A week after giving up too many big plays, Boise State faces another big-play offense
Florida State had five plays that went for 30 or more yards against Boise State last week, including a 38-yard touchdown run and passing TDs of 75 and 58 yards.
The task doesn’t get any easier for the Boise State defense this week, and the Broncos know they can’t afford another slow start.
Boise State hosts a Marshall team Friday at Albertsons Stadium (7 p.m., ESPN2) that is tied for No. 1 in the nation in long plays from scrimmage with 29 that went for 10 yards or more.
“The biggest challenge this week is you shouldn’t need that detonator. Right when you walk out of the tunnel, let’s roll, man,” Boise State defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding said. “There will be things that come up in this game. This is a really good team we’re facing. Nine wins (last year), went to a bowl game. They’ve got a lot of guys back.
“They’ve got an O-line that’s veteran. They’ve got really good running backs. This should be a dog fight. We expect this to be an absolute fight.”
Schmedding said the Broncos (1-0) were too tentative in the first half against Florida State, which led to missed tackles and ultimately big plays for the Seminoles. Florida State scored all 31 of its points in the first half, including three touchdown drives that took less than a minute.
“These guys have put in too much work to play tentative and so we intend to play aggressive,” Schemedding said. “... We get to learn from that off a win. If you start a game like that, eventually you’re going to learn from it from a loss, so we’ve got to understand we have to start faster, there’s no doubt about it.”
Said junior nickel Kekaula Kaniho: “A lot of it was just tackling leverage, so we worked multiple circuits of tackling (Tuesday) just getting our eyes right, getting our leverage right and being physical.”
Marshall (1-0) has the offensive firepower to match Boise State. The Broncos’ 621 total yards against the Seminoles ranks No. 8 in the country after Week 1. The Thundering Herd are right behind in a tie for ninth with 620 total yards in their 56-17 season-opening win over Virginia Military Institute. Boise State is No. 2 in the nation with 38 first downs, and Marshall is tied for fourth with 35.
Marshall also possesses the same diverse attack that Boise State displayed against Florida State. Marshall quarterback Isaiah Green completed 18-of-28 pass attempts for 238 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Eleven different receivers caught passes — five had TD receptions — and seven players combined for 280 yards on the ground.
“They’re really athletic on the outside. Their running backs, they run hard and they’re really quick,” Kaniho said. “They’ve got a physical O-line, and a lot of tradition over there for their program, same thing like us, so I think it’s gonna be a physical matchup.”
The Thundering Herd will be dangerous on special teams, too, as they checked in at No. 9 with 109 yards on punt returns, including Talik Keaton’s 67-yard punt return for a TD near the end of the first quarter.
Giving Marshall a head start Friday would be a recipe for disaster.
“The bottom line is we’ve got to be ready to go with our ‘A’ game,” Schmedding said. “Any game and any week you can get beat if you’re not on, but this team, you’re gonna have to go beat them. They’re not gonna beat themselves.”
