Oregon State at Boise State

OSU takes on Boise State Thursday night and hopes to erase the memory of an ambush in 2004. The Beavers had a rough time of it back then having playing LSU in a highly emotional OT loss and getting back late from Louisiana. That left them little time to recover and prepare for BSU and it showed. They lost 53-35.

This year the Beavers feel like the Broncos are one of the tougher teams on their schedule. The game prepares them for the intensity required for Pac-10 play.

The Broncos have a new head coach, Chris Peterson, who has been the offensive coordinator the last few years. Not too much will change on the football field as he knows all the players and the offense very well. The defensive coordinator is new so there may be a few new wrinkles on D.

Offense

The key returning starter is the QB, Jared Zabransky. He will be a senior QB and has started for two years already. Jared is dangerous because he can run and really keep a defense off balance. His passing ability is good enough and the Broncos offense does a lot of pass plays that are tough to defend such as inside passes where the other receivers almost screen for the underneath receiver. We saw some of that versus EWU so we need to be much better defending that. Also, we need to stay at home and really contain BSU or else Zabransky will run wild on any pass play that we defend well.

The running game looked very good against Sacramento State last week. Starting RB Ian Johnson had 90 yards on only 13 carries. So that dimension is there and needs to be held in check. While it seems like BSU passes alot, really they get much of their yardage on the ground averaging over 200 ypg last season

The receivers look good with senior Drisan James leading the way. Dristan is on some award watch lists for 2006.

This game will give Beaver fans an idea if the defense is better or worse than last year.

Defense

Senior LBs Korey Hall and Colt Brooks are the linchpins for this defense. They lead the defense and keep everything in check. Colt Brooks had an interception against Sac State and they combined for 14 tackles and 2 TFL. Hall lead the team in tackles last season with 106. Brooks is the sack man with a team leading 6 sacks last season. The Beavs will have to watch out for LB blitzes.

The defense was pretty good against the run last year allowing just over 100 ypg. They did allow about 260 ypg in the air.

The Beavers will be tested running against this defense. They will try to force the Beavers to pass and hope the Matt Moore from last year against Arizona shows up. If the Beavers can run against the Broncos then they should be able to control the clock and keep the ball out of the hands of their offense. Otherwise Matt Moore will need to prove that he has improved and can lead the team to victory like last years game against BSU.

My thoughts

I think the Beavers will run the ball and throw well enough to score a lot of points. I'm not sure about the defense, but I like our chances against any team that is run heavy and only average passing. I think we will go into Boise with rest, preparation, and a chip on our shoulder from the last game. Oh, and the fact that most Boise St. fans, bloggers, and beat writers continually try to belittle the Beavers and pretty much write them off.

I'm actually tired of the Boise St. attitude. They think they are USC already. Or maybe Texas. The brash, cocky attitude definitely makes me want the Beavs to kick their ass for once. It started with the beat writer calling the Beavers a AAA team. Then moves to score predictions of BSU 44 - OSU 21. The last straw was this:
Beavers will be embarrassed. We definitely get NO respect in Idaho. Oh right, they did beat us that one time. After losing to LSU 5 days earlier in OT. And having flight delays that got us in late the next day.

Good lord I want the Beavs to kick some Bronco butt tomorrow night. So bad that I think the players feel it too. I think they still want redemption. Sabby and Ev know how it felt. AWB was there. They will tell the story of a cocky team that needs to be smacked.

Beavs win 50 - 30. Payback time.