The Boise State win over UT Martin was a good dose of medicine for the entire program. The players learned how to capitalize on others mistakes, the coaches gained confidence in the players ability to accept coaching and the administration HOPEFULLY learned a tough lesson about what it takes to put fans in the stands. It’s only THIS about THAT.
PLAYERS: I thought Joe Southwick came through nicely. He ran the ball on option plays, overcame adversity by getting stripped and sacked early, and delivered 5 td passes with no picks. He hit a 54 yard pass to Burks, and averaged almost 14 yards per completion. The offensive line continued to run block well, especially Paradis, Leno, Jr and Henry on td runs. And, outside of one sack Odhiambo allowed, they pass blocked well. Kirby Moore was physical at the goal line and pushed off his defender for a td catch. Shane Williams Rhodes displayed the breakaway speed this team lacks. Grant Hedrick showed what a running QB can do if cut loose in this offense with a zone read keeper td. On the other hand, Jeremy Ioane missed 2 or 3 open field tackles and cost the defense. On Bryan Douglas pick six he was playing loose coverage again but at least made the play when given the opportunity. Darian Thompson had a great interception but also was blocked, as was Douglas, on the early UT Martin touchdown. Nice effort all the way around and definitely an improvement on last week despite the weaker opponent.
COACHES: The offensive creativity was on display. Fly sweeps, fullbacks and the pick route that freed Shane Williams-Rhodes for a td pass was nice adjustments. They haven’t wavered from their new direction and keep adding new wrinkles, like an onside kick, to a very young team.
ADMINISTRATION: The smallest home opener crowd since Idaho State (32,318) looked better then it appeared. The number of tickets “distributed” and used for the game was 33,293. From my seat in the Stueckle Center, the emptiest part of the stadium was the upper north east section. The rest of the stadium looked full. I couldn’t tell that 3,000 fans were missing from the 36,387 capacity. BUT, if the 5,000 tickets that were “distributed” the last three days prior to the game were mostly given away, that is a red flag. The fact Chris Petersen is noticing it as a game changer should concern the administration. If they did indeed give away tickets to fill the stadium, I think that is a good idea. Image can be everything at times. The image of the empty parking lots though was depressing. 1pm kick-offs for lackluster opponents have never generated much tailgate enthusiasm in Boise. Now, with the increased cost of parking spaces, it was really dead. There was about 1/3 empty spaces up to kick off. The entire west side was virtually empty 2 hours before kick-off. Not too festive. The video board looked great and was a tremendous addition. The new sound system seems to have been installed on the new video board exclusively on the north side of the stadium with few speakers placed anywhere else. At least that’s how it sounded to me but at least we had no problems hearing. The music relies too much on AC/DC and other arena music staples for my taste (which would be Top 40) but it is still unreal the overall progress that has been made in 5 years.
