Still withholding some judgement and too much joy with only two games since the OC split. BUT there is renewed optimism and less sense of doom. Boise State has a playcaller that is adapting this personnel and the players are playing with renewed vigor.
Game Ball One:
George Holani
Mr. Holani had himself quite the night. He had 157 rushing on only 17 carries (9.2 average). Even if you take out his 59-yard run he still had 98 yards rushing. That’s a pretty solid night when you split your carries with another back who is showing he is more than capable. Holani had 170 total yards (five receiving and eight on punt returns). Mans does it all. Funnily enough he “only” had a TD reception (instead of the preconceived notion of getting a rushing TD). Anyway, he got a tuddy and that’s all that matters.
Congratulations to Mr. Holani!
Game Ball Two:
Ashton Jeanty
The true freshman phenom has been putting in a lot of work lately. On Saturday Mr. Jeanty had 19 carries and amassed his own century-mark with 109 yards (5.7 yard average). Add in two touchdowns (the last one I honestly don’t think was intentional. The Red Sea parted and he wasn’t just going to stop) and he gave the Broncos their first back-to-back games with two rushers with 100 (or more) yards in program history. That’s nuts. It was pretty hairy there for a minute as Elelyon Noa did come in and on five carries tried for his own shot at a hundo.
Congratulations to Mr. Jeanty!
Game Ball Three:
Ezekiel Noa
Dude played like his hair was on fire and it might have been. Mr. Noa had six total tackles (all solo), a sack, two TFLs, an interception, and a forced fumble. Interestingly enough that was his first career interception. You cannot expect dudes to have stellar games every night but–if I had my way–it would certainly happen. Oh well. I suppose that’s what makes these types of situations special.
Congratulations to Mr. Noa!
Game Ball Four:
Jonah Dalmas
Dalmas had himself another fantastic night. With 16 total points (four made FGs and four made PATs) he continues to add to his mystique be just being able to put points on the board. While the crowd (and myself if I am being honest) would prefer a touchdown vs a FG, Dalmas is undoubtedly content with putting points on the board any which way is needed.
Congratulations to Mr. Dalmas!
Game Ball Five:
Bronco Nation
The Albertsons Stadium crowd did a good. With a sellout, and new record, crowd of 37,663 the fanbase showed up in force. Even causing a false start penalty for Fresno State on the first play (Fresno State did buckle down on the discipline the rest of the game, to their credit). That false start did come on the southern end of the field so especial call out to those folks in the SEZ. Lets keep this momentum going everyone.
Congratulations to Bronco Nation!
Your Turn
Let me know who all I missed in the comments.
At this point all, well nearly all, of us should be eating crow. Nearly everyone maligned the O-line. They are the difference. It becomes obvious it must have been coaching, schemes, and play calls all along. Game balls to the entire O-line.
I’ll be the first to eat that delicious delicious crow!! Turned out the scheme and play calling was trash. The big uglies deserve the game ball. What an amazing turn around. Relieved that the problem wasn’t necessarily talent up front.
Exciting times. Going to get even better when we figure out the pass game. Give the OC a bye week and see what he can do!!
Here are your random stats showing how much better the run game is this year: Last season, Boise had a total of 1,444 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. Through 6 games, Boise has 1,113 yards and 10 touchdowns. They’ll likely eclipse that mark in the next two games. Since the season opener, Holani has averaged 5.7 yards per carry. He’s averaging 108 per game since then (91 overall), which puts him on pace to break 1,000 yards by game 12. Boise’s 40 points were the most since November last year, also against Fresno. The last season where Boise had multiple… Read more »
Two more game balls:
Rodney Robinson for a great pick and JL Skinner for being JL Skinner
That was a good pick. Olidepo would have done it better….
I can’t help it. Still a fan boy!!
There is definitely a new excitement in the air. It has been bottled up for quite some time. It has nothing to do with Mr. Excitement (Coach Andy). It is the fans and the team. I really don’t care who coaches or who plays as long as it continues. Things change quickly but for now, it seems as though some of the problems may have been the right fit for Boise at QB. Maybe Hank can excel at another program. It wasn’t as if the fans weren’t behind him. The fans put up with him because he seemed to be… Read more »