What Boise State needs to do to win the Fiesta Bowl

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -Undefeated Boise State is a considerable underdog entering the Fiesta Bowl against a well-regarded opponent.

Sound familiar?

Boise State edged Oklahoma 43-42 in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl despite plenty of miscues. So perfection is not necessary for the Broncos to upset TCU, not by a long shot. But Boise State's hopes for victory could rest on these six things Monday night in University of Phoenix Stadium:

1. CONVERT IN THE RED ZONE

In last year's Poinsettia Bowl, the Broncos thrice settled for field goals while inside the TCU 20. The lack of touchdowns proved critical in the 17-16 loss. The problems extended into this season. In their first nine games, the Broncos had 28 touchdowns in 51 red-zone trips. In the final four games, however, Boise State was a blistering 20-for-24 in those situations. It is critical the Broncos keep that up and take advantage of their chances against the nation's No. 1 total defense.

"I still think it comes down to the red zone," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "We were fortunate enough to be able to make them kick three field goals and we were able to score a couple touchdowns. It is one of those situations where you got to be ready to play."

And it is one area where wide receiver Austin Pettis could aid the Broncos. Pettis set a Boise State record with 14 touchdowns before injuring his left ankle. All 14 were from the 20-yard line and in.

2. CREATE A RUNNING GAME

Boise State rushed a paltry 20 times for 28 yards in last year's Poinsettia Bowl loss - and Ian Johnson had a 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

"They were physical. They were tough to block up front. That obviously hurt the run game," offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin said. "And when you're not running the ball, you become one-dimensional and then you're stuck in that one-dimensional mode of throwing the ball. At some point, you've taken a major portion of your game plan out."

Boise State is averaging 194.5 yards per game on the ground behind running backs Jeremy Avery and Doug Martin. TCU is allowing a mere 80.5 rushing yards per game.

It is less about the total yards than establishing a consistent ground attack, something capable of putting Boise State in manageable down-and-distance situations and generating enough confidence to stick with it.

3. WIN SPECIAL TEAMS

Boise State dominated in special teams last year, a fact that both coaches mentioned during their final press conferences. The Broncos outgained TCU by 144 yards in special teams return yardage, one reason they stayed in the game.

Each team possesses game-changing return men - Titus Young and Kyle Wilson for Boise State and Jeremy Kerley and Greg McCoy for TCU - capable of turning a punt or kickoff into points. Boise State kicker/punter Kyle Brotzman could be one of the most important players on either team.

"You just make sure you don't kick it to him (Kerley). He's elusive and he's explosive," Brotzman said. "So my job is to kick it away from him and, if he does get it, to make sure our coverage team has enough time to get down there."

4. MATCH TCU'S PHYSICALITY ON DEFENSE

Much of the focus leading up to the game has been on Boise State's No. 1-ranked scoring offense against TCU's No. 1-ranked total defense.

But Boise State coaches are just as concerned about the TCU offense, which averages 40.7 yards per game. The Broncos' defense wore down late in last year's Poinsettia Bowl, one reason TCU overcame a 13-0 deficit for the victory. The Horned Frogs converted 9-of-18 third-down tries against a Boise State defense hampered by injuries along the line.

The Broncos are healthier now and eager to answer that physicality.

"TCU is a power team, there is no question about it. Every football coach in America would like to think of themselves as a power team, a physical football team and I think we are," Petersen said. "For us to be able to do what we want to do with these guys we will have to play physical football (Monday). If we don't, it won't be good for the Broncos."

5. HELP BRENEL MYERS

Myers, a 6-foot-2, 267-pound freshman from Houston, will get his first career start at offensive tackle in the Fiesta Bowl. (Myers made a start at guard earlier this year). That means he will draw the primary task of slowing down the Horned Frogs? All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes.

Hughes has 26.5 sacks in the last two seasons. Coming from quarterback Kellen Moore?s blindside, he could disrupt the Broncos? timing-based passing game.

?(Patterson) told me it was going to be ?three alligators.? And I guarantee it was a lot quicker than that with that D-line coming after Kellen,? Boise State coach Chris Petersen said.

But if the Broncos focus too much attention on Hughes ? in the form of running backs or tight ends ? it will create openings for other members of the Horned Frogs? defense, which is yielding 12.4 points per game.

The Broncos are the highest-scoring team in the nation at 44.2 points per game, but against elite competition like Oregon and TCU, points have been much harder to come by.

6. AVOID THE MISTAKE

It was an errant bounce on a punt that turned the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. This year?s Las Vegas Bowl turned on an Oregon State fumble and led to a BYU rout. This bowl season, kickers have suddenly lost their ability to make field goals and once-careful quarterbacks have handed out interceptions like candy on Halloween.

Boise State has committed a turnover in the last two minutes of their last five bowl games with a chance to take the lead or tie the game. The good news is that the Broncos have just 13 turnovers this season, the fewest in the WAC and seven fewer than TCU. Moore has thrown just three interceptions.

 

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It's Fiesta Time: Thousands of fans party hearty at pep rally in Arizona



Donning blue and orange Mexican wrestling masks, tights and capes, 40-year-old Boisean Tim Dudley and his 8-year-old son, Josh, sauntered into the Boise State pep rally at Tempe Beach Park on Sunday with a new look. "This is the debut of Bronco Libre and Little Bronc," he said. "We bought these masks in Mexico a couple years ago and always joked that if my wife painted them orange, we could wear them to a game."

"He's too old for this kind of nonsense," said his wife Kara, 37. "Those masks used to be red, blue and silver, but we painted them, and the costume just kept evolving."

Tim made the trip to the Fiesta Bowl three years ago by himself and nearly missed the finish after leaving the game early, but said he hopped a fence and made it back just in time to see the Broncos beat Oklahoma in overtime.

"This time, we all wanted to be here," Kara said.

'I forgot my tights," Boisean Jason Evans quipped as Bronco Libre hammed it up for a TV camera. Some fans drove to Phoenix, and others flew. But Evans, his wife, Elizabeth, and their 15-month-old son, Gavin, did a little bit of both. "It's $300 cheaper to fly out of Salt Lake," Jason said, so they drove the 340 miles and hopped a plane Sunday to Phoenix.

For the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the Evanses, who are Bronco football season ticketholders, drove down in an RV.

'This is my second Fiesta Bowl, but I was questionable coming to this one, because the last one was probably the best football game I'll ever witness in my life," said Boise State senior Mark Nicolarsen, 23. "I can't imagine a better game than that one, so I didn't want to come down and be disappointed. But you know what, I am a Bronco fan and I just had to be here."

Kathy Ingraham has been a Bronco football fan since head coach Chris Petersen was just another Yuba City, Calif., schoolkid with gridiron dreams.

"I've only missed two home games in over 33 years," said Ingraham, the mother of three adult sons, who got into the game when her kids played Optimist football.

Now a grandmother of five and great-grandmother of one, she's the family member who drags the rest of the Ingrahams to watch football.

Ingraham works as an accountant in the Ada County clerk recorder's office. Everyone there knows she's an enthusiastic Bronco fan, so when former running back Ian Johnson's marriage license needed to be signed, they sent it her way. It was an important moment in the couple's life, so she didn't talk football, she said.

Ingraham brought her grandkids Zach and MacKenzie to the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Zach, who plays safety, was a red-shirt freshman this year for the University of Idaho Vandals. His grandma is very proud of him, and that's why she was able to muster the strength to put on a Vandal sweatshirt when Idaho was in Boise last Wednesday for the Humanitarian Bowl.

But here's her dirty little secret: She wore blue and orange under that Vandal sweatshirt.

Emma Peck doesn't remember Boise State's 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory against Oklahoma, but she was there - in her mother's womb.

Three years later at Sunday's pep rally, 2-year-old Emma was wearing a replica Boise State cheerleading outfit as she chased 4-year-old brother Louis.

"This has just been a great family vacation," said her dad, Brian, above.

'We've had a great week, but we've been missing ya," Boise State coach Chris Petersen told 7,500 fans gathered at Sunday's pep rally. "It's good to see you out there. Go easy, tonight - save it for tomorrow. Go, Broncos!"

Three sisters (Bernie, Toni and Margaret) + one brother (Vince) = four Boise natives who are huge Bronco fans (as are their families).

That's the simple equation behind the big family gathering at Bernie and Kim Ray's house in Phoenix. The Rays live in Arizona, while Bernie's sisters, Toni Campanella and Margaret Huerta-Anderson, and brother, Vince Huerta, all traveled down from Boise with their families.

Margaret, Vince and his daughter, Rose, drove down from Boise early Saturday, arriving in just under 18 hours. They took a detour that many other Broncos took, causing major delays.

"We went over Hoover Dam. It took two hours to go 11 miles," Margaret said. "Don't ever do it."

Boisean Beth Schafer says she and her husband have been Bronco season ticket holders since "forever." When he passed away in 2008, she decided to stick to their plan to follow the Broncos to Phoenix if they made it to the Fiesta Bowl again.

Schafer is optimistic about the Broncos' chances of winning despite the challenge TCU poses. "They know about the experience, and what it's like to play in that stadium with a huge crowd," she said. "I think if everyone brings their 'A' game, we'll do OK."

Quarterback Kellen Moore signs autographs at the Boise State pep rally on Sunday afternoon.

His advice to fans: "Get some sleep tonight and save those voices for tomorrow."

Former astronaut Barbara Morgan, currently a distinguished educator in residence at Boise State, drew little attention at Sunday's pep rally. Two men standing behind her in the beer line of at least 50 people were pleased when they learned she was Idaho's renowned "teacher in space." "We're glad to have you back," one of them said, shaking Morgan's hand.

Morgan said Fiesta Bowl officials brought the shuttle crew in for the 2008 Fiesta Bowl game. That was fun, she said. "But it's especially fun being here with your team. I'm feeling really good about the game."

Nothing will make Magdie Teears happier on her 61st birthday Monday than a Boise State victory against TCU.

The 30-year Boise resident and BSU season ticket holder made the trip to the Fiesta Bowl with her husband, Todd, and their two children, Laurel, 19, and Matt, 18.

They didn't make it to Glendale three years ago for the shocking victory over Oklahoma and decided to make sure the family didn't miss out this time around.

Mac Rivera, 10, and his sister, Alex, 13, tossed around a football during the Bronco pep rally at Tempe Beach Park on Sunday. Mac and Alex said they've been Bronco fans "since birth," and after the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, their dad promised that he'd take them if the Broncos made it again.

The Boise family was thrilled to be in Phoenix after a 20-hour bus ride, which began around 7 p.m. Friday. Problems with a bathroom in one of three buses in the fan caravan forced more stops than planned, the kids said.

Both kids said they were nervous about the game. "And tired of waiting," Alex said.

 

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TCU, Boise St. battle of unbeatens teams



GLENDALE, Ariz. ? TC-Who?

The Texas Christian Horned Frogs are used to the question.

When TCU guard Josh Vernon boarded the elevator at the team?s Fiesta Bowl headquarters hotel last week, a woman glanced at his outfit and asked what ?TCU? stood for.

?I told her and she said, ?Well, where exactly is that??? Vernon said, chuckling at the recollection. ?It is funny. We went to Clemson (a 14-10 victory last Sept. 26), and it?s ?Where?s TCU?? By the end of that game, they knew who we were.?

With a colorful history that includes two national titles ? in the 1930s ? the third-ranked Horned Frogs are no secret to college football fans. But they?re hoping to make themselves known to a wider audience when they take on sixth-ranked Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl tonight ? just as the Broncos became national darlings after knocking off Oklahoma on the same field three years ago.

Unlike many of the non-title BCS bowls, this one has a compelling storyline, and it goes beyond whether TCU?s stalwart defense can shut down Boise State?s video-game offense.

It?s the first time two schools from conferences without automatic BCS bids have met on college football?s grandest stage. A pair of unbeatens, too.

Mountain West champion TCU (12-0) earned an automatic bid to break into the BCS for the first time in school history. Its resume includes wins over Clemson in Death Valley and at Virginia, and humiliating routs of conference rivals Brigham Young and Utah.

Western Athletic Conference champ Boise State (13-0) became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to receive an at-large bid. The Broncos launched their so-far perfect season with a 19-8 victory over eventual Pac-10 champion Oregon ? a game mostly remembered for Oregon tailback LeGarrette Blount?s post-game punchout of Boise State?s Byron Hout.

?I would say by having two non-qualifying schools in a BCS game, that has changed the landscape of college football forever as far as the BCS is concerned,? TCU coach Gary Patterson said Sunday.

The winner will join either Alabama or Texas as the nation?s only unbeaten teams, an outcome that won?t satisfy playoff advocates. The who?s-No. 1-debate may rage until the 2010 preview magazines hit the newsstands next summer.

?Finish among the few, that?s all you can ask for, and let the debate go on,? Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore said last week.

Patterson and Boise State coach Chris Petersen are open to playoff discussions. But for now, they?re happy to be basking in the desert sunshine as BCS qualifiers.

?Show me right now how a playoff system is going to make it easier for Texas Christian University and Boise State, unless you give us an automatic qualifying berth into that playoff system,? Patterson said. ?It hasn?t changed.?

Patterson credited Boise State for knocking down ?that wall? blocking outsiders from the BCS. Petersen also noted the historic nature of this matchup.

?A few years ago, for Boise State to even be mentioned in it, a lot of people wouldn?t have thought that,? Petersen said on Sunday. ?Now to have two of us in a game like this, I mean, we?re making progress. There?s no question. Nobody has the perfect answer.

?Hopefully, we show well and can take the next step,? Petersen said.

The next step for both programs is playing for the national championship, and that might not be as far-fetched as it seems.

Because both squads are expected to return key players in 2010, it?s possible that the winner will open next year high in the preseason polls.

?I think both teams, depending on how the game goes, possibly because they have so many players coming back, have a preseason chance to be ranked high,? Patterson said.

But first they have to play the Fiesta Bowl.

At first glance, the game presents an intriguing matchup of TCU?s defense against Boise State?s offense.

With Moore at the controls, the Broncos score 44.2 points per game, best in the country. The Horned Frogs concede 12.4 points per game, fourth nationally.