Thursday, November 24, 2011

Wyoming Hopes to Catch Broncos Down on Saturday


Boise State will face a vastly improved team in Wyoming this Saturday.

The Broncos themselves are coming off their best effort in a month, even though they parlayed a 41-14 halftime advantage into a ball game with six minutes left against San Diego State.  

Boise State expects its cornerbacks to be shutdown-type players and is currently seeing high school players on the recruiting trail that fit that role.  In the meantime, those starting this Saturday have to grow up in a hurry--they'll be facing the defending Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week in Wyoming quarterback Bret Smith.  Smith rushed for 140 yards and passed for 212 last week as the Cowboys disposed of New Mexico.  Smith also won the award in a road victory over San Diego State.
Smith enters the game with Boise State ranked No. 2 in the Mountain West in total offense, behind only Kellen Moore of Boise State.  Smith is averaging 274.4 yards of total offense per game, which is tops among all freshmen in the nation and ranks No. 27 overall in the NCAA.  With his 352 yards of total offense last Saturday, Smith broke the Mountain West record for total offense by a freshman in a single-season.  He now has 2,744 yards of total offense this season with two regular-season games remaining.  He surpassed the MW freshman record previously held by Andy Dalton of TCU. Dalton had 2,691 yards of total offense as a freshman in 2007.  Smith has 2,226 yards passing this season, which ranks him No. 5 in the MW history in passing yards by a freshman. He is only 436 yards from away from reaching that record. 
What's more--Smith has a defense he knows he can count on to hold the opposition.  The Cowboys have the second-best defense in the conference, behind only TCU, allowing just 99 points this year.  They create opportunities for their offense with 17 fumbles forced, a total which not only leads the MWC but is second in the nation.  Further, Wyoming leads the Mountain West in Red Zone Defense, as their opponents score just 73.3% of the time.  

Wyoming senior defensive end Gabe Knapton not only ranks among Wyoming’s career tackle 

leaders (currently ranking No. 5 in school history with 353 career tackles), but he also is among 
the leading tacklers in the nation among current NCAA players.   Knapton enters this week ranked No. 10 in career tackles among active players in the NCAA.  Josh Biezuns is fourth among defensive linemen in the conference with 4.7 tackles per game.  Those two players average more tackles than the entire Boise State senior starting line of Tyrone Crawford, Billy Winn, Chase Baker and Shea McClellin had against either TCU or San Diego State.  


Luke Ruff of Wyoming leads all conference defensive backs with 7.9 tackles per game.  So, given that Wyoming's defense has been outperforming Boise State's to this point of the season, if Smith can match Boise State's Kellen Moore in efficiency Saturday afternoon, we'll have a great game.  


Kickoff is set for noon in Bronco Stadium.  

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