I'm surprisingly ulcer-free after last night's contest. I don't know why, but I was never really too concerned about the outcome. Boise State looked like a team that could compete with anyone last night, and a few different bounces might've given this win much more breathing room. As it were, it was a tight one...but Tulsa is a solid team and the victory was a solid as well. Not every game is going to be perfect, but the Broncos record still is...therefore, I'm happy. Allow me to know upload all of my game thoughts here now so I can enjoy the weekend for once.
- Far happier with a 7-point road win than an 18-point home win. Why? Well, for one our D-line and O-line played great. The D-line was in Kinne's business for most of the night and the O-line gave Kellen Moore approximately 12 minutes to throw. The conditions weren't hospitable and Tulsa is a solid team, but Boise State found a way to win. Don't get me wrong, I would've gladly taken a 20-point win, but sometimes it's just not in the cards.
- Let's drop this "how they fared against common opponents" nonsense right now. Rece Davis, Trevor Matich, and Old Lou found it convenient to discount Boise State's legitimacy by the tired "look how Tulsa did against Oklahoma" line. Look, these little hypotheticals work both ways, fellas and college football is anything but apples to apples. I'm getting so darn sick of the talking heads deriding the Broncos for not annihilating every single opponent. We're off to a 6-0 start for the second straight year...let us enjoy it. NOBODY thinks we're headed to the national championship so quit announcing your disgust when the '85 Bears don't walk onto the field. In 2008, Utah had wins of 7 points, 2 points, and three games decided by a field goal and they still went on to curb-stomp Alabama in a BCS game.
- George Iloka is back. Take away his bite on the trick play and Iloka looked back to his old self. He admitted in pre-game interviews that he hadn't been 100% for a few weeks and he looked great last night tackling in the open field and flying to the ball all night.
- Stay with the hot hand. The statline will show that Doug Martin got more carries last night (and for good reason), but there were a few times when I thought they should've kept Mad Martin on the field instead of bringing in Avery, who was struggling to find running room all night.
- Boise State went Rush Limbaugh conservative in the 4th quarter and I think it allowed Tulsa to hang around. Kellen had days to throw and was consistently hitting the open man, so I'm not sure why the clock-salting running was deemed necessary even on 3rd and longs. They succeeded in burning clock, but when Tulsa's D stiffened against the run, we were forced to punt. We might've been able to put an insurance TD on the board if we'd acted like we cared about one.
- Something is wrong with Kyle Wilson. His defensive skills remain and his lack of picks can be attributed to him seeing fewer passes chucked his way—but on punt returns he's contributing a whole lotta nothin'. In his defense, kick coverage isn't giving him much room and opponents are kicking to him high and short—but Wilson seems tentative on returns and is fair catching far too many. Getting north and south seemed to be his hallmark last year...this year it's anything but. Could this be the same All-American curse that struck Quinton Jones? We've got 7 games to find out.
- Shea McClellin at times looks like our best Defensive End. I love me some Winterswyk, but McClellin has shown a combination of speed, power, and awareness the last few weeks that could give Winter a serious run for his money. Last year, I thought that the Hout was a lock to start opposite Swyk, but McClellin has shown why the Bronco coaching staff made the trek to Marsing.
- Chase Baker continues to impress. GJ Kinne was virtually sacked by his own lineman on one play as Baker effortlessly tossed his blocker right into the Tulsa QB. Billy Winn and Chase Baker may be the best DT tandem we've ever had when all is said and done.
- Who peed in the redzone's Wheaties? The Broncos continued to show last night that they hate the redzone, or the redzone hates them. Effortless drives between the 20s end in stagnation. Credit to Brotzman and Co. for making sure we at least came away with points, but we've left countless points off the board this year due to redzone struggles (I count at least 8 just last night). Isn't it a bit far into the season for these shenanigans?
- Austin Pettis records a TD for the 6th straight game. That's gotta be some sort of record...Tom Scott?
- I'm really starting to wonder about that whole "burning Kirby Moore's redshirt" deal.
- Kyle Efaw's one-handed conversion grab looked like a Darryl Dawkins dunk.
- Why isn't Kellen Moore in the Heisman discussion? The ESPN bumpers kept referring to Cincy's Tony Pike as a Heisman contender...why not Moore? Kellsy has his team ranked higher, has more TD passes and less INTs, and has a higher pass efficiency rating. Confused? Me too.
- The broadcast team picked up on Doug Martin's seething rage. After Doug's untimely fumble he took over a complete series and gashed the Golden Hurricane over and over, after which the broadcast team said that the fumble must've "aggravated" Martin into running harder. Exactly. Can't say fumbles are the optimum way to generate the patented Doug Martin rage, however...maybe some Waterboy-esque visualizations instead?
- Still not feeling great about the win? Here's more Oklahoma comparisons that will have you seeing things in a rosier light. Boise State gave up roughly 25 more total yards to Tulsa than they managed against Oklahoma (and that game was in Norman, mind you). Kinne's completion percentage and total yardage was virtually identical against Boise State and against Oklahoma. Tulsa managed 116 rushing yards against the Sooners and 88 against the Broncos. The Golden Hurricane also converted one-third of their 3rd down attempts against the Sooners and only one-sixth agains the Broncos. The Broncos played well, gave up two big plays and fumbled the ball away. There are plenty of things to work on, but Boise State handled Tulsa about as well as the Sooners did, but less capitalizing made this one closer than many prefer. Sometimes dominant wins aren't reflected on the scoreboard, but 6-0 is 6-0, ladies and gents...and Boise State firmly controls their fate for once. We win'em all...we're in.