A critical game the day after Thanksgiving: Here’s how Boise State got ready
People all across the United States celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, but Boise State fans hope to be a lot more thankful on Friday afternoon.
The Broncos headed to Logan, Utah, this week for a game at Utah State that likely will determine whether they achieve any season goals, such as winning a third straight Mountain West championship.
Since a second conference loss at San Diego State on Nov. 16, the team’s chances of making the conference title game for the fourth straight year have been teetering. But thanks to a blowout win over Colorado State last weekend, and a Fresno State loss, Boise State has some paths to the Dec. 5 championship contest — one cleaner than all others.
The first thing that has to happen is the Broncos (7-4, 5-2 Mountain West) winning on the road against the Aggies (6-5, 4-3), who are an impressive 5-0 at home. BSU, meanwhile, is just 2-3 as the visiting team.
“We know the home atmosphere is going to be really good .... we know their fan base is big-time as well,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “They’re going to pack that place out.”
Danielson’s team sits in second place in the standings, tied with New Mexico and UNLV. If the Broncos win and first-place San Diego State beats the Lobos, then BSU — which holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rebels — will travel to Southern California next week for a rematch with the Aztecs in the championship game.
A loss for San Diego State will mean the dreaded computer rankings come into play to determine which two teams out of a three- or four-way tie will meet in the title game.
If Boise State wants to be part of the championship party yet again, it must slow an Aggies offense averaging 41.2 points per game at home, and exploit a defense giving up just 18.4 points in those five games.
The Broncos have not been brilliant on the road this season. In each of the three losses — South Florida, Notre Dame, San Diego State, who are a combined 26-7 — they’ve managed just seven points. The two wins came over Air Force and Nevada, both of whom are 3-8.
Now comes a short week, and a holiday, before a trip to northeast Utah. So what kind of prep work did Danielson’s team put in ahead of such a critical game?
“We’re always looking at our process, looking at our operation to see, if there’s an issue on the field, how can we fix it the next week in prep?” Danielson said this week.
“Are we losing focus? Are we playing too tight on the road?
“We’ve made some changes consistently throughout the year to make sure that we go there and we have a lot of joy with each other. I don’t want any of our players being tight, but I do want a relaxed focus.”
Boise State’s weekly preparation was already thrown because of a Friday game, meaning preparations began in earnest on Sunday rather than Monday. And the team was traveling on Thanksgiving day, meaning the staff had to find a way to fit in festivities earlier in the week.
The entire team typically has dinner together on Wednesdays during the season — that was moved up to Tuesday night, and all of the players’ families were invited.
Additionally, Danielson said he’s going to allow time for families who travel to Utah to spend some time together. Players who weren’t traveling with the team were allowed to go home for the holiday if they wanted.
“We haven’t had a road game on the Friday of Thanksgiving week in a while,” Danielson said. “But we’re going to kind of handle it business as usual.”
Boise State at Utah State
- When: 2 p.m. Mountain time Friday
- Where: Maverik Stadium (25,513, turf)
- TV: CBS (Chris Lewis, Logan Ryan)
- Radio: KBOI 670 AM / 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
- Records: Boise State 7-4, 5-2; Utah State 6-5, 4-3
- Series: Boise State leads the series 24-5
- Betting line: Boise State by 3.5
- Weather: 45 degrees, considerable clouds, 24% chance of rain
