed when Jeron Johnson let up on Taylor Bennett on a blitz? ... Our George Iloka jersey should be arriving in the mail any day now
Kyle Brotzman: Swiss Army kicker
Brotzman's legend grew leaps and bounds last night thanks to the special teams clinic he put on the Bulldogs. Has anyone ever won the Ray Guy and the Lou Groza in the same year? Check out these numbers: a 72-yard punt, a 57-yard punting average, two punts inside the 10, a 49-yard field goal, and a kickoff out of bounds right before halftime. OK, so that last one wasn't so good.
What is even stranger is that we heard Brotzman did not have a good week of practice and that he was being pushed by Brad Elkin and Brock Jaramillo. Kind of like how Bush Hamdan and Kellen Moore were neck-and-neck during fall camp, we imagine.
Incompletion!
We would be fine if we never saw Kellen Moore scramble ever again ... We would also be fine if Mike Coughling never ran the option again ... Was it just us or was LaTech picking on Kyle Wilson in the first half? ... That Daniel Porter is a good running back; we cannot fathom why he does not get every single carry in that backfield ... The Bronco return game looks significantly worse than it did during fall camp ... maybe Brotzman needs to return kicks ...
Defensive tackles rule the day
There is a lot of praise to be handed out across the Bronco defense, but let's not forget to include Boise State's defensive tackles among our adoration. Those guys are good, they are stout, and they are fresh thanks to a wonderful rotation by the Bronco coaches.
Steven Reveles, you are a man among boys. Joe Bozikovich, you are immovability defined. Billy Winn, may we never need to get around you in order to reach something we really need right at that moment. And others, you are special to us. Good work.