San Diego State’s defense will ask what Boise State learned from Ok State mistakes
The Boise State football team’s offensive players and coaches say it’s not anxiety they feel this week. It’s excitement.
They know the challenge they’ll face Saturday afternoon at Albertsons Stadium (1:30 p.m., ESPNU) against San Diego State’s renowned defense, which had an extra week for coach Rocky Long to cook up more confusing looks for the Broncos.
It’s something similar to the test the Broncos took, and failed, three weeks ago in the 44-21 loss at Oklahoma State.
“(The Aztecs) are always well coached, always hard to go against,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “That’s the fun challenge for us on the offensive side, and that’s the fun challenge for the offensive staff and (quarterback Brett Rypien). How do we go out there and try to figure out the best way to defeat what they’re doing?”
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It will be a mental test as much as a physical one.
Long was one of the innovators of a defensive approach that has become more common, blurring the lines of positions to give opposing blockers and quarterbacks fits trying to identify who is rushing and who is dropping into coverage.
The Aztecs have used that defense to challenge the Broncos for the title of Best Program in the Mountain West. They ranked seventh nationally against the run in 2015, sixth in 2016 and 33rd last year. They’re second this year — allowing just 2.1 yards per carry.
They also have finished sixth in scoring defense (2015), 17th and 21st in that stretch. They’re 46th this year at 21.5 points per game, due in part to facing a pair of ranked Pac-12 teams already (loss to Stanford, win vs. Arizona State).
The Aztecs won the Mountain West title in 2015 and 2016, sandwiched between a pair of titles by Boise State.
“We’re fired up,” Boise State junior left guard John Molchon said. “They’re such a great team, and we’re ready to take on that challenge.”
Much of the challenge will come before the snap and in the first half-second after the snap.
The Broncos’ offensive line, tight ends and running backs, who failed to identify or were beaten by many pass rushers at Oklahoma State, will be staring at a muddled mess of defenders trying to identify who’s coming. And Rypien — who has thrown 12 touchdown passes without an interception this season — must avoid falling into the trap of reading blitz and throwing right into coverage when it doesn’t come.
On one of San Diego State’s biggest plays of the season, the Aztecs showed a five-man defensive front on second-and-7 in overtime against Eastern Michigan (see photo below). Three linemen were in three-point stances, while two linebackers were standing up. The other six defenders were lined up in somewhat-ambiguous locations at least 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.
At the snap, only four Aztecs rushed the passer. The rest dropped into coverage. The quarterback threw to what he apparently thought was a receiver in 1-on-1 coverage but a defender slipped right into his throwing lane for an interception that allowed the Aztecs to escape with a win.
At other times, the Aztecs have used just one down lineman.
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A pair of third downs San Diego State forced against Stanford showed the importance of identifying defenders’ intent. On one, a blitzing defensive back went to the quarterback untouched and forced a sack. On another, the running back picked up the sixth pass rusher and the Cardinal hit a touchdown pass.
“We just have a lot of movements and stuff in our defense,” San Diego State senior defensive end Anthony Luke said. “It’s different every week so it’s hard to game-plan against that, I guess, because we’re just switching it up. That’s one of the reasons why I think it would be confusing. It took me almost a whole year to learn our defense, so couldn’t imagine an offense trying to learn our defense in a week.”
Boise State offense vs. San Diego State
2017 (win): 311 total yards (186 rushing, 125 passing), two TDs
2014 (win): 399 total yards (212, 187), five TDs
2013 (loss): 297 total yards (95, 202), three TDs
2012 (loss): 276 yards (112, 164), three TDs
2011 (win): 497 total yards (131, 366), seven TDs
This story was originally published October 5, 2018 at 3:27 PM.