STORRS – UConn football coach Bob Diaco watched Boise State defeat Colorado State 37-24 on TV last Saturday night.
“It not [a feeling of] worry,” Diaco said of the Bronco offense. “But you’re definitely in awe.”
By Monday, he was ready to challenge the UConn defense.
“We’ve got an offensive juggernaught coming to town in Boise State,” he said. “Fast moving, fast paced … It’s fast moving, fast paced, fast athletes [on] offense that creates a major problem for the defense. So that will be a fun challenge for the defense all week, to get ready and prepare for that.”
Saturday at Renschler Field in East Hartford (Noon, ABC/ESPN2), the Huskies will find out if that preparation was enough or not. The Broncos from the Mountain West Conference are 1-1, the same as UConn. This isn’t the most important game of the year for either team, but in many ways this is a pivotal point in the schedule. Diaco calls it the end of UConn’s first season because the Huskies will jump into conference play on Friday at USF.
The Broncos have a quarterback in Grant Hedrick who is a dual threat in the same mold as BYU’s Taysom Hill – only faster on his feet. The Broncos have a running back in Jay Ajayi who is powerful, shifty and quick. He is averaging 5.76 yards per carry and ran for 219 yards against Colorado State. He also had 61 yards receiving and finished with three touchdowns. If that’s not enough for your “awe factor,” consider that three BSU receivers (Shane Williams-Rhodes, Ajayi, Matt Miller) are among the nations’s top 26 in number of receptions.
“It’s a very talented offense, they have great players and great receivers, running backs and quarterback,” UConn safety Andrew Adams said. “I think if we stay to our fundamentals and techniques, have a good week of practice, we’ll be prepared.”
Nothing awed Diaco more than the 63 plays Boise State ran in the first half – yes, the first half.
“That’s definitely a fast pace,” Adams said. “BYU kind of ran the same style of offense. I think that game will help us in the future and it was a great test for us. We’ve had great training. So I think physically we’re up for the test. Mentally, you’ve got to stay locked in every play. Play 1 or play 63, if we stay locked in, we’ll be all right. They want you to fall into their game but if we play our defense we’ll be OK.”
Ajayi carried the ball 33 times against Colorado State and the Broncos are concerned about his workload.
“When you have a great player, you get him the football,” BSU offensive coordinator Mike Sanford told the Idaho Press-Tribune. “And I don’t think that’s a controversy. Jay was in a flow. We’re talking to him on the sidelines, Jay’s getting on the headsets and we’re talking. He wasn’t winded. He wasn’t beat up. He was fresh and ready to go.”
Hedrick certainly can distribute the ball to others. He has three receivers with 14 or more receptions. He is completing 73.4 percent of his passes, passed for 352 yards against Colorado State and put down another 80 on the ground.
“You’ve just got to rush him and when he tries to look for an outlet, there’s going to be another guy there waiting for him,” UConn linebacker Graham Stewart said. “When there’s another outlet, there’s a guy waiting there. By that time he doesn’t have any more time or space to elude you.
“Teams have similar schemes but it’s never a complete mirror. We do feel like we have an edge because we faced a team like BYU that is a similar high-tempo offense. But at the same [Boise State] is a great team. We’re going to need to go out there and play fundamentally sound.”
UConn corner Byron Jones is looking to improve his play this week (Ken Davis photo)
The Huskies mentioned fundamentals over and over this week .
Said Adams: “If everybody does their job, then the running quarterback won’t be effective like people think.”
It won’t be any easier on the other side of the ball. Boise State’s defense has forced six turnovers (five interceptions and a fumble) and ranks fifth in the nation in rushing defense, allowing an average of 49.5 per game. UConn has gained just 152 yards running in two games. The Broncos have allowed just four scores in seven red zone trips, ranking 15th nationally.
“They’re a good team,” UConn quarterback Chandler Whitmer said. “Very athletic. They fly around. This will be a good test. Defensively, that’s what they are. We’ll have to be physical upfront with them, try to play our game and take care of the ball.”
Boise State’s biggest concern entering the game is the injury situation in the defensive backfield. Coach Bryan Harsin and his staff spent most of the week trying to determine who was healthy enough to play. Mercy Maston, a reserve who plays both corner and nickel, has a stress fracture and is out five weeks. Starting cornerback Cleshawn Page injured a knee against Colorado State and is out.
Corner Bryan Douglas left the Colorado State game with concussion-like symptoms. Darian Thompson, after starting 21 consecutive games at safety – finished the game at cornerback. The Broncos were even working receivers at the defensive back spots.
“You have to get those guys to believe that it doesn’t matter,” defensive coordinator Marcel Yates told
TV NOTE
The Boise State-UConn game will be on ABC in Connecticut, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah, and Massachusetts. It’s on ESPN2 in the rest of the country except for Arkansas, which is getting the Texas Tech-Arkansas game on ABC and Kent State-Ohio State on ESPN2.
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