Wow...

First, let me say congratulations West Virginia. After losing to Boise State last year, I figured there would be no way Oklahoma loses this year. So -- just wow...

Well, the WAC pretty much sucked in the Bowls this year. Nevada started out by getting blown out by middle-of-the-pack MWC team. Then BSU loses a close one to a middle-of-the-pack CUSA team. Fresno State brightened things up a bit by beating a middle-of-the-pack ACC team (way to go Bulldogs!). Finally, Hawaii embarrased us all by never really showing up against a very, very good Georgia team. Last year we went 3-1 in Bowls (with the 1 loss hinging on a pretty crappy call). This year; 1-3. Yucko.

On the Blue Turf Board a former, yet familiar Georgia poster made some comparisons between the 2007 Hawaii team vs. the 2005 Boise State team. In his opinion, the '05 Broncos were much further ahead than the '07 Warriors. Can't say I disagree with him. Still can't figure out why the '07 Broncos couldn't beat the Warriors - it still seems somewhat surreal.

Ryan Clady's leaving for the NFL a year early. Which leaves Boise State with only 1 offensive line starter next year returning from this year's team. Not the greatest situation, especially when we yet again have to break in a new quarterback while playing Oregon on the road early in the season. But, in Ryan's defense, why take a chance on injury next year when he is projected to go fairly early in the first round of the draft? Seems pretty much like a no-brainer to me.

Others exploring the NFL option - running back Ian Johnson and defensive back Orlando Scandrick. I doubt either are ready and would not go very high in the draft - if at all. So, at this point I'm not too concerned about them.

+14?

That's East Carolina's turnover margin for the 2007 season (so far). +14! Man, that number is just mind-boggling.

While statistically the Boise State vs. East Carolina is a complete mismatch in the Bronco's favor (somewhat skewed because of strength of schedule), the number +14(!) in the turnover margin column has me a bit worried. That number, more than anything else, can be the "great equalizer".

For instance, in the past four seasons Boise State has had a single "less than stellar" season (if you call an 8-4 record less than stellar). In 2005. That particular year we lost the turnover battle for the season (with six of those turnovers coming in the first half of the Georgia game - ugh). Every other year we have been in the plus category - and in every one of those years our season performance has been somewhat more than stellar.

I just hope the team is really, really concentrating on holding onto the rock!

Game plan, game plan, game plan

One observation regarding the Broncos loss in Hawaii revolves around their offensive plan for that game. It seems like the "run it up the gut" philosophy can, when other things are fairly equal, backfire terribly. Looking back on this season it seems the Broncos attained their greatest successes when they game-planned "pass first, then run". Put defenses back on their heels a bit, and then the running backs can run rough-shod over them.

Of course, our coaching staff is notorious for finding and exploiting an opponent's weakness - I have faith they will do the same against East Carolina (a fairly good defensive team though not the best we've faced this season).

Coaching Rumors

Well, it seems someone in L.A. really wants a coach from the WAC. First, the target was Coach Petersen. After he made it clear in public he was NOT interested, the rumors started about June Jones. Since both Coach Pete and JJ say they have never talked to anyone about the UCLA job, you have to really wonder what's up in LA LA land.

One apparently confirmed rumor says that Bobby Petrino will leave the Atlanta Falcons and take over the reigns vacated by ex-BSU coach Houston Nutt (boy) who is now at Ole Miss. I guess Bobby decided the NFL is not what he thought it would be - a sentiment apparently shared by former BSU coach Dirk Koetter (no plans announced yet). Ah, this coaching carousel is fun!

2007 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl

Well, the bowl selections are in, and the Broncos are headed back to the Islands to play the East Carolina University Pirates. It's not the first time we've played a Carolina team, but I do believe it's the first time we will play any "Pirates". My first choice would have been the Las Vegas Bowl against BYU (even though I shudder when thinking about putting up with some of those Zoobie fans for a month), but the Pac-10 miraculously provided a bowl eligible UCLA team.

Hawaii got their wish, and are matched up against a tough Georgia team in the BCS Sugar Bowl. I wish them well.

Fresno is returning to the Blue to play a so-so Georgia Tech team in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl. That game (which I will be attending - Go Bulldogs!) could prove interesting. I'm not dissing GT (much), but going into a bowl with an interim coach against a team that almost all of the crowd will be cheering for might be a bit much. If Fresno brings the team that dismantled Kansas State, then GT will have a long day. If Fresno brings the team that barely beat Utah State, then it might go the other way. In the end, though, I think Fresno will win.

Nevada, being just barely bowl eligible (by creaming LaTech last weekend - go figure) is relegated to the New Mexico Bowl again New Mexico. If you go strictly by their performances against common opponents, you have to give a slight edge to New Mexico. Nevada, however, is an enigma. You just never know which Wolf Pack team is showing up to play.

Spoiled brats?

Since this is my blog (my forum), I can express any opinion I want. And my current opinion is that many Bronco fans have become spoiled brats. The dismay and bitching I've read in numerous posts today is absolutely mind-boggling.

Look, people. Facing a decent ECU team at a neutral site vs. facing a so-so BCS team at home is pretty much a wash. I figure we would have been heavy favorites against GT in the H-Bowl, and all we'd hear about for the next several weeks is how we can only beat BCS teams at home. At least beating ECU at a neutral site will not have those negative connotations, even though we will be favored there as well. Beating GT at home would, for the most part, just be considered "par for the course".

Plus, the Hawaii Bowl should provide better overall national exposure.

So, quit whining.

TV Ratings Soar

The numbers are in, and the Hawaii/BSU game last Friday night was the highest viewed of all the ESPN or ESPN2 Friday night games this season. It was also ESPN2's highest share for all of 2007. Over 2 1/2 million households watched the game.

Those numbers are great for the WAC in general, and should give Karl Benson plenty of ammo when the next negotiations with ESPN come up in 2010.

The Academically Adjusted Football Rankings

Collegio (the betting software/service) recently reported an academics-adjusted Top 25.

According to Collegio:

The purpose of Sophos Software's Academically Adjusted Football Ranking is to stimulate thought and discussion about how well institutions balance winning on and off the football field. In short, how accurate is the term Student-Athlete at any given college or university? Toward such a measurement of the successful blending of the "curricular" and the "extracurricular," Sophos Software has developed a scaled metric known as the Student-Athlete Blend. This metric ranks football programs based upon their ability to succeed in athletics without sacrificing academics.

Once again, BSU is listed close to the top. According to this ranking system, here's how a few teams of interest this year fared (our opponents in bold):

# Team Football (Rating) Academics (HWD) Student-Athlete Blend
1 Stanford 14.7 103.9 74.2
2 Boise State 59.9 81.1 74.0
3 Vanderbilt 28.1 93.6 71.8
4 Boston College 46.5 82.8 70.7
5 Penn State 52.2 75.4 67.6
6 Cincinnati 55.7 73.4 67.5
7 Wake Forest 30.1 85.0 66.7
8 Nebraska 26.0 86.5 66.3
9 USF 51.2 73.0 65.7
10 Ball State 29.5 83.1 65.2
11 Ohio State 79.1 58.0 65.1
12 Texas Tech 44.2 75.4 65.0
13 Oklahoma State 34.0 79.2 64.1
14 San Diego State 20.5 85.5 63.8
15 Northwestern 26.3 82.1 63.5
16 Arizona State 54.8 67.1 63.0
17 Kansas 75.6 56.6 62.9
18 Duke 7.8 90.3 62.8
19 Clemson 58.9 64.3 62.5
20 Oregon 58.7 64.0 62.2
23 West Virginia 67.3 59.1 61.8
24 Southern Miss 27.3 78.0 61.1
30 Oregon State 34.9 69.3 57.9
31 TCU 31.5 70.7 57.7
35 USC 50.9 59.8 56.8
45 Hawaii 51.8 56.6 55.0
46 Notre Dame 7.0 79.0 55.0
53 Utah 39.8 60.6 53.7
62 Louisiana Tech 19.1 69.1 52.4
66 Washington 20.2 67.5 51.8
79 New Mexico State 19.0 63.8 48.9
81 Fresno State 30.3 57.5 48.4
96 Idaho 8.4 60.3 43.0
97 Arkansas State 20.6 53.5 42.5
98 Wyoming 25.3 51.1 42.5
101 UNLV 14.4 55.5 41.8
102 San Jose State 17.0 53.9 41.6
105 BYU 47.4 36.6 40.2
112 Nevada 26.9 38.3 34.5
114 Utah State 0.0 49.0 32.7

Not bad. Not bad at all

Rose Bowl Bound?

Just kidding. But, if academics mattered, it would be a possibility.

According to ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook, if academics mattered, Boise State would be pitted against Auburn in this year's Rose Bowl, and the Hawaii Warriors would be left out completely (click this link to read the complete article).

Using a complex formula that combines football prowess combined with a number of academic ratings compiled by Lindsey Luebchow, a policy analyst of the New America Foundation, here are the pairings:

Allstate BCS Championship Game:
Boston College (127.80) vs. Cincinnati (97.25)

Rose Bowl Presented by Citi:
Auburn (73.15) vs. Boise State (68.90)

FedEx Orange Bowl:
Virginia (60.45) vs. Virginia Tech (60.15)

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:
Clemson (59.35) vs. USC (51.65)

Allstate Sugar Bowl:
West Virginia (47.85) vs. Arizona State (46.35)

Exiled to the bottom of the A/BCS and the pre-New-Year's bowls named after lawn equipment and mufflers:

21. LSU (29.95)

22. Ohio State (28.55)

23. Oregon (8.35)

24. Texas (7.85)

25. Hawaii (-2.35)

Inverted Records

So, what do the Idaho Vandals bring to the table this week? Well, besides a record the exact opposite of BSU (the Vandies are 1-9), how about a little locker room fodder? That's exactly what Idaho coach Robb Akey did with his comments last week about the importance of the "Donkeys vs. Vandals" rivalry.

So, let me get this straight - you are on the road, with your extremely over-matched team, traveling to your traditional rival's home turf, where you know they simply don't lose, on senior day. Whew. He's got guts, that's for sure.

Rumor mill has it that the Vandals used their bye week to prepare a new offensive scheme for their trip to the Blue - the wishbone. I'd really like to see that. Of course, rumor mills are rumor mills, and I doubt very much that the Vandals will try it. More power to them if they do - at least it will show a smattering of creative thinking on the part of the coaching staff.

Broncos own Aggies

An interesting fact surfaced yesterday that I had not really considered. Combining the scores against New Mexico state (58-0) and Utah State (52-0), gives us a total of 110-0 against any team this year called an "Aggie". Funny, eh?

Taylor Tharp

I think it was while I was waiting for the Fresno vs. BSU game to start on ESPN. The announcers were bantering on about what this game meant in the grand scheme of things, and one of them mentioned BSU quarterback Taylor Tharp. That's when it hit me -- I really hadn't thought that much about Taylor since the Southern Miss game. For the first time in - oh - three years, I was not fretting about whether the quarterback would have a poor game or a great game. I was actually thinking more about BSU's injury status... and freshman running backs... and the defense... and special teams... than I was about the QB making bonehead decisions and stupid errors.

I'm not knocking Zabransky. He was a heck of an athlete, and he did lead the offense to wins during some very close games. But it's almost a blessing to have a QB who disappears under the radar like that. Then, the coaches and fans can all concentrate on what's happening in the other skill positions. And, from a fan's viewpoint, it really is more fun.

Taylor has been the model of consistency, and has been playing pretty much mistake-free. It would be nice if he was a better runner, but that's just not his forte. In fact, he may actually be better because of it. He makes up for a lack of mobility by making great decisions of the field. I like to think of him as a director or conductor rather than a "field general". He understands his role in the offense perfectly.

On the lighter side, Taylor had some pretty good smack going on with Coach Petersen the week prior to the San Jose state game. Taylor started it with a comment about how good the Broncos offensive line was - he said even Coach Pete could run for 10 yards behind it. When asked about it, Coach Pete said he could do it, but Taylor hadn't yet (Tharp's longest scramble prior to that was for 9 yards). The two of them traded barbs over the course of the week. Then, on the first play from scrimmage against the Spartans, Taylor saw the opening and scrambled for 11 yards and a first down - thereby "winning" the smack-off.