Blog Swap with Boise--Wagering included

Well, it is Blogswap time again, as we take the opportunity to learn about our out-of-conference opponents. We actually swapped with One Bronco Nation Under God last year, and it was good fun. We also have wagering....if Bowling Green wins, I get one post on the OBNUG site, and if the Broncos win, he gets a post on my site.

After looking around their site, those guys in Boise are true fans. They have a good sense of humor, and they are proud (as they should be) of what they have accomplished.

So, the bet is on this year again. (Last year he offered me points and I took the game straight up. I think we might have actually covered the spread. Anyway, we're going straight up again this year.) If you want to know more about the Broncos, check his site out.

Do you think you might be looking by BG for that big UC Davis matchup?

The Broncos' most important game is always their next game, according to the nonhuman, unfeeling automated response bot that BSU head coach Chris Petersen uses at his press conferences. Still, that emotionless robot is awfully convincing, sitting there in his real world cocoon. Boise State honestly does not overlook opponents. I believe that they have been numbed by years of playing awful teams like Idaho, Utah State, and New Mexico State year in and year out.

Were you surprised at last year's game? It was your closest home victory.

Last year's game was horrifying to watch as a Boise State fan. The offense looked bad. The defense looked burdened. It wasn't at all like how I pictured the game would go, namely Kellen Moore throwing seven TD passes before halftime then being airlifted out of the stadium to headline a Ron Paul rally. I've wondered many times if the Bowling Green result was more the Falcons playing well or the Broncos playing poorly. I don't have an answer. But I do have night sweats. Thanks a lot, Gregg Brandon.

Tell me about the offense without DJ Harper. And, how does the offensive line look this year?

Hyperbole alert! D.J. Harper's replacement, Doug Martin, is as talented a running back as Bowling Green will face this year. The man can flat out run the football. He runs angry and downhill, like a boulder with an intense fear of heights. His style of running is different than Harper's, and that might be the biggest offensive change following Harper's injury. I don't expect the playcalling to change all that much, other than maybe putting Martin in the backfield with a fullback. This week, Martin admitted that his biggest focus needed to be pass protection, so that is the one area that I would watch on Saturday.

The offensive line looks better than it did last year, particularly up the middle. On the ends? Eh, not so much. Thomas Byrd, Will Lawrence, and Kevin Sapien have done an exceptional job for the most part. Boise State pulled a switch at RT (Kellen Moore's blindside) last week, starting Garrett Pendergast in place of Michael Ames. If there's a weakness on the offensive line, it is at tackle. But that's better than last year's O-line weakness, which was "somewhere new on every given Saturday."

After two pretty strong defensive performances, Fresno State lit it up a little. Did they find something in your defense?

Fresno found out that Boise State does not tackle well 60 yards from its own goalline. Other than that, the Bronco defense played well enough that we shouldn't stop comparing them to great college football defenses just yet. I certainly haven't stopped. On an interesting note, cornerbacks in man coverage got beat by Fresno's receivers more often than I thought would be possible. Just thought I'd mention that.

I drafted Kyle Brotzman in my fantasy league. WTF?

Are you referring to the revelation that you play fantasy college football or the revelation that Kyle Brotzman is the new Mike Vanderjagt? Here's my theory on Brotzman (I can't help you with fantasy college football; sorry): Kicker consistency is overrated, especially over a there- or four-year period. Brotzman was great his freshman year, and he's been okay since. His misses early this season were as much a result of a new snapper and new holder as they were with his aversion to the left hash. I have been on the fence confidence-wise with Brotzman since the middle of last year. Overall, with punting, kicking, and kickoffs, his game has improved. But his field goal kicking had nowhere to go but down from his freshman year.

Talk about your defensive backfield. They have been pretty productive this year.

I think they are one of the best secondaries in the West, top to bottom. The starting five (Wilson, Johnson, Iloka, Venable, Thompson) has no holes. They can cover one-on-one, blitz, support the run - basically, whatever you ask them to do, they are capable of doing. So far this season, I think their play has been overshadowed a bit by how good the defensive line has been. I know you won't hear many other Bronco fans admit it, but I've been more impressed by the Broncos' front four than I have of their back five.

So you go undefeated all year, you get hosed out of a BCS bowl by Utah, and then you draw TCU and lose to them in a bowl game. Discuss.

It's the injustice of college football at its finest. The NCAA lumps 120 teams into a division then makes it so that a team can do everything right during its regular season and still not have a chance of competing for anything meaningful in the postseason. What other entity does this? Fidel Castro's Cuba? I think that the only redeeming element of the whole situation last year was that the Broncos were able to play one of the nation's top ten teams in their bowl game. TCU was really good, and it's a shame that the Horned Frogs didn't have a chance to prove that to more people.

Do you mind being thought of as the "Gonzaga of Football?"

Gonzaga has a chance to win a national title every year in a fair and equitable postseason tournament, so I don't really follow your analogy.

Will the Bronco nation represent in the Flatlands of Ohio?

I know of at least two Bronco fans who will be in attendance on Saturday, so my hopes are high. I will point out, though, that it will be hard to tell which fans are Bronco fans if BGSU's Orange Out comes to fruition.

There seems to be some dispute...what is the correct pronunciation of Boise?

The correct pronunciation is "Boy-see," unless you work for ESPN's family of networks, in which case you tend to just pronounce it however you want to pronounce it.