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Monday, August 24, 2009
Boise State almost reached perfection in '08, but lost to TCU in their last game of the season, 16-17. The Broncos will again shoot for perfection as their toughest game is the first one on the schedule, as the Oregon Ducks come to town September 5th.
Boise State has some key guys on both sides returning, but they also had some guys leave that were big time players for them last season. This season will be all about if the Broncos can get these holes filled quick enough to win the first game and try to run the table again.
Let's take a closer look at the Broncos...
QB Kellen Moore will be the leader on offense now that Ian Johnson is gone. Moore has a great freshman year throwing for 3,486 yards along with 25 TD's and 10 interceptions.
Moore will need to put up big numbers again if Boise is going to stay perfect throughout the regular season.
(credit: athlonsports)
Replacing Johnson at tailback is the very talented Jeremy Avery. Avery is ready to be the number one back for the Broncos as he rushed for 614 yards and 4 touchdowns last year in a backup role. Boise State will need Avery to be very effective, especially against Oregon early in the year.
At WR the Broncos have Austin Pettis, and, well that's about it. With three other key wide outs leaving Pettis is the only WR coming back that was productive last season. Pettis will have to carry the load until the Broncos can find some other guys to fill the void.
Let's switch sides and look at the defense.
The defense lost some guys up front and in the middle, but do return the core of their secondary. Boise state will need DE Ryan Winterswyk to be disruptive up front while others get their feet wet.
As far as the linebackers are concerned, the Broncos will look to replace Tim Brady.
In reality the Broncos only have two games to worry about if they want to go undefeated. Oregon comes to the smurf turf for the Broncos first game, and they see Nevada later in the season on November 27th. If the Broncos can managed to win both of these games, then they will probably win out and look to play in a BCS bowl game.
Players to Watch: Kellen Moore, Jeremy Avery
Projected Record: 11-1
