*** NCAA Football Preview - Boise State Broncos ***

From The My Sportsbook

By Gregg Xenakes, College Football Staff Writer

2003 SEASON IN REVIEW: Leave it Boise State to again garner recognition for the rest of the Western Athletic Conference as the team finished up the 2003 campaign with an impressive 13-1 record and a national ranking. The Broncos, who have won 24 of their last 25 games, ran the table in the WAC with a perfect 8-0 mark, leading to a postseason date with TCU a couple days before Christmas, the timing of which means that the league is still fighting for respectability. The only loss for BSU came against Oregon State on the road on September 20 by a score of 26-24. Otherwise, the season was perfect for the Broncos as they led the nation in scoring offense for the third time in the last four years. Eight times the team scored at least 43 points in a contest, with a high of 77 points being dropped on the San Jose State Spartans in midseason. Getting much of the praise for the Dan Hawkins-coached program was senior quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie who threw for 4,356 yards and 31 touchdowns, against just seven interceptions. As a result of his 61.9 percent passing and his patience in the pocket Dinwiddie, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears, finished his career as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing efficiency. With their 34-31 win over the Horned Frogs in the Fort Worth Bowl, the Broncos ran their unbeaten streak to 11 games, the second-longest in the nation entering the 2004 campaign (Miami-Ohio has 13 in a row). The squad also owns the country's longest home winning streak with 18 consecutive triumphs at Bronco Stadium. The streaks don't stop there because Boise State is also tied with North Texas with the nation's longest conference winning streak at 18 games.

2004 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: Despite returning only three starters on offense, the WAC media still chose the Broncos as the favorite to pick up the 2004 league title. Dinwiddie, the 2003 Offensive Player of the Year in the Western Athletic Conference and arguably the best player ever to grace the blue field in Idaho is gone. During spring practice the job as signal-caller was up for grabs between both sophomore Jared Zabransky and senior Mike Sanford. Sanford, a fifth-year player who probably knows more about the Bronco system than anyone else on the team, saw little action a year ago as he complete 6-of-13 attempts for one touchdown, matching the scoring produced by Zabransky through the air. While he is certainly a long shot at best, sophomore Legadu Naanee has the body (6-2, 233) to be a presence in the pocket, but he'll need another year of seasoning before he is fully ready. Sophomore Brad Lau moves into the starting fullback spot, taking the place of a graduating Greg Swenson. Lau, one of the strongest players on the team, will provide the Broncos with their biggest running threat at the position in a number of years, but that might not mean very much if the tailback position suffers under the weight of not having David Mikell to turn to. Junior Jeff Carpenter assumes the starting role after having averaged better than seven and a half yards per carry on 21 attempts in 2003. At the wide receiver positions seniors T.J. Acree and Lawrence Bady both will enter the 2004 season as All-WAC candidates. What might be most important is what happens with the offensive line. Daryn Colledge and M.J. Ansel are returning starters at the tackle and guard positions, respectively, but that still leaves three vacated spots. Former walk-on Klayton Adams is slated to be the starting center, while a couple of redshirt freshmen (Tad Miller and Jeff Cavender) fill gaps as well.

DEFENSE: Senior first-team All-WAC selection Julius Roberts returns as a third-year starter at left end for the Broncos after compiling 24 tackles and a team-best 5.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss in 2003. Sophomore Mike Williams is back as a returning starter at right end after finishing his freshman season with an impressive 30 stops. Junior Alex Guerrero and sophomore Andrew Browning, a former walk-on, will inherit the starting tackle jobs this season. Both were contributors in Boise State's tackle rotation in 2003, with Browning recording 31 tackles and two sacks, and Guerrero finishing with 18 stops and one quarterback takedown. Although he has already touched down at both Arizona and Moorpark College, sophomore Tim Volk is expected to make some noise up front for the team this year as well. Senior captain Andy Avalos, an All-WAC selection and the team's leading tackler the last two years, returns for his fourth season as a starter. Avalos finished with 113 tackles and 8.5 TFLs last year and will be a candidate for 2004 WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. Sophomore Korey Hall returns as starter at middle linebacker. Hall earned honorable mention All-WAC honors as a freshman after finishing with 92 tackles and 7.5 TFLs. There is a battle to replace Travis Burgher at the strong-side linebacker spot. Sophomore Colt Brooks will be challenged by freshman Josh Bean and sophomore Jared Hunter. Gabe Franklin and Chris Carr come back at the cornerback and safety spots, respectively. Franklin, is a two-time second-team All-WAC selection who has 14 career interceptions. Last season he finished fifth on the team in tackles with 73 while picking off three passes.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior Tyler Jones, an All-WAC candidate once again, returns to handle kickoff and placekicking duties for the Broncos. Last season he connected on 19-of-25 field goals and 75-of-76 extra points in leading the WAC in scoring. He's an even better weapon on kickoffs where better than 50 percent of his kickoffs went for touchbacks. Sophomore Kyle Stringer, a former walk-on, returns as the Broncos punter after he finished last season with a 40.2-yard average on 60 kicks and pinned the other team inside the 20-yard line 18 times.

OUTLOOK: It's always tough to replace parts to a machine that runs so smoothly, but Hawkins has convinced his team and the rest of the league that he can get it done. Perhaps the schedulers saw this coming and figured the once high-powered offense deserved a break, which is why there are non- conference games with Idaho and BYU on the docket, along with a rematch against Oregon State the second week of the season. BSU should win the league title, but the team has certainly been brought back to the rest of the pack without having star names in the skilled positions.