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Long road trip after short week for Broncos
Trent Lootens
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JOSH RASMUSSEN/THE ARBITER. Boise State head coach Chris Petersen looks on during BSU's homecoming game against UC Davis.
For whatever reason, Boise State has never played well in Ruston, La.
Aside from the Hawai’i trip, this one is the longest for the Broncos. In their last three games at Louisiana Tech BSU has never led at the half.
Furthermore, No. 7 BSU plays on a short week due to the game being Friday night and the Broncos having just played last Saturday.
“It’s something that both sides have to deal with, not the ideal situation, but I don’t know if there is an ideal situation anymore for teams in college football,” Boise State head coach Chris Petersen said.
La Tech 3-5 (2-3 Western Athletic Conference), coming off a hard loss last week at Idaho 35-34, is trying to rebound after losing its last two road games by a combined three points – its other loss coming at the hand of Utah State 23-21.
But not all news is bad for the Bulldogs. They’re undefeated at home this season with wins against Nicholls State, Hawai’i and New Mexico State.
The Bulldogs took a beating in Moscow personnel wise. Starting quarterback Ross Jenkins was benched during the game and their best offensive players in running back Daniel Porter and wide receiver Phillip Livas were injured in the loss – their status in uncertain for Friday.
If Porter and Livas are ready, the Bronco defense will have their hands full.
“He’s (Livas) very fast and they move him around a lot on the offense and try to get him the ball in space,” BSU senior cornerback Kyle Wilson said. “Wherever he’s at I’m sure everybody will be keyed in. He’s a big part of their offense and their special teams.”
The Bulldogs like to establish their run game early and use that to their advantage to get receivers in space to create big plays. Against the Vandals, La Tech ran 94 plays (47 passes, 47 runs) out of its no-huddle offense and ran up 547 total yards. That’s an amazing balance on offense.
The match-up to look for will be Wilson against Livas. If Wilson can contain Livas, the Broncos will have a huge advantage.
Offensively, the Broncos need to keep pressure off Kellen Moore and let him feed the ball to his receivers. Last week against San Jose State, Moore was under serious pressure and took some big hits.
Petersen doesn’t think the hits will effect his quarterback against the Bulldogs.
“He’s got that pretty face and kind of prances around back there, but don’t let the looks deceive you, he’s a tough guy. I don’t think you can be a top-notch quarterback without being one of the toughest guys on the field,” the coach said laughing.
Junior wide receiver Titus Young played a demoted role last week because of a foolish penalty against Hawai’i. According to Petersen, he should get his playing time back this week if he performs well in practice leading up to Friday’s game.
“We just can’t get foolish penalties and that’s the bottom line,” Petersen said.
Getting the running game firing on all cylinders remains a big concern for the coaches and will be the key to the game for BSU. A solid run game will allow the receivers to get into space and will give Moore numerous options out of play-action.