Enough has been said and written about how poor Boise State’s offensive line has played. If Boise State had another offensive line maybe they would be undefeated right now. It’s time to give them a little bit of love because that is ridiculous.

It isn’t right to me to say that if almost 45% of the offensive players were different they would be better? Ok, what if the other 6 players were different and the offensive line was the same? Football doesn’t work that way. Especially with the way Harsin looks at the situation. After the San Diego State game he said the run game wasn’t up to Boise State’s standards and had to change. He asked the coaches and players to get better. The week of practice leading up to the Reno game gave reps to o-line back ups as first teamers. They didn’t prove ready enough to start but some of them would finish. It was the same 5 guys who went out there and gained 31 yards on 9 designed run plays in the first half. They also blocked up 1 big reverse TD for Hightower for 88 yards. They gave up a sack and 2 tackles for loss. Rypien took at least 2 big shots after throwing the ball. The offense scored 1 touchdown in 30 minutes. Rypien said he played some of the worst football he ever had in the first half of the game. Interceptions, fumbles, and punts were on display the first half. About the only thing the o-line did well was only get charged with 2 of the 9 penalties called on Boise St. It wasn’t pretty and it felt fortunate that the game was tied with Reno 17-17.

With 8:26 to go in a 31-27 game, the Broncos were backed up to their own 15 yard line. The previous drive netted 3 yards on 5 designed run plays. Rypien was scrambling around and ended up running it 3 times during the awkward drive as well. It ended via interception. You could feel doom and gloom.  By this time, the o-line was re shuffled and featured two backups: jc transfer Isiah Moore at right guard and a redshirt freshman at right tackle in John Ojukwu. Quevedo went down with an injury at RG earlier in the game and I assume RT Preciado was taken out of the game. It felt like the game was on the line. Nevada had the momentum, the o-line wasn’t producing and now 2 back ups were in who were not considered the best options. So, it makes total sense that this misfit crew ran the ball 14 times for 43 yards and put together a 17 play drive to kill the clock and ice the game for Boise State. And despite the fact that his o-line had just been blitzed on 3rd down and given up a 2 yard loss, Harsin put the game on the line by going for a 4th and 8 from the Nevada 39 with 3:17 to go in the game. Harsin believed in his o-line. He asked them to improve. They did. They protected Rypien and he completed a 8 yard pass to CT Thomas for a first down. Game over and a conference championship season was still alive. As was the o-line that saved the day. Now, about those other 6 guys on offense….

Jeff Caves co-hosts Idaho Sports Talk with Caves & Prater weekdays from 3-6 p.m. on KTIK 93.1 FM The Ticket. He can be found @CavesandPrater (Facebook) and @JeffCaves (Twitter).