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The football team leaves on business
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The Boise State football team’s road to an undefeated season stops in Laramie, Wyo. on Saturday. There the Broncos will look to keep moving toward a ranking in the nation’s top 25. The team will get its first road test of the season while Head Coach Chris Petersen will also get his first road game in his new position.
The University of Wyoming will host the Broncos in the third meeting between the two teams. BSU is undefeated (2-0) against the Cowboys in the series, but will face one of their toughest challenges this year against Wyoming. “They’ve got those guys playing hard. They give you a lot of different looks,” Petersen said. “A lot of blitzing. We had kind of heard they were gonna go to that style, we saw them play Utah State a few games back and it gave us some wrinkles that we hadn’t seen yet.”
Perhaps the most concerning factor for Bronco fans this Saturday is the drastic increase in elevation that the game will be played at. Despite playing in a stadium at 7,200 feet above sea level, Petersen is no more concerned with the elevation than he is with what the post-game meal is going to be.
“I really don’t think it’s going to play into it that much, unless our players make a bigger deal out of it,” Petersen said. “I remember there (at Wyoming) we had an 18-play drive, where I don’t think we’ve ever had an 18-play drive here. Our guys were tired, but no more tired than they would be here on an 18-play drive.
“I think if maybe you’re running a marathon or training for a long time there it might affect you,” Petersen said. “But when you’re going out playing a football game, where you’re talking about six-second bursts, I don’t think it will affect you much.”
Petersen and his staff have continued to keep the team focused after two blowout victories to open the season.
“I think our guys have been around long enough to know we’ve got 10 more regular season games left. And any one of those teams on our schedule can beat us, unless we bring our “A-game.” We’ve done our job as coaches to kind of continue to bring that up to them – but again, those guys know.
“We have guys who have played for three years now, and they’ve been through some dog fights, through some teams that technically on paper shouldn’t have been as good as us. We were lucky to get through on the skin of our teeth. So I think those memories are still fresh in a lot of guys’ minds.”
The Broncos will continue to rely heavily on some of their newcomers, most specifically runningback Ian Johnson. Johnson was named offensive player of the nation and of the Western Athletic Conference last week after his 240-yard, five-touchdown performance against Oregon State. Johnson is one of many young players that are making a great impression during their first season.
“It’s always nice to see those kids, when it comes game time, to step their level of performance up and really make plays when the lights are on. They practice very well and practice very hard. I know when we’re practicing at a high level, we’re gonna play at an even higher level,” Peterson said.
Boise State will return home Sept 23 for its first conference game of the season against Hawaii. Although it is only a week down the line from Wyoming, the Broncos will certainly be more experienced when they take the field.
“The nice thing is we’ve got a lot of guys that have been on the road with us before, but it’s always kind of shocking the first time you go on the road,” Petersen said. “There’s a few different dynamics working.
“You get on a plane and you’re going somewhere with all your buddies so you kind of think it’s a vacation. It’s far from that: it’s a business trip for us."
Jake Garcin
