by @jeffcaves on twitter
The heat in Lafayette was the real deal. 85 degrees at kickoff, probably 93 by the end of the game. I saw a police officer get carted off the field with her head on a bag of ice. The school gave away free water and offered a cool down zone. Most of us on the sidelines were drenched.
The heat off the artificial turf was so intense. It was cooler on concrete then the turf! It was an easy 100 degrees plus on that turf and the only Boise State player who I saw cramp up was Brit Elliot Hoyte. He can be excused. The weather in Tavistock, England was 63 degrees Saturday…I have no idea how Coach Harsin survived in long sleeves under his coaches’ shirt and long pants. I also didn’t see him drink much water. Old school…It was pointed out to me that the Boise State skill players Nike shoes swooshes were backwards. How does this happen? Sperbeck never even noticed…..
The first 23 offensive plays for Boise State generated 28 points. Better athletes with a better scheme. ULL had no idea how to stop them. A ULL linebacker and Head Coach Hudspeth told one newspaper that they just missed assignments, Rypien hit soft zone coverage holes and they were not beat physically. Rightttttt…Of those first 23 plays only 5 were running plays. The plan was to test the pass defense for ULL early. McNichols is a match up nightmare for LB’s on pass plays. He had 3 catches for 98 yards in those first 23 plays and averaged almost 33 yards per catch. Why run him when you don’t have too? He still scored 2 TD’s running the ball. I think they are smart to protect him from taking too many shots until they have to run him between the tackles. They did expose McNichols on a 30 yard completion down the middle of the field and he took a pretty good hit. They are a different team without him…The concern has to be the health of the defense. Joey Martarano went down with a knee injury twice and finally left the game. They had to take his helmet away from him so I bet it is a sprain. Wouldn’t surprise me if he played this Saturday vs WSU…But, the torn labrum in Gabe Perez right shoulder seems to be an issue. He had it repaired last season but reinjured it and had to leave the game. He has tons of experience and is one of the best pass rushers on the defense. Looks like Sam Whitney will be playing quite a bit and will have to pick up the slack if Perez has more shoulder issues…Nice advantage for Boise State vs Washington State will be QB coach Zak Hill. He was an Eastern Washington passing game coach for last 7 years. He will be able to find out exactly how EWU hit 35 of 41 passes for almost 400 yards and beat Washington State on the road. Seems that EWU had its QB run on option and counter plays and had WR’s running sweeps and throwing passes…Washington State’s best DB was suspended from the game. Safety Shalom Luani has been charged with assault outside a Domino’s Pizza and hasn’t practiced since August 24th. Apparently he was missed badly. No word on his status for Boise State…His replacement Robert Taylor was ejected for targeting and will miss the first half vs Boise St. Expect more throws from Rypien to start this game…Rypien turned down Washington State and Mike Leach amongst others and went with Boise State and Harsin. Said he liked the Boise State staff, facilities and atmosphere best…WSU QB Luke Falk though was outstanding hitting 41 for 51 on his passes for 418 yards and 4 touchdowns. He did throw an interception and was sacked 3x. WSU WR Gabe Marks caught 10 balls for 2 TD’s. 1 TD catch for 53 yards and the other just 2 yards. 9 catches for 55 yards. Discipline will be needed to not let Marks get a big play…
