Boise State regular-season report card: Here’s how we grade the Broncos through 13 games
Boise State football was the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West’s Mountain Division, and the Broncos more than lived up to the hype.
After an undefeated run through the conference and a third straight division title, they controlled the Mountain West championship game against Hawaii for the final three quarters. The Broncos claimed their second title in three years with a 31-10 win over the Warriors, who came in with a 9-4 record.
On Sunday, the Broncos found out they’re heading to the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 21) to face Washington in what will be former Boise State coach Chris Petersen’s final game. The Broncos are bowl eligible for a 22nd straight season, and they’ll play in their 18th consecutive bowl game since 2002.
As we head into bowl season, here’s a look at how Boise State graded out in the regular season.
Offense: B
It may not dawn on most of the coaches until well after the season just how remarkable a job Boise State has done at quarterback, but don’t count offensive coordinator Zak Hill among them.
“I’m lucky as a coach because that room is not about me, me, me,” Hill said. “It’s about winning championships and winning games in whatever role it is.”
Usually when a team has started three quarterbacks, the season is a disaster. At Boise State, not only have three started, but they all have wins. True freshman Hank Bachmeier won all seven games he started. Sophomore Chase Cord led the Broncos to an overtime win against Wyoming, and junior college transfer Jaylon Henderson is 4-0 in his starts, and he earned Offensive MVP honors in the Mountain West championship game.
Henderson isn’t quite the polished passer Bachmeier is, but he has delivered in critical moments. He has also shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to help the team, whether it’s diving headfirst into a mass of bodies on fourth-and-1 or helicoptering after a hit at the goal line and still managing to stretch the ball across for a 31-3 lead in the third quarter of Saturday’s title game.
“That just creates a more explosive offense as a whole, so defenses are always on their toes,” Boise State wide receiver Khalil Shakir said after Saturday’s game. “If they slack off on first down and he takes off, it’s a dagger in the heart.”
The question now becomes does the coaching staff keep with the don’t-rock-the-boat approach and start Henderson against Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl?
After Saturday’s performance, that would seem like the logical choice. He hasn’t been perfect, but he has added a measure of stability to an offense that has been erratic at times, and as his snaps have increased so has his decision-making as far as when to get rid of the ball or tuck it and run, which has led to him taking fewer hits. We didn’t see that with Bachmeier.
Whoever takes the snaps against the Huskies will do plenty of turning and handing off to the future of the Broncos’ backfield. As a whole, Boise State’s run game has been far from consistent, but true freshman George Holani always seems to be good for an explosive play or two.
Whether it was a 35-yard run on the first play of the game at Utah State or a 40-yard touchdown with the regular-season game against Hawaii well in hand, what he has done in his first college season speaks highly of what he will do for the next three years.
Holani is elusive and powerful, and he has the vision to exploit the smallest of creases in the defensive line. He is 21 yards from extending Boise State’s streak of seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher to 11 straight.
While Holani is good for a momentum-swinging play or two on the ground, Boise State’s receivers have contributed big plays through the air, especially late in the season.
Shakir’s leaping grab over a defender and CT Thomas’ catch on the sideline on a late scoring drive at Colorado State are two of the most clutch catches of the season. John Hightower’s acrobatic maneuver to land on one leg, stay in bounds and score Saturday against Hawaii may be the most impressive grab of the year, and he’s been making defenders look silly all season.
Hightower, a senior, leads the team with 923 yards and eight receiving touchdowns, and he’s averaging a team-high 19.23 yards per catch. The Broncos lose him and fellow senior Akilian Bultler after the season, but the receivers room will be in good hands. Shakir (60 catches, 834 yards, six TDs) and Thomas (38 catches, 499 yards, five TDs) are both expected back, and junior Octavius Evans has shown flashes of explosiveness.
Defense: A-
Before Boise State’s overtime win against Wyoming, Boise State STUD Curtis Weaver said any time the Broncos wear their all-black uniforms, “It’s a funeral for somebody.”
That was true that day, as the Broncos stonewalled the Cowboys on fourth-and-1 to preserve a tie late in regulation and won 20-17 in overtime, and it was true in Saturday’s Mountain West championship. Boise State’s defense limited Hawaii to 79 rushing yards and came up with a pair of demoralizing fourth-stop stops, one of which was on Boise State’s 1-yard line.
Boise State’s defense was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country in fourth-down percentage. At 30.77 percent, the Broncos are currently tied with Iowa at No. 4. That kind of success on what is often fourth-and-short speaks volumes about the strength and experience the team has on the defensive line, the athleticism of the pass rushers and the vision of the linebackers. It also speaks to their anticipation and preparation, which come from strong coaching.
From Weaver and his likely successor Demitri Washington to defensive linemen Sonatane Lui and Chase Hatada, both of whom had the best games of their careers late in the season, to the team’s leading tackler, inside linebacker Riley Whimpey, the front seven has continually found ways to impact games.
The secondary was a different story early in the year. The Broncos weren’t giving up gobs of big plays, but they also weren’t taking the ball away from the offense. That changed late in the year. Boise State had just five interceptions through the first 10 games of the season. The defense added five more in the past three games alone.
The Broncos picked off two passes against Utah State, including a pick-six by junior cornerback Jalen Walker. They intercepted two more at Colorado State, one of which was the first of safety Tyreque Jones’ career, and senior Kekoa Nawahine picked off a pass in the end zone against Hawaii.
Continuing that trend of takeaways and the Broncos’ Mountain West-leading 37 sacks are a recipe for another Las Vegas Bowl victory. It would be Boise State’s fifth in five trips to the bowl.
Special teams: B
After a slow start, Boise State won the special teams battle more often than not in the latter half of the schedule.
Outside of Hightower’s 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Portland State, the Broncos didn’t get much out of the return game early in the year. That all changed late in the first quarter at San Jose State, when Avery Williams returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown to end a string of 14 unanswered points.
The next week, Williams blocked a punt against Wyoming, and two weeks after that, he took a punt 74 yards to the house at Utah State. Add all that to a blocked point-after attempt against Air Force and the onside kick he almost returned for a score against UNLV, and it’s easy to see why he’s the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year.
Hightower’s track speed carried him to 25.4 yards per kickoff return, which ranks No. 3 in the Mountain West, but the Broncos haven’t just benefited from big returns late in the season. They’ve also shut down the opposition’s return game through a combination of deep kicks by Joel Velazquez, who has 49 touchbacks on the season, and strong coverage.
The Mountain West’s top kick returner, Utah State’s Savon Scarver (29.3 yards per return), got his hands on just one kick in the Broncos’ 56-21 win in Logan, Utah. Colorado State’s Anthony Hawkins — No. 2 in the conference with 26 yards per return — managed just 18 yards per return. This fall, Boise State is allowing an average of 20.82 yards per kick return and 6.75 yards per punt return.
Kicker Eric Sachse, a graduate transfer from Division III Trinity College, went 5-of-5 on field goals to keep Boise State in the game in the season opener against Florida State. He kicked the first game-winner of his career against Wyoming and is 14-of-17 on field goals this year.
