Ole Miss vs Boise State Preview with Blue Turf Nation
This week on the MakeItRainSports show on RebelSportsRadio we interviewed Derek Castle from the Boise State Blog BlueTurfNation to discuss how the team from Idaho looks entering Bryan Harsin’s first game as head coach and what Ole Miss fans can expect in Atlanta from the boys in Blue.
Listen the full podcast here –> MAKEITRAINSPORTS SHOW 8/26/2014
Tell us a little bit about new head coach Bryan Harsin. He played at Boise and has coached at Boise before. How is the transition going from Chris Peterson.
I don’t think Boise could have made a better hire. As you said, he has been in the program before, he was around in the early days under Dirk Koetter and Dan Hawkins and he was the offensive coordinator on Petersen’s staff. He brings a lot of energy. I won’t say we have forgotten about Peterson but we are excited.
We can see Harsin’s tape from BSU, he was a head coach at Arkansas State, but we don’t know exactly what he wants to do offensively this year. He has a really good running back in Jay Ajayi who rushed for over 1400 yards last year. Can we assume running the football will be a big part of his offense.
Fans don’t really know what to expect. I hope he will return the offense to the pre-pistol days when he was at Boise previously. So far, in scrimmages, the team has looked pretty vanilla and he has closed most practices. I’m sure we will see more of what made Boise successful in the past with the tight end shifts, the wide receiver motions and get back to a high powered offense with some trick plays.
Quarterback Grant Hedrick finished with 1825 yards splitting time with Joe Southwick last year. He has the ability to run the ball, he’s kind of a duel-threat. Are you expecting him to run the ball more this year or continue to pass from the pocket.
I would think he would run more this year. After Joe Southwick went down, Hedrick had to protect himself and not expose himself to injury because our QB depth was so thin. Harsin has said that having a multiple QB is a big part of his game, so I expect him to run a little more.
Ole Miss fans have really keyed on the Boise State O-line depth. There seems to be a lot of new and moving pieces there you are trying to mesh together. Do you have an idea how good they can be?
I don’t have much of an idea. No one is starting at a position they have ever played before. Rees Odhiambo is moving from center to left tackle and Marcus Henry is moving to center from right guard. Those two guys are juniors and the rest are sophomores. The line may also include some redshirt freshman that will have to start. That is certainly the biggest concern going into the game
Ole Miss players are not shy about making pre-game quotes to the media. Bo Wallace did some of that last year to his detriment. This week Laquon Treadwell came out and said, “We should have a good day,” against the smaller Boise State secondary.
He is right about them being small but they are probably average sized for college football, except for Donte Deayon who at 150 pounds is light for division-one football, but he is also our best corner. He is a ball hawk, he got 6 interceptions last year which was 7th in the nation last year. You also won’t see the same coverage as last year. Defensive Coordinator Marcel Yates is a very aggressive coach. He put a lot of players in the NFL when he was cornerbacks coach here at Boise. They played off the ball too much last year and we do expect them to be more aggressive which may lead to some big plays, but we are not too worried about the secondary.
I have always thought of Boise State as an example of what any team is capable of given the right coach and a few key players. Talk about the ascent of Boise State football and where you see it going in the future.
The last 10 years has been amazing but Boise has been successful at every level. They were national champs at the junior college level, they won the Division I-AA national championship. There is just an expectation here, a culture of winning. Harsin understands that and he may take us to another level. The playoff format will make it harder to get there but we do expect to win.
So tell us what you think needs to happen for Boise to have success against the Rebels this Thursday.
The o-line has to be the key. Ajayi has to get some yards and if the o-line can’t open some holes it’s going to be a long day. The other thing is kind of clique but we have to take care of the ball. Hedrick has a tendency to turn the ball over when he is running in space, so if we can reduce the mistakes Boise will have a shot.
Thanks for coming on the show, how can our listeners find the work you do at Blue Turf Nation?
You can go to www.Blueturfnation.com for our blogposts and find us on twitter at @theBTN.