Broncos expect unexpected at Air Force; men’s basketball won’t open season vs. Kansas
The Boise State football team is used to expecting the unexpected on road trips.
During his weekly call with reporters on Monday, Boise State coach Bryan Harsin recalled a game at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, against Virginia Tech in 2010 when the rear end fell out of the bus carrying the offensive players as it pulled out of the hotel parking lot.
The offense hopped onto the bus carrying the defense, and Harsin said its suspension had a hard time supporting all the extra weight. The Broncos still managed to pull out a 33-30 win.
“A little bit of our rallying cry that year was just adversity. Anytime we had a challenge, it was an opportunity for us to face it,” Harsin said. “I don’t know that enough about this team. We’ll see how we handle whatever adversity comes along with just getting there.”
The Broncos will hit the road this weekend for the first time this season for Saturday’s game at Air Force (4 p.m., CBS Sports Network), and as it has with seemingly everything else in 2020, COVID-19 has changed the way Boise State does things on the road.
Harsin said the team will do more in terms of preparation before leaving town than in previous years, but the biggest changes will be made to the team meal the night before the game.
Most years, the Broncos crowded into a ballroom at the team hotel, and players served themselves and ate as much as they wanted.
This fall, they’ll be in a much larger room to allow for social distancing, and in some instances, Harsin said they’ll eat in shifts. Players will be served predetermined portions, which means the pregame meal will take longer, leaving less time for last-minute gameplan changes and down time the night before kickoff.
“There’s always something when you travel that you have to be prepared for, and I think really good teams handle that adversity,” Harsin said. “When we leave and head out to play, we’ll find out where our minds are at, at that time.”
The Broncos apparently handled the adversity brought on by COVID-19 heading into Saturday’s season opener against Utah State. Boise State was without 29 players, in accordance with a Mountain West rule allowing only 74 players to dress for games, but none of those players were out because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Finding out Friday that there were no new cases on the team was a huge relief, Harsin said.
“That’s one of the biggest challenges,” he said. “You know through a week of practice that nobody got injured and who are the guys that are going to play on Saturday, but you don’t know after a test what you’re going to get. When we got the go-ahead that everybody was available, that was awesome.”
Harsin credited the lack of positive tests to the Broncos’ training staff and the many protocols the university has put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
Boise State players are required to undergo daily online health screenings and symptom checks before entering on-campus facilities, and are required to wear masks at all times in public. Even during practice, they’re required to wear face coverings or a clear visor that covers their eyes and nose — even with their helmet on.
The Broncos began another cycle of conference-mandated testing on Sunday. They’ll be tested again on Tuesday and Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the team.
“I hate to say you kind of keep your fingers crossed, but that’s what we have to do because we don’t know any other ways to control this better than what we’re doing,” Harsin said.
No fans at Air Force, but there will be cadets
A spokesperson for Air Force confirmed Monday morning that there won’t be fans in the stands Saturday at Falcons Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but as is the tradition at the service academy, there will be cadets.
The Broncos will play in front of about 4,300 cadets, who will be spread out in the stadium by platoon.
That means there might be a little more noise to contend with than in Saturday’s opener at Albertsons Stadium, where crowd noise was piped in to compensate for the fact that cardboard cutouts, not fans, filled the lower-level seats behind the home sideline.
Harsin said he’s just excited to have people in the stands at all.
“It’s a neat environment and then you have the cadets out there, and I think that’s what makes it special when you’re playing a team like Air Force,” he said. “To have people there, I think that’s progress for us all.”
Broncos continue Top 25 streak
After Saturday’s 42-13 win over Utah State, Boise State cracked the AP Top 25 — marking the 19th straight year that the Broncos have been ranked at some point in the season.
The Broncos ranked No. 25 in the latest poll, which was released on Sunday.
“I think we’ve shown some consistency in that area, but that’s where we want to be, not because of the ranking but because we’re one of the better teams (in the country),” Harsin said. “That’s important for Boise State. That’s important for our brand. That’s important for all the people that are part of this program.”
Harsin said being ranked isn’t the ultimate goal, though, and it doesn’t guarantee the Broncos a win this weekend, even though Air Force struggled on Saturday in a 17-6 loss at San Jose State.
He pointed to Penn State’s loss to Indiana over the weekend and the three early turnovers that derailed the Nittany Lions. Penn State was ranked No. 8 before the loss and dropped to No. 18 this week. Indiana was unranked but moved up to No. 17 after the win.
“Every Saturday, any team can win and you’ve got to be ready for all the things that can happen,” he said. “I do appreciate the recognition we get for getting a chance to be in one of those polls. Now we’ve got to keep finding ways to win.”
Men’s basketball: Broncos’ season opener canceled
The Boise State men’s basketball team was scheduled to open the 2020-21 season against Kansas in late November as part of an ESPN-hosted nonconference tournament in Orlando, Florida.
But ESPN announced Monday that it was canceling the eight tournaments slated to be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports property at Walt Disney World.
“ESPN Events set out to create a protected environment for teams to participate in early-season events in Orlando,” ESPN said in a statement. “Based on certain challenges surrounding (COVID-19) testing protocols, we opted to resume these tournaments during the 2021-22 season.”
The scrapped tournaments include the Champions Classic, Charleston Classic, Myrtle Beach Invitational, NIT Season Tip-Off, Wooden Legacy, Orlando Invitational, Jimmy V Classic and Diamond Head Classic.
Boise State was originally scheduled to play in the Orlando Invitational Nov. 26-29 against a field that included Auburn, Belmont, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Saint Louis, Siena and Xavier.
Siena dropped out of the tournament because Florida is on New York’s COVID-19 travel advisory list, which would require the Saints to self-quarantine for two weeks after returning to campus, according to the Albany Times Union.
Kansas was originally scheduled to play in the Wooden Legacy on Nov. 26-27 with UCLA, Virginia and Georgetown. However, Georgetown withdrew from the event after it was moved to Florida because the state is on Washington, D.C.’s travel restriction list.
The scheduling chaos initially opened the door for Boise State to play Kansas, but now that won’t happen.
NO. 25 BOISE STATE AT AIR FORCE
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Falcon Stadium, Colorado Springs, Colorado
TV: CBS Sports Network (Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, Jenny Dell). That’s channel 139 on Sparklight, 221 on DirecTV and 158 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 1-0; Air Force 1-1
Series: Boise State leads 5-3 (last meeting: Boise State won 30-19 in 2019 in Albertsons Stadium)
Vegas line: Boise State by 14
Weather: High of 62 degrees, clear skies, 8 mph wind at kickoff
Tickets: Fans aren’t allowed because of COVID-19.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 3:47 PM.
