Game Week: Boise - Thursday News

Jason Kaneshiro previews tomorrow's game, taking a look at the offense, defense and specialists of both teams and highlighting this key matchup:

Hawaii defensive line vs. Boise St. offensive line
Control of the line of scrimmage will go a long way to deciding the game as the Warriors try to set the tone early on.

"Any game that you play you need to start fast and impose your will," defensive end David Veikune said.

Veikune has been the Warriors' most productive lineman with 37 tackles, five for losses, and the Warriors' ability to pressure quarterback Kellen Moore with their front four will be critical. Hawaii coach Greg McMackin counted up just 14 plays all season in which Boise State faced a blitz.

"That means people are afraid to blitz them because their shifts get them fouled up," McMackin said.

BroncoCountry.com's Rocketman5000 also focuses on that OL vs DL battle.

This is the same talented, tenacious defense that effectively shut down the high-powered Boise State offense to steal the WAC title from the Broncos last year. That was when Boise State could run the ball with the best in the country. The conclusion from the first five games this season is they can not—they rank 60th in the nation or exactly average in the running department.

The Fort Mill Times key matchup is Inoke Funaki vs BSU's stingy defense, which allows 11.2 points a game.

The Arbiter, a Boise student newspaper, has a game preview and a list of UH players to watch in the game.

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman writes about the streaky nature of the Broncos offense.

"You get this young offense going and they start believing and it's real easy to be streaky," senior tailback Ian Johnson said, alluding to a starting lineup that includes three freshmen and two sophomores. "And then one of the problems with a young offense is when something does go wrong, when we used to have older guys hunkering down and saying we're just going to get this done and rallying behind our old offensive line, now you can start getting guys getting worried. Guys start thinking too much and not just reacting to the game."

On Dustin Lapray's BSU blog, Bronco defenders Jeron Johnson and Ellis powers talk a little about their defensive strategies against Hawaii.

Kealoha Pilares leads Hawaii in rushing, but perhaps the greatest ground threat Hawaii has is junior quarterback Inoke Funaki. His scrambling ability is a true weapon.

“He will take off,” Johnson said. “He’s a pretty good athlete. If the D-line gets a chance, they’ve gotta attack him, punish him, and if he gets into the secondary, we have to do the same, punish him. He’ll hurt you if you miss tackles.”

Adaptation and deception will be key for the BSU secondary Friday night.
“They convert a lot of their routes,” Powers said. “If a guy’s sitting outside, he’ll go to the post. If the guy’s sitting inside, he’ll go to the corner. We just gotta be smart how we play, bait the quarterback a little bit.”

Stephen Tsai writes about Brent Rausch's paperwork problem, and talks to long snapper Jake Ingram about getting better and getting ready for anything.

Sometimes in practice, he will drench a football with water.

Sometimes he will cake it in dirt.

"Games aren't going to be perfect," Ingram said. "I have to be ready. I'll go out (before practice) and water the ball down, as if it were a rainy game."

But, he said, "if I do my thing, it doesn't matter how wet the ball is or how cold the weather is, (the snap) will get back there."

Jason Kaneshiro writes about Rausch and Tyler Graunke not making the trip and has some stats and probable starting lineups.

Kirk Bell of the Arbiter has quotes from Greg McMackin, Chris Petersen and others in this "Coach's Office" feature about the game.

And Ferd Lewis writes about the origins and myths behind the blue turf.