What We Learned: Week 10

Deep breath, everyone. Inhale. Exhale. We’re ok. Boise State is 7-1 (4-0 MWC) and steadily on the right path, even if it’s bumpy. We did the thing! Break out some Halloween candy and let’s recap what we learned this week.

Hank is Bach!

First and foremost, our fearless leader is back! Hank Bachmeier came out and had a solid (if unspectacular) game in his first action since the Hawaii injury. There was one throw he probably wishes he could do-over, and he did man up into a dangerous first down run late in the 3rd. But, after heading to the locker room briefly, Hank came back out and finished the game strong.

Despite the heart palpitations every time he takes off on a run, Bronco Nation clearly has found their rock. Hank gutted out some tough throws and generally commanded the comeback like a veteran.

A Tale of Two Halves

Speaking of which, some of you may have only checked the box score and were shocked to learn of a comeback against checks notes SAN JOSE STATE? Yes, the perennial WAC punching bags actually found themselves a stalwart senior QB who did his best Aaron Rodgers impression all night long. The first half was almost all SJSU highlights as Josh Love picked apart the Bronco defense to the tune of “Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. Avery Williams atoned for some iffy coverage during the game by making a truly glorious punt return for a touchdown to stem the tide somewhat.

After entering halftime down 24-17, the Broncos got one hell of a halftime speech and some adjustments to the gameplan; namely, why not run it on one of the nation’s worst run defenses? Which brings us to...

More Holani

It’s truly exciting when a highly-hyped freshman comes in and makes you think his skills might actually have been somewhat undersold. George Holani’s performance was really, really, really good.

Feed that man the rock, and watch the magic happen. Four touchdowns! We’re running out of superlatives, so it’s time to start inventing new words to describe this freshman campaign.

The Defense Is...

Confusing? I can’t tell if we’re missing Kekoa Nawahine more than we’re letting on, or if they’re just not as good as we thought they were? That said, Josh Love was as good as advertised, as were his receivers. BYU remains defined by an insanely weird third quarter, and I have no idea what to make of our defense.

Here’s hoping it’s a weird candy coma post-halloween, and they all get back to their performance diets and improved play this week.

Avery Williams, Man of Mystery

I am here to stan for Avery Williams, kick returner. However, I have some concerns regarding Avery Williams, cornerback. I might not be alone, it seems.

As we are not coaches, it doesn’t really matter what our opinions are, but here’s hoping Avery finds that killer punt return mentality equivalent while in coverage. The defensive backfield as a whole didn’t have a stellar outing, doing just enough in the second half to secure the win.

Josh Love for Heisman

Regardless of defensive performance, I will go on record as having watched several San Jose State games this season, and Josh Love is definitely the best QB named Love in the conference, and he’s probably the MWC QB, period. San Jose executed perfectly, as Love was in-sync with his wideouts. Part of that may lie with our defense’s performance, but sometimes the stars align and a QB is just in the zone that night.

So, what’d we miss? Hit up the comments with what you learned this week.