PREVIEW | CFB: BOISE STATE (8-5, 6-2) VS UCLA (7-5, 4-5) (-3.5) *LA BOWL EDITION*

 

Starco Brands LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk

Boise State University  vs UCLA

Date: Saturday, December 16th, 2022

Time: 5:30 p.m. MT

Stadium: SoFi Stadium Los Angeles, CA (70,240)

TV:ABC

TV Commentators: Dave Neal, Deuce McAllister, and Andraya Carter 

Radio: KBOI 670 AM

Commentators: Bob Behler and Pete Cavender

 Know Thy Enemy

 The City of Angels awaits the Starco Brands LA Bowl hosted by Gronk himself. The home of the LA Rams and Chargers, SoFi stadium will play host to the championships of the Mountain West, the Boise State Broncos and the hometown team UCLA. The Broncos come into this game riding a 4-game hot streak, while the Bruins lost three-of-four, including a 33-7 loss to Cal, to close out their regular season. 

Tis the season for transferring and sitting out and both teams will be without their starting quarterbacks with both BSU’s Taylen Green and UCLA’s Donte Moore hitting the portal just days after the end of the season. UCLA has really been hit with several of their top players sitting out the game, including tight end Carsen Ryan, running back Carson Steele and defensive end  Laiatu Latu who just recently was awarded the Lombardi Award which is awarded to the best lineman in the country. All this to say both teams will look drastically different than the ones they put on the field for the bulk of the regular season. 

UCLA’s offense had some issues up front this year with their offensive line. The Bruins gave up a whopping 42 sacks which was ranked 122nd in the nation and second to last in the Pac12. Even with their top running back out of this game, they will still lean heavily on the run game behind T.J. Harden was only 100 yards off of the team lead and paced Carson Steele with six touchdowns. Unlike the Broncos, the Bruins starting quarterback, Ethan Garbers, has actually seen the field quite a bit this season and even made a handful of starts. Garbers played in 10 games this season and averaged just north of 13 pass attempts per game. 

The Defense is what could cause the most problems for the Broncos this week. Boise State will face a very strong defensive front. They rank 1st in the country in rush defense, and 6th in sacks. Not having Latu will help the Broncos, but they still have to deal with the Murphy twins. Gabriel and Grayson Murphy have combined for 11 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss. 

Special teams could be something to keep an eye on in this game for UCLA. The Bruins have been awful in the kicking game this season. On the season UCLA is 8-of-17 on field goals and have trotted out two different kickers. They also have had three kicks blocked. 

UCLA is coached by Chip Kelly. Coach Kelly is in his fifth season as head coach of the Bruins with a record of 34-34. Many think Kelly is on the hot seat and suspected that he would’ve been out on the street already. However, it looks like he will remain in Hollywood for the foreseeable future. Kelly started his head coaching career at Oregon before spending four seasons in the NFL coaching the Eagles from 2013-2015 and the 49ers in 2016. Interesting enough Coach Kelly is 0-2 against Boise State in his career.   

Boise State and UCLA have faced off one other time in 1999 when Dirk Koetter and the Broncos went to Pasadena.  

 

What Happened Last Time

Boise State traveled to the Rose Bowl to face the #15 ranked Bruins in the opening game of the 1999 season. The Bruins relied on a duo of quarterbacks as they trounced the Broncos 38-7. UCLA took a 24-0 lead into halftime and extended their lead to 38-0 at the end of the third quarter. Boise State would finally get on the board  when backup quarterback Bryan Harsin connected with Shaelan McDonough on a 17-yard touchdown pass in the final moments of the fourth quarter to stave off the shutout. 

Interesting notes from the game. UCLA had a number of players suspended for the game for wrongfully obtaining and misusing disabled parking placards. 

Boise State was playing the game with heavy hearts after the tragic loss to teammate Paul Reyna, who died from a head injury suffered in the final fall scrimmage. 

Players to Watch 

UCLA

SO., T.J. HARDEN, RB#25

T.J. Harden will get the chance at being the featured back on Saturday against BSU. Harden appeared in 12 games with two starts this season. Harden had six games with at least 55 rushing yards and ran for a season -best 142 yards against USC. With Steele out for the bowl game Harden will be relied on heavily in a game where quarterback play could be suspect. 

Rs.SR., DARIUS MUASAU, LB #53

One good thing for the Bruins is that their leading tackler Darius Muasau, will be suiting up on Saturday. The redshirt senior from Ewa Beach, Hawaii leads the team with 65 tackles including 37 solo tackles. He also adds in eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and an interception. 

Rs.JR., ETHAN GARBERS, QB #4

Ethan Garbers will get his seventh start of the season for the Bruins on Saturday. In fact, Garbers started three of the last four games of the season for UCLA including the final two games of the season. Garbers’ stats don’t leap off the page, but on a team that doesn’t throw the ball a whole lot has decent numbers. H’es thrown 9 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions and completed almost 67% of his passes.  

BOISE STATE 

FR., CJ TILLER, QB #0

It’s Tiller Time! Coach Danielson has come out and said that CJ Tiller will be the starting quarterback for the Broncos on Saturday. The true freshman has appeared in, count them, one game and it was two snaps. One a hand off and the other a kneel down. His first collegiate pass will come on Saturday. Tiller was a three-star prospect and was the 20th rated quarterback in the nation coming out of high school. In 11 games as a senior, Tiller completed 144 passes for 2,154 yards and 14 touchdowns. 

Rs.SR., GEORGE HOLANI, RB #24

Saturday will be the swan song for George Holani and his storied career at Boise State. In a game that will feature a very, very unproved quarterback both Jeanty and George will probably be heavily involved in the game plan. Seeing as though this is Holani’s last ride, his workload might be even heavier this game. 

JR., SEYI OLADIPO, S #23

Seyi Oladipo has been a heat seeking missile for the last couple of weeks. Since Coach Danielson has taken the reins, the blitzing on defense has seen a drastic uptick and more often than not its Seyi Oladipo whose number is called. In the Mountain West Conference Championship Oladipo had the game-sealing sack when he came blazing around the corner. Oladipo makes plays and I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a huge play on Saturday. 

1. Play Fast

Boise State’s defense has come alive the last couple of weeks and even made a potent UNLV offense look anemic in the MW championship game. Boise State will be facing a depleted UCLA offense who have had their issues with protecting the quarterback. Look for Boise State to bring pressure from all parts of the field and for guys like Oladipo and Hassanein to have big days on defense. 

2. Play Smart

Boise State has the 6th best rushing attack in all of college football. UCLA has a really good run defense, but they haven't faced a running back tandem like Jeanty and George. With the Broncos turning to a true freshman quarterback, look for the Broncos to do the smart thing and rely on the run game and screen pass game to get this offense clicking. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see even more “Wildcat” than we did in the conference championship game. 

3. Play Together

New head coach Spencer Danielson keeps saying that they want to finish this season strong for the seniors and finish for one another. Remarkably to this point, the Broncos haven’t seen a mass exodus of players to the portal. Boise State has all the motivation it needs to win this game. All they need to do is to keep doing what they have been doing the last three weeks. Play fast, play smart, and Play together. 

Revs Rant and Prediction:

I will confess, I was very much on “team Danielson” when it came to the coaching search. I thought his leadership and ability to galvanize this group to finish this season strong was remarkable and what I wanted in the next head coach. I also thought and think his X’s and O’s ability is pretty good too. And I would be silly to not mention that our alignment in beliefs wasn’t also a major plus for me. With that said I do think this Boise State team is on the cusp of really good days with a really good head coach at the helm. 

What’s remarkable to me is that Spencer Danielson with a win on Saturday will have one less win than the previous coach did in half the number of tries. Boise State is playing its best football when it matters most. This Bowl game doesn’t look anything like it did a couple of weeks ago, but there is still a ton of intrigue and to win a game against a brand like UCLA would be really fun. 

Boise State has the better day running the football and their defense forces three Bruin turnovers. 

Broncos 34, Bruins 17