Boise State defense ‘not playing up to the standard.’ Key to turnaround is ‘discipline’
Marco Notarainni leads the Boise State football team this season with 36 tackles through five games.
But the redshirt sophomore linebacker from San Diego, California, doesn’t take much pleasure in the notoriety. He’d much rather see his team winning.
“I don’t think it’s ever really about me, to be honest,” said Notarainni, who stepped into a starting role after sixth-year senior DJ Schramm got hurt. “I’m happy with how I’m playing, but I don’t really play football just for myself. I play football so I can be around these guys and win.”
Entering a Mountain West matchup against San Jose State at 6 p.m. Saturday at Albertsons Stadium on Homecoming weekend, the Broncos’ defense ranks in the bottom half of the FBS division in many key categories. Most notably, Boise State is 119th in total defense, allowing 433.6 yards per game.
Take out the win over FCS North Dakota, and that number is nearly 500 yards per game.
It’s a far cry from where the Broncos finished the 2022 season, ranked seventh in the nation at 292.3 yards per game.
“I think we’ve shown to be a really good defense in spurts and, obviously, in spurts we’ve shown to be a bad defense,” Notarainni said. “I think that comes down to our discipline and the consistency that we’ve been talking about all year. I think we’ve been making some progress, and we need to make a big jump this week. Just like every week, we need to continue to make big strides.”
A game against San Jose State could be just what the Broncos need to get those defensive numbers trending in the right direction. Boise State currently ranks 112th in scoring defense (31.6 ppg), 80th in rushing defense (144.4 ypg), 124th in passing defense (289.2 ypg), 92nd in opponent third-down conversions (42.37%) and 118th in long scrimmage plays allowed.
“It hurts my heart, because I love these players. These players deserve to get the results on the field that we aren’t seeing consistently,” defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said. “So I’m excited to keep growing, excited to get better from game five to game six, and we have to. That’s the reality, especially in the sport we play. We have to. We’re in conference play right now, and I’m fully aware of that.
“I’m fully aware of the fact that we’re not playing up to the standard, not playing even close to the standard with which we want to play defensively, and it starts and ends with me. I’ve got to do a better job.”
Defensive coaches this week have often mentioned “a lack of consistency” as the source of the Broncos’ defensive struggles. For head coach Andy Avalos, previously a defensive coordinator, that means emphasizing “discipline,” especially when it comes to fundamentals and techniques.
“This game can become very complicated,” Avalos said. “We can look for all these, ‘What is the answer? What is the answer?’ It is very simple. Playing great defense starts with discipline and mentality.”
The Boise State defense prepares this week for an offense that boasts the Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Chevan Cordeiro. But San Jose State is averaging only 355.6 yards per game, third-to-last in the Mountain West and 89th in the nation in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Cordeiro, who is in his sixth season, has thrown for 10,440 yards in his career, but he’s averaging just 204.4 passing yards per game this season, with six touchdowns and two interceptions. Kairee Robinson leads the Spartans on the ground with 284 yards and six scores in five games.
“(Cordeiro’s) a playmaker. He’s got a tremendous touch as far as the deep ball. He can throw the back-shoulder fades, and the thing that’s scary about him is the way he’s able to move around the pocket,” Boise State safeties coach Kane Ioane said. “... He’s a very good football player that’s got a lot of experience in this conference. We know going into it, we’ve got to be ready to roll.”
SAN JOSE STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium (36,363, FieldTurf), Boise
TV: CBS Sports Network (Rich Waltz, Aaron Taylor, Tiffany Blackmon)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 2-3, 1-0 MW; San Jose State 1-4, 0-1 MW
Series: Boise State leads the series 14-1, but their last meeting was a 34-20 SJSU win in the 2020 Mountain West championship game.
Vegas line: Boise State by 9.5
Weather: High of 80, 3% chance of rain, 6 mph wind
This story was originally published October 4, 2023 at 4:17 PM.
