Boise State Football: Report Card Grades for the Broncos in Week 1

With the opening weekend of the season in the bag we were treated a glimpse of what seven months of offseason preparations have done for many of the teams.  We learned Texas Christian may not be the defensive powerhouse it has been in the past by allowing Baylor to put up 50 points in the Horned Frogs' loss.  We learned that the national champion Auburn Tigers are looking very un-champion-like as they barely avoided the upset by Utah State. 

For Boise State, we just confirmed what many of us already knew: Boise State can still win.  Though TCU fell in its opening week there are still some trap games on Boise State's schedule.  Like last year's Nevada, Air Force and San Diego State both pose an upset threat.

To return to a BCS bowl the Broncos must be perfect and that is tough in any conference. Though Boise came away with the win, let's grade the performance and look at the ways it can improve to stay successful through the rest of its season.     

Quarterbacks: Kellen Moore, Grant Hedrick

Performance Grade: A

Kellen Moore was, well, Kellen Moore.  

Other than one mistake on an interception, Moore was as efficient as ever, completing 28 of his 34 passing attempts and averaging 7.7 yards per pass for a total of 261 yards.  He relied heavily on short, quick and very accurate passes as he spread the ball to nine different receivers.  He picked holes in the Georgia defense, even throwing into triple coverage for one of his three touchdown passes.  It's safe to say Moore continues his march towards a potential Heisman trophy.

Grant Hedrick, a true freshman from Oregon, presented himself as yet another tool for the Boise offense.  He has incredible legs, complementing an area where Moore is lacking. Boise State head coach Chris Petersen lined him up in the pistol, and during his two carries he showed great speed and agility, gaining nine yards per carry for 18 yards.  We didn't get to see his arm but he excelled in his current role.  Look for him to play an extra part in future rushing plays.

The reason the QBs did not get an A+ was simply because Moore was off on his long passes.  His arm even looked a little weak on his one interception to Branden Smith.  It may have been opening game jitters, but he did redeem himself with his excellent short passes.

Running Backs: Doug Martin, D.J. Harper

Performance Grade: B

The rushing effort was a little lacking from Boise State, but it still got the job done and I expect the running backs to be much better against future opponents.  Georgia's defense did an excellent job shutting down the run, filling the gaps and allowing only 3.5 yards per carry.  There were more than a few rushes for a loss given up by Boise.  

Doug Martin is a very powerful runner who keeps his feet moving even after second and third contact.  He gained 57 yards on 24 carries for an average of 2.4 yards.  Not stellar numbers, but he did have one excellent run to outside for a touchdown after a great stiff arm to a Georgia defender.

To complement the power run game, Boise State brought out its speed and finesse back, D.J. Harper.  Harper has been injured in each of the last two seasons but can pick and choose holes and slip through the defense in a very Ian Johnson-like fashion. I don't think Georgia was expecting to see him as much and he caught them off-guard with his eight carries as he gained 5.5 yards per carry with one touchdown.

Bottom line, the running back corps is fine; it just faced an SEC defense. Georgia was very good against the run and Boise State was lucky to get the 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns.  In upcoming games watch the running game become explosive.     

Receivers, Tight Ends

Performance Grade: A+

Considering there were nine separate Boise State players that racked up receiving yards is a true testament to Kellen Moore.  Without Titus Young and Austin Pettis this offense may be a bit harder to defend against since there is no definitive go-to guy in this receiving corps.  Any target is possible and Moore is accurate enough to make any receiver good. 

Of the nine players that got catches, the two that stand out were freshman WR Matt Miller and senior TE Kyle Efaw. Both scored touchdowns over the middle, but Efaw's came after diving into four Georgia defenders at the 1-yard line fighting to the goal line—a moment where Boise State showed it was not going down easy.

Miller, on the other hand, was consistently open and broke off an average of 11.4 yards per reception for a total of 57 yards.  This have been due to the fact Georgia discounted him on the depth charts. 

In one other impressive showing of poise Tyler Shoemaker grabbed a touchdown pass from Moore as three Bulldog defenders were crossing the balls path.  Talk about threading the needle and following the ball in.

There was nothing I could see wrong with the receivers—they all got open at some point.  On one of the incomplete passes Moore led an open Shoemaker a little too much, possibly a little of muscle memory throwing to the extremely fast Young last year, but that was corrected and not the wide receiver's fault. 

Bottom line is if Moore threw it in this game, a Bronco receiver was coming down with it.     

Offensive Line

Performance Grade: A

The offensive line was outstanding.  It gave up no sacks and limited the pressure on Moore, allowing him to comfortably distribute the ball on pass plays.  

The Georgia defensive line was significantly larger then the Broncos' O-line.  Take for instance Boise State's center Thomas Byrd. At just 5'11" and 288 pounds he lined up against Georgia's 6'6", 350-pound nose tackle Kwame Geathers.  Yet Byrd consistently held the line, even wearing out Geathers whom asked to be pulled out twice. 

The Georgia defensive line outweighed the Boise State offense at each position they lined up at.  Yet Boise constantly got lower and out-leveraged the Bulldog defense.

What Boise State also did very well was spread the wealth.  There were a couple plays where a Georgia defender would be breaking through and Nate potter would break off his block and pick up his falling comrade.  Excellent communication on the line.  

The only dark spot was blocking for the run.  On the run Georgia's size did come into play.  On the pass Boise could keep Georgia at bay and away from Moore, but as far as creating holes for the backs to slip through, they were few and far between. However, in the Mountain West conference, watch for this line to create holes big enough to fit the Titanic through.     

Defensive Line

Performance Grade: A+

Boise State’s tough defensive front outplayed Georgia’s offensive line, limiting the Bulldogs to 31 rushes for just 137 yards, 80 of which came on a Brandon Boykin touchdown run. Isiah Crowell finished with a mere 60 yards on 15 carries. By the second half, Georgia had completely given up on the run, which allowed Boise to focus on Aaron Murray, sacking him a whopping six times—all on third down. 

Shea McClellin and Chase Baker wreaked havoc on the line of scrimmage, blowing up plays in the backfield and making things very tough on Murray.

"They're good up front," Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. "They're very talented. They do a good job on first down, which allows them to pin their ears back on third down. They're all seniors and they've played together forever. They're physical and they play hard. We had a lot of good stuff. We just couldn't get into it because we couldn't get going."

"We want to be relentless," Boise State defensive end McClellin said. "I think we were over the course of the game, just never giving up and always attacking."

And they were.  The Bronco defensive line may have been the key to this game, completely catching the Georgia players, coaches and even fans off-guard.  The Boise State fans were likely a bit surprised at how aggressive the Boise State D-line was at collapsing the pocket and stuffing the run.  Expect some very low scores games from Broncos opponents this year.   

Linebackers

Performance Grade: B+

You didn't hear the Bronco linebackers getting their names called a whole lot during the game, but they did get in on a few sacks (one by Tommy Smith, an Atlanta native, in the final minutes of the game). 

The Bronco linebackers did a good job in confusing the Georgia offensive line by consistently changing the look they gave them.  Jumping in, backing off, rotating around, they were a definite player in the head game of the Bulldogs' O-line.  This allowed the stellar Broncos defensive line to pound the Georgia offense.  On run plays it filled just about every hole the Bulldogs opened up, virtually eliminating any chance of a successful rush up the middle by Georgia. 

The one black eye came on the 80-yard run by Brandon Boykin, where both linebackers were fooled and then took poor routes to attack the ball.  This wont happen often as the Broncos linebackers are both veteran players, but it was detrimental.

They may not be the stars of the show in this game, but they definitely did their job and for this they deserve credit.  Keep an eye on USC-transfer Aaron Tevis to make a big impact in upcoming games in disrupting the opposing teams; offense. 

Secondary

Performance Grade: C

This was the lone weak spot in the Bronco defense, allowing for a few large plays to be broken off by the Bulldogs. One big 51-yard reception by Malcolm Mitchell was costly to the Broncos, as it kept the Bulldogs close with 10 minutes still left in the game.  Another touchdown reception came on a 36-yard pass where the Bronco secondary was flat-out beat. 

On quite a few plays the Bulldog receivers got open but the defensive line collapsed the pocket, forcing inaccurate passes or coming up with a sack.  If the Bulldogs' line had done a better job there may have been more completions. They also were completely ineffective at even slowing Boykin down on his big 80-yard run.

One bright spot was the interception by CB Jarrell Gavins in the Bulldog drive following an interception given up by Moore.  This effectively squashed any momentum swing the Bulldogs experienced and led to a Bronco touchdown.

The young secondary needs some work for this to be a championship team and I do not doubt Chris Petersen will emphasize this.  Continue to look for Gavins to make great plays, but they may have a bit more trouble with a more successful passing QB like San Diego State's Ryan Lindley. 

Special Teams

Performance Grade: A+

In what was supposed to be a game showcasing a spectacular Georgia special teams squad, the Broncos stole the show. Rugby-style punter Brad Elkin was spectacular, continuously pinning the Bulldogs deep into their own territory with an average of 40.1 yards per punt.  The punt team  only allowed an impressive four yards of return while the Bulldogs field position was perpetually dismal most of the game.  The Boise State punt return team did much better with Chris Potter, averaging 18.3 return yards for the night with one large 49-yard return late in the game that set up a Bronco touchdown.

Boykin, after daring Coach Petersen to kick to him, did manage one solid return on a kickoff but only averaged 22 yards on returns, matching Boise State's Doug Martin in kick return average yards.

Sadly or gladly (depending on how you look at it), we did not see the Broncos field goal unit during this game, so it cannot be graded as there is a new kicker replacing Kyle Brotzman this year.  It did, however, make every single extra point, so kudos. 

Coaching

Performance Grade: A+

The two-time Paul "Bear" Bryant Award winner, Chris Petersen was in usual form for this game, continuously outmaneuvering the coaching staff across the field.  For every mistake an adjustment was made and the same mistake was never made twice.

Brand new offensive coordinator Brent Pease proved he can step up and fit right into the Bronco play book, calling very efficient and effective plays throughout the game. When a play was ineffective it wasn't necessarily scrapped but tried in a different situation with success. Runs and passes were used to great effect, but sadly we didn't see any signature Broncos tricks.  It just goes to show you this year they may not be needed—though I hope to still see one or two trick plays.  

Pete Kwiatkowski, Broncos defensive coordinator, has put together what is turning out to be the best Broncos defense in the history of Boise State, and he is only in his second year.  It doesn't really matter when in your first year you have the second best defense in all of FBS behind Rose Bowl champs TCU.  

The bottom line is this coaching staff had just about every aspect of this team prepared for this game, all the way down to the media and remaining calm in an obviously hostile environment. However, you can expect no less from quite possibly the best coach in college football: 62-5 and 2-0 in BCS bowls speaks for itself. 

Coach Petersen and his coaching staff will outcoach every opponent on their schedule this year, including if they go to a BCS Bowl.

Period.

Intangibles

Performance Grade: A+

There are a few intangibles that brought Boise State this win, things that may have gone unnoticed but are no less important.

The first of which is the blocking capabilities of the backs if a defender slips through.  Kellen Moore was untouched for pretty much all of the game, and a big part of that was Doug Martin.  Picking up blocks on pass plays he was not involved in was crucial and kept Moore in the pocket longer, meaning a guaranteed throw. And when Moore throws its going to be caught. 

Second, the amount of leadership on this team is impressive.  Twenty-five seniors returned and all know how to lead, but more importantly they know how to follow. They rally around each other and remain calm when disaster strikes.  This was definitely evident after the Moore interception.  Not a single emotion crossed the team's face and the defense went back to work. This picks up the young players and the play improves across the board.

Along the same lines, the third intangible is the discipline of this Broncos team, evident in each scoring drive they had and how much they stifled the Bulldog offense.  More importantly, however, is the fact that in their opening game the Broncos only committed four penalties.  This is quite amazing given the environment, the opponent and the importance of this game. 

Fourth, the Broncos continue to show humility and poise in the face of what seems to be a roar of anti-Boise State rhetoric.  The players refuse to comment and the coaches scoff at any attempt to get a rise out of them.  Meanwhile, their opponents blow up Twitter and Facebook with outrageous claims they fail to back up.  Boise State just continues to perform regardless of what the rest of the world says, and in this day and age that speaks volumes.

Finally, a quote:

"I wish God would put your heart in some of my players' bodies."

This quote from Rudy sums up this game nicely.  Georgia had the bigger and faster team, but Boise State had more heart and wanted it more.  That is an immeasurable advantage in any sport and it showed in this game.

Overall Grade for the Game vs. Georgia

Performance Grade: A

Other then a few minor slips-ups that I chalk up to opening day jitters in an SEC opponent's backyard, this team played very well.  The Broncos are very good this year, and possibly even better then last year.  With a fairly easy schedule over the rest of the season, Boise State stands to go undefeated.  It is unlikely they will face another ranked opponent this year with TCU's loss, so they will need some help from the rest of FBS to ensure some key losses to BCS teams. Air Force, TCU, and San Diego State are all a threat, but they face the first two at home where they just don't lose, and San Diego does not present anything the Broncos have not seen.

That being said, Georgia has now gained Boise State as its biggest fan and the Broncos would love nothing more than for the Bulldogs to take the SEC East and win the SEC.  With the next game two weeks away against Toledo, Boise State a lot of time to hone the areas it was successful in and build up the areas it was weak in. 

Do the Broncos have what it takes to make to their third BCS bowl in six years and possibly the BCS National Championship?  Time will only tell.