Five Strikes: Boise State Downs San Jose State, Moves to 8-0

After sitting out last week's edition of Five Strikes with the flu (bleck!), I'm back in full force this week, just in time for Boise's Friday night tilt with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

This week's edition is a little bit of retrospective on the 45-7 drubbing of San Jose State and a little bit of preview of the next few games on Boise State's schedule.

So here they are: The five things that struck me during Boise State's most recent win.

Strike ONE: It's About Time Kyle Wilson Had a Good Game

Well, it's about damn time!

Kyle Wilson came into this season as an All-American candidate, a preseason member of the Playboy All-American team, and a possible first round draft pick, who has exceptional cover skills and wicked potential as a return man.

What have we seen from Wilson?

Well, for the first seven games, not much except for him calling more fair catches than anyone in the nation and pushing receivers who have the ball out of bounds.

All that changed on Saturday afternoon. Wilson made his presence felt big time, with five tackles, one for loss, and a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Hopefully, this is an omen for Wilson, and he's finally got his season on track. He also added a 17-yard punt return on the day—maybe he's finally feeling comfortable without waving his hand above his head.

Strike TWO: I Hate Fumbles!!!!

Fumbles have haunted Boise State all season. Fumbled snaps. Snaps that are too high, too low, too early, too late.

But it hasn't all been during the exchange. QB Kellen Moore has shown the tendency to put the ball on the ground.

While he does, thank goodness, recover most of them, I just get this troubling feeling that somewhere down the line, whether it is against Nevada or Idaho for the WAC title, or even in a BCS matchup, that the Broncos' fumble issues are going to come back to bite them in the you know what.

The one blessing about all of the fumbles is that the Broncos are usually up by 15 or 20 points. But I remember the Oregon game, when the Broncos had fumbled snap after fumbled snap. I just knew it was going to cost them the game.

Luckily, their defense forcing turnovers of their own saved the team as a whole.

Like I said, though, I just get this awful feeling that when Boise is driving in the fourth quarter down by two with less than a minute to go, whoops! There goes another fumble—and the Broncos lose the game.

Let it be known, though, I really love Thomas Byrd as the Broncos center. Clearly you're not going to bench Moore because of the fumbles, but something needs to be addressed so this isn't a two or three times a game occurrence.

Strike THREE: Don't Worry About the Rushing Attack

I know plenty of people were expecting the Broncos, who average 190 yards per game on the ground, to run crazy over the San Jose State defense—especially when you took into account the fact that the Spartans had the fourth worst run D in the nation.

So I'm sure plenty of people were surprised by the fact that the Broncos only mustered 140 yards on the ground, most of which came in the second half, and almost half of which came from Doug Martin in the fourth quarter.

So what happened?

Well, the answer is a multi-dimensional one.

For starters, let's give the Spartans some credit. They did shut down Jeremy Avery, holding him to just 50 yards, 38 of which came on one run. They also held Martin to 63 yards, 36 of which came on his fourth quarter TD scamper.

Take away those two 30-plus-yard runs, and the longest run of the afternoon came on Matt Kaiserman's 10-yarder in the third quarter. Take away those two 30-plus-yard runs, and the Broncos had only 66 yards on 30 carries. Big-time kudos to the Spartans!

Another aspect of it was that the Broncos showed a sincere commitment to the passing game, which wasn't that surprising because San Jose State's pass D is pretty bad too, and Kellen Moore happens to be the top-ranked passer in all of college football.

In fact, BSU threw the ball eight more times than it rushed. In the first half, where the Broncos put up half of their points, the team passed on first down on five of their seven drives.

Over the course of the game, when the team ran the ball on first down, they actually excelled, gaining 68 yards on six carries, almost 11.5 yards per carry.

Furthermore, during the team's first seven games the coaching staff was adamant about letting the backs stay on the field for consecutive drives, allowing them to create some sort of rhythm.

In this game though, they seemed to revert a tad, allowing Avery, Martin, Kaiserman, and Mitch Burroughs to all share carries on numerous drives.

Strike FOUR: The Broncos Should Sweep the WAC Hardware

All you have to do is check out Kellen Moore's stats in WAC games to understand why he should and will be named the WAC's Player of the Year at the end of the 2009 season.

Eleven TDs. Zero interceptions. 64 percent completion percentage. 227 passing yards per game. 3-0 record.

I'd say that about clinches it for Moore.

The Defensive Player of the Year award could be a bit more debatable, but whichever way it goes, it should most certainly find its way to Boise.

Safety Jeron Johnson is having an amazing year. His four interceptions lead the team, and he has put some absolute licks on people this season.

Billy Winn has showed a nonstop motor and has seven-and-a-half tackles for loss and three sacks, plus a huge showing in the first two games of the season.

Ryan Winterswyk, who gets my vote, leads the team with nine tackles for loss and has six sacks, giving him 16 for his career. He also has five QB knockdowns, a fumble recovery, and one blocked kick.

The Broncos' greatest competition for WAC defensive honors comes from Nevada's Dontay Moch, who leads the nation with 16.5 tackles for loss and is third in the WAC with 5.5 sacks. He also has 37 tackles and two forced fumbles.

On special teams, it hasn't been the most sensational year for kicker/punter Kyle Brotzman, but he still leads the WAC in scoring and has been the best punter, albeit in limited duty, in the conference.

His rugby-style kicks have produced seven 50-plus-yard punts. He's also rebounded from his early season kicking woes and has nailed his last four FGs. He has 12 on the year, five away from setting a new career mark.

On the sideline, Chris Petersen deserves the Coach of the Year award—yes, even in spite of the ridiculous job Robb Akey has done at Idaho, turning a 10-plus-loss team into one in search of their eighth victory of the 2009 season.

Akey has completed his remarkable turnaround with a senior-laden squad that has experience, albeit only at losing. Peterson has taken a bunch of sophomore and freshmen, and a few juniors, and made them into one of the top teams in the nation.

Strike FIVE: Nevada WHO?

The more and more I pore over the stats, the more I'm not really concerned about the BSU-Nevada game next weekend. Check this out.

Yeah, the Wolf Pack are averaging 43.2 points per game in league play, but the Broncos are hanging 50 per contest.

The Broncos are allowing 16.7 points per game, 12 less than the Wolf Pack's 28 per. Nevada averages an astounding 542 yards per WAC game but also gives up more than 400.

They might have the Broncos contained on the ground, with their league-leading 102 yards per game allowed, but they've also surrendered 22 passing TDs in their eight games so far, 11 in league play.

In terms of turnovers, Nevada is one of the worst in the WAC, with a minus-nine turnover ratio, while the Broncos have the best at plus-10.

Also, in the red zone the Broncos have only allowed teams to score (TD or FG) on eight of 12 trips. That's good for 66.7 percent.

Nevada, on the other hand, has surrendered 18 scores in 19 trips, a whopping 94.7 percent.