Boise State Football: Can Broncos get past high flying Hawaii in Week 7?

Boise State football comes home to take on the pesky Hawaii Warriors. Can the Broncos stop the run and shoot from the Warriors to stay undefeated?

Boise State Football takes on Hawaii as the Broncos welcome the Warriors to The Blue. We should see a great Mountain West showdown with two teams that are streaking at the right times. Hawaii is coming off of a bye, last playing Nevada in Reno and putting the screws to the Wolfpack on their own turf 54-3. Boise State comes into the game undefeated with an impressive 5-0 record with high New Year’s Six bowl hopes.

Boise State is coming off of a win against UNLV where they beat the Rebels 38-13. Although the score looks like it was out of hand, Boise State struggled to move the ball and missed out on converting three critical third downs where they only had one yard to get.

While the Broncos have scrapped by and found themselves up to No. 14 on the polls, everyone wants to know if Boise State is for real. Struggling against a UNLV team, and barely beating an Air Force team at home has everyone curious to see if they can get past a Hawaii offense that can really sling it and move the ball.

This could be a high scoring matchup, but is Boise State built for this kind of game? The defense has carried the Broncos with their star Defensive End Curtis Weaver breaking the Mountain West record last week for sacks in a career. With eight or nine games left, Weaver could make that record untouchable only in his junior year of college. This should make for an unbelievable game on the blue turf for a Saturday nightcap of college football.

Here’s how you can watch:

Date: Saturday, Oct. 12
Time: 10:15 p.m. ET
Location: Boise, Idaho
Venue: Albertsons Stadium
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

Boise State has struggled on offense with their star freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier taking too many hits with an offensive line that hasn’t been healthy. The offensive line even at full strength last week struggled to give Bachmeier time, so they will have to clear this up in order to win this Mountain West showdown.

Hawaii is known for it’s run and shoot offense that puts up prolific points on the scoreboard at a staggering pace. Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald has thrown for over 1600 yards and been able to get into the endzone at will. He will have to be better at protecting the ball if Hawaii wants a shot at winning this one in Boise, with nine interceptions McDonald has trouble letting the ball fly a little too much. With a raucous crowd in Boise, turnovers are huge momentum killers they have to avoid.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of Bovada

Spread: Boise State -11.5
Over/Under: 59

Prediction

Boise State has not been able to figure out just what they would like to do on offense through the first five games. While the running game has been a strength in the past five games, they struggled to get just a few yards when they needed it against UNLV. They are too talented and have way too many weapons that they can use to keep this up, I think having Hawaii at home will be what they need to breakthrough.

Defensively, Boise State has been one of the best in the country, limiting their opponents to just 17 points a game and limiting teams to just 300 yards a game. Hawaii definitely poses a different threat, but much should be the same as Boise State has a defensive line that might find themselves in the NFL in just a few months. Expect Boise State to look way better offensively and take this one at home.

Final Score: Boise State 42, Hawaii 17