BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State Broncos look to get back above the .500 mark when they line up against the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks Saturday afternoon on the Blue Turf, the Broncos' first home game of the 2022 football season.
Boise State is 1-1 overall and 1-0 in Mountain West play after defeating New Mexico 31-14 last Friday night in Albuquerque. Saturday's game against UT-Martin is the second of four non-conference games on Boise State's schedule. UT-Martin, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, is Boise State's only FCS opponent this season.
With the New Mexico game already in the books Saturday, the Broncos started the week with an extra day to prepare for the upcoming home opener.
"It was really good for the team to get some rest on Saturday, and it was awesome to get back in here yesterday (Sunday) and have some meetings, go through the game film. Even with a victory, there are areas where we can continue to grow, and we're excited to do that, and the guys showed it yesterday," head coach Andy Avalos said Monday afternoon as he opened the weekly Boise State coaches' news conference.
This week's news conference began at noon MT, an hour earlier than usual because of scheduling for the Mountain West coaches meeting. The news conference was livestreamed on KTVB.COM, the KTVB mobile app and the KTVB YouTube channel.
Kickoff for UT-Martin at Boise State is set for 2 p.m. MT on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Albertsons Stadium. It will be televised on FS1, available on cable, satellite and streaming services.
Boise State goes into Saturday's home opener after a dominant performance by the Bronco defense against New Mexico, whom Boise State held to 123 yards of offense.
"I was really excited to see how we improved with our pre-snap communication, getting in rhythm playing on defense, and playing with better eye control to be able to fend off some of the better play-action passes," Avalos said Monday.
The Bronco offense got off to a slow start, but racked up 318 total net yards, including 170 yards passing in a three-touchdown performance by quarterback Hank Bachmeier. On the receiving end of those TD passes were Latrell Caples (twice) and George Holani.
"I was really proud of how the offense handled all those different fronts and pressures that we were seeing. If you go back and watch the film, was it blocked out perfectly? No. It's hard to handle all that movement. But we were able to identify up front, especially protection-wise," Avalos said. "I thought the offensive line and tailbacks, George (Holani) and Ashton (Jeanty), did a really good job picking up with the o-line in, again, a very difficult scheme that produced a lot of pressure on the quarterback. So we are excited about that."
Looking ahead to UT-Martin, Avalos said the Broncos have a challenge on their hands.
"This team runs the ball really well, much like New Mexico," Avalos said. "They're going to hit about every run scheme on the board, so it's going to be a huge week of run fits, but obviously this team can do it through the air as well."
UT-Martin comes to Boise with a 1-1 win-loss record. The Skyhawks are ranked 16th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and 18th in the AFCA FCS Coaches' Top 25.
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