Idaho Statesman Logo

Scouting Boise State football’s six home opponents | Idaho Statesman

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services

    • News
    • Boise
    • West Ada
    • Canyon County
    • Crime
    • State News
    • Nation/World News
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Idahoans in the Military
    • Weather
    • Traffic
    • Helping Works
    • In the Classroom
    • Our Community
    • Sports
    • Boise State Football
    • Boise State Basketball
    • Idaho Vandals
    • High Schools
    • Bronco Beat
    • Chadd Cripe
    • Varsity Extra Blog
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • NHL
    • MLB
    • Golf
    • Idaho Politics
    • Elections
    • Government and Business
    • Capitol & State
    • Letters from the West
    • National Politics
    • Business
    • Business Insider
    • Business Columns & Blogs
    • Personal Finance
    • Legal Notices
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Bill Manny
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Guest Opinion
    • Submit a Letter or Opinion
    • Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Arts and Culture
    • Festivals
    • Movie Reviews
    • Movie Showtimes
    • Music
    • Television
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Puzzles
    • Words & Deeds
    • ArtsBeat
    • Outdoors
    • Playing Outdoors Blog
    • Biking
    • Camping
    • Fishing
    • Hiking and Trails
    • Hunting
    • Winter Recreation
    • Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Treasure
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Best of Treasure Valley
    • Heart of the Treasure Valley
    • Margaret Lauterbach
    • Tim Woodward
    • Carolyn Hax
  • Obituaries

  • Contests
  • Advertise
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Mobile & Apps

Boise State Football

Scouting Boise State football’s six home opponents

By Chadd Cripe - ccripe@idahostatesman.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

August 16, 2015 11:27 PM

The Boise State football team has won 14 straight home games going into the season opener Sept. 4 against Washington, tied for the third-longest streak in the nation.

And the Broncos will be heavy favorites to extend that streak to 20 by the end of the regular season.

Boise State is a 10 1/2-point favorite against Washington. Only one of the other five home opponents — Air Force — played in a postseason game last year.

Here’s a primer on the six home games. We’ll take a look at the road schedule later this week.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Idaho Statesman

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Washington

Game info: 8:15 p.m. Sept. 4, ESPN

Coach: Chris Petersen (8-6, one season at UW; 100-18, nine seasons overall)

Last year: 8-6 overall, 4-5 Pac-12

Returning starters: 5 offense, 4 defense, 2 specialists

Series history: Washington leads 2-1

Outlook: The Huskies have some offensive talent but, like the Broncos, are dealing with a wide-open quarterback competition in camp that will determine how good they can be this year. The defense was gutted by the NFL Draft, leaving coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski with a rebuilding job.

Idaho State

Game info: 7 p.m. Sept. 18, CBS Sports Network

Coach: Mike Kramer (14-32, four seasons at ISU; 91-107, 17 seasons overall)

Last year: 8-4 overall, 6-2 Big Sky

Returning starters: 9 offense, 6 defense, 1 specialist

Series history: Boise State leads 24-6

Outlook: The Bengals’ ascent under Kramer could peak this year with so many returning starters and high expectations. They’ll need to break in a new quarterback (replacing national passing leader Justin Arias) and find a way to improve a defense that ranked 91st last year with 31.4 points allowed.

Hawaii

Game info: Oct. 3, ESPN Networks (time TBA)

Coach: Norm Chow (8-29, three seasons)

Last year: 4-9 overall, 3-5 Mountain West

Returning starters: 8 offense, 6 defense, 0 specialists

Series history: Boise State leads 10-3

Outlook: The Warriors could be dark-horse contenders in the West Division after losing six games by 10 points or fewer last season. The missing ingredient: solid quarterback play. USC transfer Max Wittek, a senior, gives Chow hope that his offense will break out this year.

Wyoming

Game info: Oct. 24, ESPN Networks (time TBA)

Coach: Craig Bohl (4-8, one season; 108-40, 12 seasons overall)

Last year: 4-8 overall, 2-6 Mountain West

Returning starters: 5 offense, 4 defense, 1 specialist

Series history: Boise State leads 9-0

Outlook: The Cowboys remain a program in transition in the second year under Bohl, who won three straight FCS national titles at North Dakota State. He has just eight seniors listed on the preseason depth chart. One of them is Indiana transfer quarterback Cameron Coffman.

New Mexico

Game info: Nov. 14, ESPN Networks (time TBA)

Coach: Bob Davie (11-26, three seasons; 46-51, eight seasons overall)

Last year: 4-8 overall, 2-6 Mountain West

Returning starters: 7 offense, 7 defense, 2 specialists

Series history: Boise State leads 6-0

Outlook: The Lobos scored a season-high 49 points against Boise State last season, a number that certainly will be on the Broncos’ minds for this game. Davie embarked on a long-term rebuild job at New Mexico and has collected some talented skill players on offense. But the defense has been an annual mess.

Air Force

Game info: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20, ESPN2

Coach: Troy Calhoun (59-44, eight seasons)

Last year: 10-3 overall, 5-3 Mountain West

Returning starters: 6 offense, 4 defense, 0 specialists

Series history: Boise State leads 2-1

Outlook: The Falcons were one of the nation’s best turnaround stories last season with wins against Boise State and Colorado State. But fewer than half of the starters return, which creates significant doubt that they can play at that level again this year.

• 



Best team: Washington

The Huskies still are at least a year away from contending in the Pac-12 North, but they possess far more talent than the rest of the teams on the Broncos’ home schedule. If coach Chris Petersen turns the Huskies into a Top 25 team in the next couple years, it will be with the players who will be on the blue turf this year. “This is going to be young — really young,” he said.

Game that will be the most fun: Washington

Petersen was the face of Boise for eight years and the man who receives the most credit for transforming Boise State football from a regional success story into a national sensation. Now he returns to Albertsons Stadium with his new team, just 21 months after he left. Even without the added intrigue, this game would be huge — it’s the first time a Pac-12 team has visited the Blue since Oregon State in 2010 and the first time the Broncos have opened at home since Oregon in 2009.

Game that could surprise: Idaho State

The Bengals might be one of the top three teams visiting Albertsons Stadium this year. They likely will be ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 when they arrive and they’ll clearly be motivated to knock off the state’s marquee program. Plus, Boise State will play on a short week after the emotional opener against Washington and a treacherous trip to BYU.

Players to watch

1. Max Wittek, QB, Hawaii: Wittek started two games for USC in 2012 as an injury replacement for Matt Barkley. He transferred to Hawaii in 2014 and was named the Warriors’ starter and a co-captain in the spring.

2. Weston Steelhammer, S, Air Force: Steelhammer secured his All-Mountain West first-team selection in the Falcons’ upset of Boise State in September. He recorded four tackles, including two for loss and a sack, and three interceptions. He finished the season with six interceptions.

3. Eddie Yarbrough, DL, Wyoming: The two-time All-Mountain West first-teamer is in the conversation for the league’s best defensive player. He made 63 tackles last season, a huge number for a lineman, including 10.5 for loss.

4. Madison Mangum, WR, Idaho State: The Timberline High grad led the Bengals last year with 83 catches for 1,234 yards and 10 touchdowns. He averaged 112.2 yards per game

5. Will Dissly, DL, Washington: Dissly was one of the recruits who flipped from Boise State to Washington after Petersen left. He played as a true freshman at UW and looked dynamic in the spring scrimmage, when he recorded two sacks among three tackles for loss.

  Comments  

Videos

‘The future of football in the State of Idaho is really good,’ says Boise State football coach

Boise State football players prove you’re never too old for Tic-Tac-Toe

View More Video

Trending Stories

Boise Hawks’ stadium to host big rock festival. Free beer in ticket price? Cheers, punk

February 19, 2019 11:58 AM

The million-dollar Boise home? Ho-hum. See who’s buying houses for $2 million and up

February 19, 2019 10:18 AM

Meridian wants an overpass fast, but road agencies don’t. So Meridian may cough up cash

February 19, 2019 01:05 PM

Oregon man saw Idahoans trespassing, so he held them at gunpoint until police arrived

February 19, 2019 03:35 PM

Boise businessman said franchiser double-crossed him. What Idaho’s Supreme Court ruled

February 20, 2019 02:16 PM

Read Next

Former Boise State football stars among NFL’s most sought-after free agents

Boise State Football

Former Boise State football stars among NFL’s most sought-after free agents

By Dave Southorn

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 02:47 PM

Former Boise State football standouts DeMarcus Lawrence and Matt Paradis are two of the top NFL free agents after playing their first five seasons for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, respectively.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Idaho Statesman

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE BOISE STATE FOOTBALL

Boise State baseball has coaches, players, but no place to play. It’s not a great look

Boise State Football

Boise State baseball has coaches, players, but no place to play. It’s not a great look

February 14, 2019 11:52 AM
It was time ‘to start over, in a way’ in Boise State football’s coaching shakeup

Boise State Football

It was time ‘to start over, in a way’ in Boise State football’s coaching shakeup

February 13, 2019 11:35 AM
Here’s what Boise State’s football assistant coaches will be paid in 2019

Boise State Football

Here’s what Boise State’s football assistant coaches will be paid in 2019

February 11, 2019 01:27 PM
Boise State has restocked at QB — but for how long? ‘If I told you they would all stay ...’

Boise State Football

Boise State has restocked at QB — but for how long? ‘If I told you they would all stay ...’

February 09, 2019 09:30 PM
With recruits in the fold, where does Boise State’s QB situation stand? We discuss

Boise State Football

With recruits in the fold, where does Boise State’s QB situation stand? We discuss

February 07, 2019 08:01 PM
‘There’s hype’ as Boise State finishes recruiting class, but will that translate to field?

Boise State Football

‘There’s hype’ as Boise State finishes recruiting class, but will that translate to field?

February 06, 2019 06:28 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Idaho Statesman App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story