Boise State vs New Mexico: Senior Night Smackdown

Boise State finally gets off to a fast start and has their closest performance to a complete game so far this year.  After racking up 509 yards of offense and a 42 to 9 win, this team looks to be making some strides.

Oh, and did I mention George Holani averaged more than 10 yards per carry, John Hightower had 124 yards receiving, and the team did this with the third quarterback of the season!

Jaylon gets the start on Senior Night

The big question coming into the game was how would Jaylon Henderson fair as the starting quarterback?  I am not sure if they gave him the start for Senior Night, thinking they would see how it goes, and then go with Chase Cord after that, or if Chase was indeed banged up, but could go if necessary?

Boise State had no such difficult decisions to make on this night as the defense scored on the first play of the night, and then Jaylon and the Offense quickly rolled up 21 additional points, to put the Broncos up 28-0 in the first quarter!

I think Bronco Nation was quite happy with the performance Jaylon had, and as a group we can be quite tough on our quarterbacks.  He finished the night 15 of 28, for 292 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception. 

Other than the one blemish, it was a very solid performance from the senior on Senior Night!  I also saw on twitter that he was the last one on the field giving high fives after the game.  Way to go Jaylon!

Offensive line making strides

One thing that is still puzzling to me is the offensive line play.  Now I know it’s not as easy as just saying “the line needs to play better,” however it has been a struggle all year.  Run blocking has just not been there for most of the year.

You can see on certain plays when it gels though, as our stable of running backs, are able to hit the holes for big gains.  With the running backs Boise State has, the run game should not be somewhat stifled as it is.

Yes, there are some injuries (it seems as though Robert Mahone has been banged up most of the year), but at the beginning of the season I would have bet that we had possibly 2, one thousand-yard rushers this year, not just one.

But it looks as though that decade long streak may come to an end this year.

Now, not all blame can be put on the O-line, although it’s easy to see deficiencies and put all the blame there.  But it also seemed to me that Jaylon was better at avoiding pressure/moving in the pocket than the other quarterbacks, or at least had more time to deliver the ball.

A lot of times QB’s can move the wrong direction, or run into trouble, getting sacked and making the o-line look bad. It must be said, the offensive line needs teammates to make them look good as well!

Defense played well despite big lead

I enjoy college football because of the passion (or the chip on the shoulder) that college athletes have when they are out on that field; they have something to prove, and a destination they still want to get to.

Sometimes you can see that chip gets lighter as the team builds a lead.  But not on this night! The defense held strong for most of the game, with the only opposing touchdown coming with 3:53 left to play in the game.

Th only other points New Mexico put up all night was a field goal on their first drive of the second half, after the Boise State Offense went three and out.

Hats off to the defense that played lights out all night long, with multiple strings getting playing time no doubt!  When this defense plays as a team, with that chip, they are as good as they come.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely do not enjoy showing up right on time, and not being able to get to my seat, because the path is blocked by the players running out on to the field! (I’m usually much earlier, and don’t deal with this).

Was it the complete game fans were hoping to see from this Boise State team?  Maybe that is hard to answer against a 2-8 New Mexico.

However, I think it was easy to see that the offense clicked much earlier on in this game and were able to play some team football.  Was it the o-line? was it Jaylon? Perhaps it was a little bit of everyone?

Whatever it was, this team put together their most complete game of the season and looked like they were having fun doing it! Congrats to the players, coaches, and everyone involved.

Let’s go 1 and 0 next week.

Go Broncos!

PSA > If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my favorite site for Boise State Football news, OBNUG (https://www.obnug.com).