Boise State vs Georgia Southern PREVIEW AND PREDICTIONS/KEYS TO GAME! Season Opener!

[Music] [Music] I cannot tell you Bronco nation how excited I am to be sitting down with you doing this video because it means that the off season is over and Boise State football is back this is going to be an incredible season there are so many expectations for this year and I think part of the reason there's so many expectations is that so much has happened in this off season that it didn't really feel like an off season I mean of course it did because there not boy State games to watch every week but there was always news for coming out for boy State football on almost a weekly basis whether it was Ashton Genty coming back or huge recruits coming in or state or coaches being hired coaches leaving coaches coming in this offseason is built up to a point where I think we are truly ready to see something great out of Boise State and it all starts week one versus Georgia Southern this is a game at 2 p.m. mountain time on ESPNU so for those not familiar with my boy State 3 Keys the game uh preview videos this is not just going to be about Boise State if there's any Georgia Southern fans watching there will be stuff in here for you Boise State fans a chance to learn about Georgia Southern this first week opponent for Boise State we're going to go through the overall just kind of summary of what this game is where it is when it is I've done a little bit of that already then we'll talk about Series history between these two teams we'll talk about key players for both Boise State and Georgia Southern three key players for both of them and then I'll go through keys to the game for boy day ending with a overall review and giving you a score prediction so as always before you continue with the rest of this video stop right now and go into the comment section and give me your score predictions I'm going to want to go through and see all of those score predictions um and this year what I'm going to be doing is whoever gets the closest score prediction um I will give them a shout out in the next video so it's not much but I love seeing those score predictions I love interacting with all of you this is a great opportunity for me to be able to engage to the fan base and I want to continue to encourage those so whoever's closest will get a shout out in the video uh next week for when I previewed the Oregon game if there multiple people that have the same one it'll just be whoever posted it first so get in there right now make sure you pause the video and give me your score predictions whether you're a boy State fan or you're Georgia Southern you want to go predict the upset go give us those score predictions in the comments below all right so let's get into previewing this video again Boise State versus Georgia Southern 0 first game of the season but just looking at their record last year boy state of course 8-6 but they if you just looked at the record for boy state that does not tell the full story of what happened last season obviously completely different end to how that season was going at the beginning and even at the midpoint um and then Georgia Southern a team that went six- seven it was their second year in a row going six- seven under their third year head coach and that is another storyline for this game third-year head coach for Georgia Southern with Klay hton he's really coming to uh going to try and bring out the full potential of Georgia Southern this year had two back-to-back years of getting them bow eligible and now they're ready to take that next step Phil steel has this Georgia Southern team as a program that could compete for the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game Boy State on the other end even though sitting there with a brand new first year head coach he has some experience coming back from last year obviously where he ended up stepping into that interim role uh so boy State head coach Spencer danelson first year first season opener as the head coach but boy State on their end is also a program that's being looked at as not just winning potentially the conference but also a team that's going to compete potentially for that group of five playoff spot as well so serious history between these two teams oh and just to finish wrapping up that first bit there like I said at 2 p.m. Mount time on ESPNU boy State is favored in this game given a 13-point favorite per Vegas and then ESPN also has them favored by giving them a 65.1% chance of winning this game so Boise State the favorites but should this be a game that boy State fans should be concerned about little heads up here yes this is not a team that we can Overlook and we'll talk about that when we get into the three keys of the game but let's look at the series history all right this section will be really fast because there is no serious history between boy State and George Southern first ever meeting however just looking at boy State's record versus Sunbelt team overall theyve actually never lost to a Sun Belt team in their FBS history I've only played a few of them Idaho when they were in the Sun Belt in near early 2000 uh they've played U Lafayette and they've played Troy and they've won against all of those teams so Georgia Southern with a chance here to make a little bit of not a little bit this would be huge for them obviously to make history by being potentially being the first team to go out and beat boy State can they do it that's what we're going to talk about here in this video obviously and it'll come down to the key players for both boy State and George S to determine who ends up with the win in this one so for the key players for Boise State number one I think nobody's going to be surprised by the number one key player for the game Ashton Genty Ashton gent is the heart and soul of this offense for Boise State over, 1300 yards rushing last year over 500 yards receiving and that is with both going through an injury where he missed a couple of games and also not being the number one back I mean it was kind of a number one number two number one number one split boy had two number one backs with George helani Ash and jenty but in the back half of the season when George helani came back health they were splitting reps pretty much 50/50 so even without being the only feature back in the offense Ashton jenty still did what he was able to put up last year and we are expecting a huge year a much more a much bigger year as the number one back for this boy State offense and boy State's hopes and dreams maybe not necessarily coming up against Georgia Southern but overall for the season their hopes and dreams on what they can do if they can fulfill some of the highest expectations some of the the loftiest pro pro pro pro ah prediction sorry some of the loftiest pred predictions for this program they're going to need Ashton jenty to have not just a huge game but a huge season but it all starts with Georgia Southern uh my second key player the game is going to be Latrell CES now this is a different story ash and jenty we all know about him what he did last year he's going to be riding that momentum into the season Latrell CES he's restarting this year last year injured year before that he was the leading wide receiver for boy State now it was a down year for wide receivers overall but he had 549 yards receiving average 10.8 yards per reception and had and that was in 2022 and like I said led the team in receiving he's going to be huge for this program not just because he brings senior leadership to this role and he is a very exciting offensive threat that we definitely missed last year but also playing out that slot receiver role I think he's going to be a heavy Target for Boise State passing game that is going to be under the hands of Max Matson who I'm excited about but he's also a young inexperienced guy got a little tested last year but still overall inexperience and soell CES in that slot rle provides a good Outlet route and he's a guy like I said 10.8 yard average for catch he can get you yards after catch he's going to be a major player both in the receiving game and in the return game showing that shiftiness and then finally the last key player for Boise state is going to be am Maran McCoy 31 tackles last year four passes defended three interceptions really came on strong at the end of the year he's one of the best defenders in the secondary for Boise State uh this third key player really represents the secondary overall because the entire secondary is such a huge key and we'll talk about that when we get to the actual keys of the game but for Mario McCoy I expect him to have a huge year and coming up against a Georgia Southern team that's a very pass heavy program you're going to want am Mar McCoy to have a huge game to be able to shut down that Georgia Southern passing attack so talking about Georgia Southern three key players for them well obviously the number one key player for any offense is usually usually going to be the quarterback obviously boy State it's the running back of our situation that we have going on with ashon jenty being a legitimate Heisman candidate and obviously a young untested face at quarterback offense will run through Ashton um however Georgia Southern they're not that way they have a new face at quarterback but they're not a team that can rotate and switch to a run Focus attack this is a very pass Centric offense for Georgia Southern and so for them it's going to be JC French now he was not the starter last year their starter last season uh he Davis Brinn he threw for over 3,000 yards almost 4,000 yards passing he was a huge huge element for them having being able to have the success on offense they did last year if they're going to continue to have that success and turn the corner in having a better season this year JC French is going to have to step up he was a it was a quarterback battle he wasn't the starter all the way through uh he's pretty inexperienced he only had 16 attempts for 122 yards a touchdown and a pick last year but he has a big arm this is a guy who can definitely step in and fill a role in a pass Centric offense but he's also going to have to rely on that running game George Southern not a run first team but they do have a good running back coming back in Jaylen white 889 yards rushing nine touchdowns 5.6 yard average and with a inexperienced quarterback behind Center you're going to have to lean on that running back room a little bit more and so so Jaylen White's going to be a big asset for them however when they do go to the air wide receiver Darren Buress and I may I may be messing up some of these players names so please pronoun correct my pronunciation in the comments any Georgia Southern fans watching but Darren Duren bures he is going to be that number one target for Georgia Southern in the passing game he was second last team year uh in receiving only about 100 yards is short of being the number one receiver in yards overall so second but not a you know he's he's still one of the top guys for this team offensively 813 yards receiving 11 yard average had over 60 yard long reception and he also led the team receiving touchdowns with six touchdowns so for JC French this is the guy he's going to be leaning heavily on in his passing game just like lell CES will be a big emphasis early on for uh madx mson now keys to the game for Boise State not going to do Georgia Southern keys to the game so you'll have to interpolate from these um but for Boise State keys to the game the number one I've touched on already is going to be that secondary the secondary needs to step up this is really a season key for Boise State overall obviously much malign secondary last year some of those losses was definitely on the secondary especially opening up against Washington States but I mean I guess you know playing Michael penck what was going to happen he was going to he was going to blaze really any secondary and he did throughout the year that was placed before him but especially that Boise State secondary but Boise State they've done some things to make themselves better this year part of that is just the experience last year they lost so many players across the board I believe it eight out of their 12 top tacklers seven or eight out of their top uh tacklers return only 40% production defensively last year it was a real rebuild for them and and it was to be expected that they were going to have a little bit of a dip but this year just like JL Skinner said when he came on and previewed the defense with me what they needed to do most to fix last year was just get the experience and they did so they have a really experienced core coming back we'll touch on some of those guys but what they also did is they made some really big offseason moves I know that you know Malachy Nelson was a huge Focus point of the recruiting this off cycle and talking about bringing in new Talent Mal was kind of the head of that um but boy State wasn't just going off the offense they brought in two really solid defensive players and Jeremiah Herby who looks to be a starter and then also Banks from Washington he was a defend he was a a defensive back for Washington he was one of their main guys got hurt early on in the year if he can come back and be fully healthy and it looks like he is he's going to definitely be a major contributor for the boy State secondary and can step up big but again it's not just the new guys coming in the guys coming back from last year have a lot more experience I'm really expecting big things out of tubber Benfield McCoy Oladipo and then even behind them Reed kho Robinson there's even some other faces that we haven't seen much of but I think will step up overall this is a much more experienced boy State secondary and it's a boy State secondary that doesn't just have the star talent but has built so much more depth uh throughout from first string all the way down to second third there are a lot of guys that can step up and perform at a high level and I'm expecting big things out of this boy State secondary and again it all starts with beating a team that's a pass Centric team in George Southern you're going to need that secondary step up and more than anything you're going to need to build them that confidence for when they go out and play Oregon who is going to be even a bigger test the following week and it all starts week one by going up against georia Southern and beating them with our secondary now key number two here is embrace the jti system last year everybody everybody that I brought on for the boy State offensive preview said yeah we agree with you it's going to be a run Centric offense we thought it was going to be a run Centric offense because you had the double-headed backs of jenty and helani behind them you had dubar who was capable as well and then you had obviously T green he was such a running threat we just everybody assumed that it was going to be very off a run Centric offense last year I mean even that's what we were seeing in Spring ball and we came out and it it just it wasn't that at all and so this year Boise State everything we've seen has been that it's going to be run Centric you would think that it's going to be run Centric when you've got jenty when you've got duar when you've got sire gain I mean that second position Bo I think is going to be pretty fluctuating between dubar and gains getting in the game when the offensive line four out of five starters coming back on offensive line this is going to be a dominant Run game Boise State though they've always wanted to be that balanced attack but you have got to come in and establish the running game yes this is a very exciting wide receiver room yes we want to see what the quarterback can do we want to settle down some nerves maybe prove some haters wrong in the fan base that were very very upset by Maliki Nelson not getting that start yes you have maybe one of the most exciting tight ends we've had in a very long time with Matt louder however while that passing game is definitely going to be part of this offense you have got to establish momentum in the running game first this cannot be an offense that comes out is reliant on that passing game because it puts too much pressure on a unit that just doesn't have the continuity yet and ignores your biggest asset overall which is going to be that running game so for Boise State they've got to come out and just embrace the fact that it the offense will look a little different this year at least for the first half of the season and embrace the hash Heisman campaign of Ashton jenty and give him the ball uh again it also has the benefit of preventing overexposing your playbook if you can win on the ground you don't have to go into exposing your rout Tre so for boy State there are a lot of benefits to make sure that they focus on establishing what should be the greatest part of this team which is the Run game and finally third key to the game for boy state is going to be eyes on week one there is a massive matchup that is looming maybe the biggest matchup for the group of five overall this season coming up the following week a playoff contender in Oregon a top five program currently ranked number three maybe moving up potentially after week one a top five program in Oregon the following week but you cannot allow your eyes to shift off of week one versus Georgia Southern this is not a Georgia Southern team that you can Overlook they are going to be dangerous they have eight Defenders back on defense they have a thirdy year head coach it's a very dangerous road environment going east of the Mississippi different time zones hot environment it looks like it's going to be highs of 92 very very humid midday game 2: p.m. boy St is not used to playing in those you know early afternoon morning type games obviously not a morning game but early afternoon they're used to playing at like 8:00 p.m. kicking off when it's dark outside and the neon blue lights are flashing on the blue that's when boy State's used to playing there's going to be a lot of differences here there's going to be obviously all the rust that you have to knock off in week one so regardless of who you play in week one it's always dangerous but a team like Georgia Southern they are a true Ender again Phil still has them as tied for number two overall in the Sun Belt in his preseason prediction so this is a dangerous Georgia Southern team regardless of the fact of who they are missing and they are missing some key pieces especially at that quarterback offensive line got hurt for them last year as far as players that they lost they only returned two out of the five stars in offensive line so they're having to rebuild there but this is a George southern team that's going to be ready this is their Super Bowl this is the biggest game that they play unless they can get to their conference Championship Game this year um this is the this is their you know Oregon is boys State's big game Boise state is Georgia Southern's big game and so you have got to make sure that you are prepared to go and face the George southern team on the road is going to be very very dangerous and and take do what it takes to win whether that's exposing your Playbook or not you're going to need every part of you to come out and at least for the first three quarters get this win in this one and maybe after that boy state will have a chance to pull away but for the first three quarters and maybe even in the fourth it is going to be a fight you cannot overlook this Georgia Southern program all right so summarizing overall on the score prediction again I hope that you put your score predictions in already if you didn't yet this is your last chance before you hear mine all right so Georgia Southern score overall summary here before we get to score prediction again Georgia Southern obvious obviously a team that's overmatched Sun Belt uh midlevel traditionally Sun Bel team versus the one of the Premier programs in in their not just their conference in Mount West but in the group of five overall um when you look at recruiting rankings obviously boy state is coming into this one better program but there are opportunities here George Southern returns a lot of key pieces even if they are missing offensive line and and QB return their running their rushing threat primary rushing threats two out of three top wide receivers only five stars back on offense but again it should be a good defensive unit that that should put boy state to the test especially with a breaking in a new offensive system and a new quarterback new wide receiver room um they should put boy state to the test and they also return some weapons on their own and you know if JC French Steps up and he's the guy and he has a huge game for Georgia Southern he could test that boy St secondary that again had a lot of questions from last year boy State on the other hand again first year head coach Spencer dson has been great in bringing that energy level up in the locker room and really turning the C changing the culture at Boise State from what had happened the previous three years but again he is an exp experiened head coach and we saw last uh in the bowl game you know he doesn't necessarily as an inexperienced young head coach he's not always making the the right decision every time boy state was winning the bowl game until they completely changed their offensive scheme coming into the second half and and they just fell apart and so boys so again he is having to make new and tougher decisions moving from that defensive coordinator to head coach role and it's going to be a little bit of a learning process whether the players are completely bought in or not whether they are which they are whether the players are completely bought in or not whether or not people will run through a brick roll for him and again all of those things are true you're still a firste head coach playing in a tough road environment versus George southern team and fan base that are going to be pumped up and ready for you so I mean again there are openings there are chinks in the armor here for boy state that George Southern could exploit especially if they can't establish that running game madx mson throws a couple of picks things start to go off the rails early this there could be opportunity so boy take cannot allow that to happen um again this talking about madx Manson he got experience last year but it was never as really the number one guy he only got one start I mean again there were games where he got the majority of the Reps but he didn't start them the New Mexico game was his first start and he didn't get to finish it because he got hurt so he's coming back off of an injury he's been out for a long time he he was playing with a two quarterback system where he splitting reps in practice and not getting full game experience and so while he got some experience overall this is still a new setting for him and it's his first start on the road vers and first ever season opening start for him so there's going to be nerves out there and especially of course with all the negativity that was out there I mean that that's got to weigh on you a little bit as well and you want to prove yourself and maybe that forces you into some situations that you shouldn't because again there's all that pressure and you want to prove yourself so Boise state has some weaknesses is here that can definitely be exploited on the other hand of course though you've got Stacy Collins you got Dirk cutter those two alone should give you massive confidence for both the Special Teams and the offense and of course uh you have the running attack room of Ashton jenty dubar cire gains explosive and dominant offensive line incredible wide receivers both returning coming in from the transfer portal being recruited onto the team coming back from injury this wide receiver room is absolutely stacked from the number one guy which hasn't necess been established yet that's how deep this room is there are so many guys that could be that number one guy all the way down I think you're going to see a lot of faces out there on offense so for boys say I do think that they win this game I think I've indicated that throughout this video so it shouldn't be a huge surprise I do think they win this game I don't think it's necessarily a dominant win I think this is a game that George Southern stays in for quite a long time and boy State again is going to need to pull out all the stops to make sure they come out of this one with a good win and isn't doesn't come down to the wire but for Boise State I am predicting a win George will be a dangerous team I do see them putting up 23 points but again I think they're going to have their own working through building continuity on their end that they're going to have to be there's a lot of rust they have to knock out on their end as well and so for boy St I think they win this game 38 to 23 so a 15-point spread um couple points above the spread there which again like we said was a 13-point favorite so I think they do go over um on the prediction there for Vegas and I do think this is a boy State win but again this is not a game that the team team or the fan base should be overlooking and I am incredibly excited for this week 1 matchup so thanks so much for watching make sure again that you put those score predictions they've already heard mine hopefully those were already in there any other thoughts though that you have on this game do you think other key players should have been mentioned um whether boy or George Southern fan did I mispronounce your player George Southern fans let me know just overall thoughts anything that I anything you agree with anything you disagree I want to have that conversation with you in the comment section this is my opportunity again not having the the blessing of being able to live in Boise myself this is my opportunity to be able to be able to connect with you as a fan base and so have put those comments in the comment section below and little update here I am finally moved in to my new house here we are waiting for the stuff to arrive so the makeshift Studio look should be going away soon we should have the whole new Bronco blamm Studio experience here for you soon so I look forward to that hopefully for the next preview versus Oregon but thank you again for sticking all the way to the end thanks for engaging in the comments and as as always make sure you like subscribe and go big blue