Boise State coach Harsin remains vague on QBs; Broncos fall in rankings after BYU loss
Editor’s note: This story was corrected Nov. 9 to fix the name of quarterback Andy Peters.
Boise State football coach Bryan Harsin didn’t budge an inch on Sunday when asked about the health of his quarterbacks after the Broncos were forced to finish Friday’s loss to BYU with a pair of freshmen taking snaps.
Harsin’s policy is to only announce season-ending injuries. For everyone else — quarterbacks Hank Bachmeier, Chase Cord and Jack Sears included — he remains vague in his updates.
On Sunday, he said he’s “hopeful” to have all three quarterbacks and running back George Holani available for Thursday’s home game against Colorado State (6 p.m., FS1).
“I know the guys we have for practice tomorrow, and I know the guys that could be out,” Harsin told reporters. “Until we play on Thursday, there are just some different variables that we’re dealing with.”
Bachmeier missed his second game in a row on Friday for undisclosed reasons, and USC transfer Jack Sears exited the game with a possible head injury after taking a hit on a quarterback sneak during the Broncos’ second drive.
Bachmeier was on the sideline on Friday, though. He helped signal plays, and Harsin said it was important for him to be there to stay engaged in the game plan and act as a calming presence for the young quarterbacks.
“Even though you’re not playing, you’re still a leader,” Harsin said.
Cord was limited in fall camp while he continued to recover from injuries suffered last season, and he has yet to appear in a game this fall. Last year, he started the Broncos’ loss at BYU and their home win over Wyoming, but he missed the final five games of the season and had ankle surgery during the offseason.
With no veteran to turn to, Boise State (2-1) went with freshman Cade Fennegan at quarterback for the bulk of Friday’s rivalry game. He connected with wide receiver Khalil Shakir on two late touchdown passes and made some plays with his legs, but he also had a pass tipped and intercepted and lost a fumble.
“We can’t have turnovers. That’s one area where, no matter what, that’s unacceptable,” Harsin said. “In a game, you’re trying to go make something happen, but you’ve still got to make great decisions.”
Former Timberline quarterback Andy Peters also got some snaps, but Fennegan took most of them and completed 15-of-26 passes for 182 yards and was second on the team with 17 rushing yards.
It wasn’t always pretty, but Harsin called the Broncos’ 51-17 loss to BYU a learning opportunity for his young quarterbacks.
“You’ve got to take what you learn from disappointment like that and not just gloss over everything that happened to you but internalize it, and then use that as motivation and momentum moving forward,” Harsin said. “(Fennegan) is a tough kid. He’ll grow from this and learn from it, and I hope our whole entire team will.”
Harsin said Holani was “coming along” after he suffered an apparent leg injury on Oct. 24 during the Broncos’ win at Air Force. Andrew Van Buren was the Broncos’ leading rusher on Friday with 45 yards. As a team, Boise State managed just 61 yards on the ground.
Another short week
Harsin said Sunday that he’s not a fan of the quick turnaround the Broncos are currently facing before Thursday’s game against an opponent from the Mountain West.
When the contest kicks off, it will be the third game the Broncos have played in 13 days, dating back to their 49-30 win at Air Force on Oct. 31. That’s not ideal in terms of preparation and recovery time, Harsin said.
“I’m a big believer in consistency from week to week,” Harsin said. “I know what that means for our team.”
Harsin also isn’t thrilled about having games on Thursday or Friday, which he said should be for high school football games. Moving forward, he’ll push to keep as many games on Saturday as possible.
But the Broncos had to take what they could get this season, which was shortened to at most 10 games, including the conference championship and a bowl, because of COVID-19.
“We will learn, all of us, from what happened the previous week in our preparation and we’ll take that into this week and we’ll have to make some of those tweaks,” he said.
The Broncos need plenty of time to recover from their first game in Albertsons Stadium against a top-10 team, but they also need time to prepare for a conference opponent coming off a big win.
Propelled by an opportunistic defense, Colorado State (1-1) overcame a lackluster offensive performance to top Wyoming, 34-24. It was former Boston College head coach Steve Addazio’s first win with the Rams, and it snapped Wyoming’s four-game winning streak in the series.
Colorado State managed just 87 rushing yards — 62 of which came from redshirt freshman A’Jon Vivens, who made the move from wide receiver to running back this fall.
Quarterback Patrick O’Brien — a transfer from Nebraska — was efficient in the passing game, though. He completed 18-of-26 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.
His favorite two targets were wide receiver Dante Wright (10 catches, 146 yards) and tight end Trey McBride, who finished with five receptions for 90 yards and hauled in both of O’Brien’s touchdown passes.
Broncos fall out of both polls
Boise State is no longer ranked in the AP Top 25 or Coaches polls after Friday’s loss to BYU, which moved up to No. 8 in this week’s AP poll.
The Broncos earned votes in the AP’s preseason poll, but they didn’t crack the top 25 until after a dominant win over Utah State in the season opener. They were No. 25, marking the 19th straight year that Boise State was ranked at some point in the season.
After a win the following week at Air Force, the Broncos climbed four spots to No. 21 in the AP poll and ranked No. 23 in the Coaches Poll. But after Friday’s home loss to BYU, Boise State earned just five votes in this week’s AP poll.
COLORADO STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 6:05 p.m. Thursday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: Fox Sports 1 (Alex Faust, Evan Moore). That’s channel 146 on Sparklight, 219 on DirecTV and 150 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 2-1, 2-0 Mountain West; Colorado State 1-1, 1-1.
Series: Boise State leads 9-0 (last meeting: Boise State won 31-24 last season in Fort Collins, Colorado)
Vegas line: Boise State by 14
Weather: Low of 32 degrees, 60% chance of rain and snow, 5-10 mph winds
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 3:34 PM.
