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Haven’t done bullet points in a while, but hey...haven’t had football in a while. Here are my stream-of-consciousness bullet points from last night’s season opening win over the Aggies.
- George Holani is real good. Feed him. At one point, it looked like Utah State’s Jaylen Warren was just plowing his way through the Bronco defense...but Warren failed to hit 100 yards on the night (94) on 23 carries. Boise State’s sophomore standout hit the century mark on just 14 touches...a sterling 7.1 YPC and let’s be honest, this was a fairly light workload for Furious George.
- Hank Bachmeier (henceforth known as ‘Hank Scorpio’) had a good start after missing a ton of the 2019 season and returning for a forgettable bowl performance. Hank completed his first 7 passes of the night and made us all remember we have tight ends on the team. Sure, Hank missed a couple of passes, but not by a lot...and didn’t make any real bad decisions on his way to 4 total TDs. Bruh, we gotta talk about that slide technique though if you want to have patellar tendons left.
- New lines? No probs. The new look offensive line protected Hank pretty well last night and opened nice running lanes for George and crew...no big concerns after game 1 (which has NOT been the case the last few cycles). Meanwhile, the rebuilt D-line made Utah State QB Jason Shelley look like novelist Mary Shelley (Victorian...demure) and got two sacks from newbies Shane Irwin and Divine Obichere (JuCo teammates).
- Lockdown secondary. Look, Utah State was definitely missing some playmakers from season’s past, but the Broncos only allowed Aggie QB Jason Shelley 94 yards through the air and a shade over 50% passing with a LONG of 13 yards. Broncos had bracket coverage on any deep threat all night and the main reason Shelley was running for his life was because of the blanket coverage. A beautiful blue blanket.
- Stef Cobbs is one slippery fella. Wouldn’t mind seeing him get a few more touches per game.
- Zeke Noa got to tackle his little brother...a rare thrill if you have brothers. Plus, Zeke led the team in tackles (8) and we won...so he wins the title of Supreme Noa for the year.
- Khalil Shakir is a bad man...and I’m not saying he’s bad, man. Shakir led the Bronco receivers with 123 yards last night (and two TDs) but also rushed for 34 yards on 3 tries and in general is just awesome. I’m glad he chose the Broncos, aren’t you?
- My goodness, Scott Matlock got big.
- My goodness, Tyneil Hopper got big,
- My goodness, that was a bad punt.
- If you had Tyric LeBeauf getting the first Bronco INT of the year, congrats...he did it!
- Giving Eric Kiesau an “inconclusive” for my grade at OC, but I saw no baffling plays and a few that didn’t work probably will in the future when they tighten up their execution. Mainly, he has two mega playmakers in George Holani and Khalil Shakir, so how hard can it be?
- I mean, come ON
GEORGE HOLANI YOU ARE INSANE pic.twitter.com/EjVOGs7DdF
— Boise Edits (@boise_edits) October 25, 2020
- The crowd noise (piped in, obvs) made me forget (at times) that there were no fans in the stands. That said...let’s get some fans in the stands. There is a way. This is the way.
- Lot of talk about NC State transfer Brock Miller bolstering the Bronco D and he didn’t even play. Things that make you go finger-on-chin emoji.
- Put me on the Markel Reed train. I like this kid.
- I like having football back.
What else you got?
Feel free to weigh in.