I start my 10th season as “the Voice of the Broncos” on Saturday, and the first
nine have been special. I’ve announced exactly 100 wins against 19 losses
and been blessed to bring some truly great teams to life on the airwaves. It
has certainly exceeded my expectations when I took the job and I am
looking forward to another great year of Bronco football.
Boise State faces its most challenging schedule in my time here. In the
past, there have been tougher opponents like Virginia Tech and Georgia, but this year games 1-12 as a group are better. The Broncos
play three nonconference games against bowl teams – Troy, Washington
State and BYU – and a fourth against a Power 5 team in Virginia. The
Mountain Division has gotten a whole lot better in the time the Broncos
have been in the Mountain West, and this season San Diego State comes
back on the schedule as a cross-division game.
Winning 10 games this season will be a major accomplishment.
The Broncos’ offense has some big time pieces back in quarterback Brett
Rypien and receiver Cedrick Wilson. I think both will have special
seasons, but they will need help. I originally thought the receivers
were the group I would put under the microscope. But after hearing
and seeing a little of them, I think that there will be several “Robin’s” to
Wilson’s “Batman.” A.J. Richardson and Sean Modster, plus a couple of
freshmen, CT Thomas and Octavius Evans, will augment Wilson.
The tight ends should be more productive with a healthy Jake Roh catching the
ball. So I think it comes down to the running game being productive and a
group of backs together filling the shoes of Jeremy McNichols, now with
with Tampa Bay. I thought Alexander Mattison would be a workhorse in the mold of Jay Ajayi and McNichols, but I now think it is going to
be more of a committee, at least early.
How good the O-Line comes
together with three new starters will determine how good the offense is this
season.
On defense, there are a lot of fresh faces. There is a lot of potential
to be good this season and great next year. David Moa moves from nose
tackle to defensive tackle and that gets him a more space to work with
and I project him to be even more productive. The D-Line was worn
down last year with 25 sacks in the first seven games and four in the last six,
so they’ll need to find depth here to keep the level of play up.
Two guys I see as big playmakers are linebacker Leighton Vander Esch
and safety DeAndre Pierce. Last year, I thought Moa would be the
breakout player. I am taking Pierce this year, partly because if Vander
Esch is a captain, it’s hard to say he is an under the radar guy.
Last season, the defense was much better at not giving up the big play, but
unfortunately only forced nine turnovers. That number is going to
go up. Even if it doubles to 18 – still a low number, when you consider
2014 and 2015, saw 31 takeaways – the Broncos will be in a much better
position.
Special teams, other than the punt team, weren’t as good as in the past last
year. I look for all them to be improved, because of the renewed focus on
that aspect of the game this spring and summer.
I think Boise State has enough across the board to win a very good
Mountain Division … but it won’t be easy. Beating the five division
opponents and winning two of three from the West is what you need to get
it done.
The one thing I expect with so many young guys playing is that they will
get a whole lot better as the year moves along. Expect a lot of close,
tough games, and a division title.
Bob Behler, the Voice of the Broncos, co-hosts Idaho Sports Talk with Bob & Chris weekdays from 1-3 p.m. on KTIK 93.1 FM The Ticket. He can be found @BSUBob (Twitter).
