After starting the season 2-3, Boise State has a chance to right the ship on Saturday when it hosts San Jose State (1-4).
That game will air on CBS Sports Network and kickoff at 6 p.m. And perhaps a sign of a more significant dynamic shift, FOX decided to toss a Big 12 game in order to air a Mountain West clash … that doesn’t involve Boise State.
No. 24 Fresno State (5-0) will travel to Wyoming (4-1) and the game will air simultaneously alongside Boise State vs. SJSU.
Those are the facts. Here are some thoughts.
1. Two-QB systems are a way to find one QB
This week I wrote a story about Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen. The former fourth-stringer, along with Taylen Green, will now be a part of the Broncos’ two-quarterback system.
For starters: I can’t imagine this works the way Boise State wants you to believe it will — where both guys will play, sometimes, in the same drive, being used in spots where their skillset best fits.
Unless Green is going to turn into a mobile Wildcat-like quarterback to run the ball on early downs — like Taysom Hill — this will not work in the long run. It never does.
The only time I can remember two guys actually going back and forth was the 2015 Ohio State team, which had Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett switched off drives. Even then, Barrett won the job in October and never looked back.
On with Prater and Ballgame on KTIK radio this week, Idaho head coach Jason Eck said this: “When you have a great quarterback, you don’t have a two-quarterback system.”
He’s right.
This whole “two-quarterback system” is nothing more than a quarterback competition that now gets to play out in real games. Which might be a good thing. Heck, Georgia benched Justin Fields in 2018 because Jake Fromm somehow beat him out and Fields transferred. Imagine if that quarterback competition played out over a few games. Perhaps the winner would have been different.
So here’s how I see this playing out: Boise State will try this two-quarterback system for a half. Coaches will go into the locker. Andy Avalos will say to Bush Hamdan: “XXXX is playing way better right now. Let’s just roll with him.”
And, just like that, a two-quarterback system will be lost to the ether.
In saying that:
2. Hard to imagine Taylen Green doesn’t start
Great coaching, to me, is the ability to keep guys invested when they shouldn’t be. I think about the Georgia players telling reporters they had been counted out and picked to finish 6-6 after winning the national championship.
Kirby Smart manufactured adversity and doubt to keep his players from feeling content.
This leads us to this week: If Boise State were to start Maddux Madsen, what message does that send to Green and the team? How on Earth would Green still feel engaged? What hit would his confidence take?
I think the play is to let Green start. Let him prepare like the starter. Let him enjoy his picture showing up on the Albertsons Stadium scoreboard pregame. Let him feel like he does not have to climb a ladder to get back to where he once was.
In doing so, Boise State should hope that Green takes this last week personally. Views this two-quarterback system and affront to his talent and comes out with an eff-you persona and starts playing free. Makes it impossible for the Broncos’ coaches to take him off the field.
3. What is up with Boise State’s defense?
Back in college, I owned a beater 2004 Honda Civic. It got the job done — most of the time. But it had chronic problems. I’d fix the AC and the starter would stop working. I’d fix the starter and oil would start to leak. I patched that up and then the windows wouldn’t roll down.
That is Boise State’s defense.
For the last five weeks, I have felt deja vu sitting in Avalos’ and defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson’s press conferences. It is the same stuff every week.
Avalos says the defense is still great. Then he says it comes down to technique and consistency. Danielson walks into the room and takes all the blame. Then he starts talking more about fundamentals and consistency.
This week, I asked Avalos where the disconnect is. He keeps saying the same thing and nothing changes.
“So, I mean, you know, regardless, to the contrary,” Avalos said. “We actually did things better. We tackled pretty well. I mean, considering what we were talking about last week. Is it going to change overnight? Growth takes time.”
This goes back to my Civic. Just as you fix one thing, another breaks. Right when the tackling improves, the communication falters. Maybe we’re just expecting too much out of the car we have.
4. Chevan Cordeiro is licking his lips
Cordeiro, San Jose State’s 24-year-old senior quarterback, is just 21 touchdowns shy of breaking the Mountain West record for touchdown passes in his career. He’s probably thinking he can make a nice dent in that number this week.
Boise State enters Saturday as the eighth-worst pass defense in America, allowing almost 290 air yards per game.
Cordeiro, the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, has already faced USC and Oregon State and hasn’t put up the stats he can. The Spartans are 1-4 and Cordeiro is barely averaging 200 yards per game. This might be a get-right game for the Spartans offense.
It could also be an opportunity for Boise State’s defense to prove it is not a Honda Civic, that it is capable of being a consistent unit for four quarters and stymying a good quarterback.
5. Farewell
This hurts to write. Saturday will be my final game covering Boise State. I accepted a job in a different market.
It is not fun, nor ideal, that I have to leave B.J. and Bronco Nation News in the middle of the season, but it is silly to think that we can time things perfectly in life.
To leave BNN after just three months, frankly, sucks.
After working in the same market as B.J. for a year and a half, I wasn’t quite sure the type of boss/editor he’d be. Wasn’t quite sure if anyone would care if I moved over to BNN. Wasn’t quite sure the traction my stories or video hits would nab.
It was all better than I could have imagined. B.J. has been incredible, affording me freedom as a writer and building such a stable platform and audience so I could do my job better. What he’s building — and has already built — is ridiculously impressive, a wonderful model that will be copied around the country.
And the readers and subscribers to BNN have been wonderful. Some agreed with what I wrote. Many disagreed. But we talked things out. We were honest with each other. There is passion about this school, about this town and, man, that is a wonderful thing.
To anyone who ever read something I wrote, commented on a tweet I had, texted/DM’d me or just said hello, I can’t thank you enough.
We all get in this business because we trick ourselves into thinking people actually care what we have to say. Many are humbled very quickly. Many are forced into doing something else. Many have to abandon their dream.
I am one of the lucky ones. And, for that, I thank all of you.
PREDICTION: Boise State 36, San Jose State 34
