BOISE, Idaho — Editor's Note: The video above is the full press conference with Andy Avalos from Monday afternoon.
Following the Boise State Broncos' 41-31 loss to the Nevada Wolf Pack on Saturday, the Broncos have to quickly lick their wounds and turn their focus to the No. 10 Bringham Young University Cougars.
At 1:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, Oct. 9, the 2-3 Broncos will take on the 5-0 Cougars at LaVell-Edwards Stadium in Provo, UT. The Cougars are currently ranked tenth in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Betters in Las Vegas currently have BYU favored over Boise State by five points.
Before the Broncos take the field on Saturday, head coach Andy Avalos, co-defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson and offensive coordinator Tim Plough held a press conference at 1 p.m. MT Monday.
The press conference was live-streamed in this article and on KTVB's YouTube Channel. Scroll down to find the live stream player.
First-year head coach Andy Avalos and his staff are off to a lesser-than-stellar start, especially for Boise State standards, with a 2-3 record and their worst loss coming from rival Nevada, who haven't beaten the Broncos since 2010.
Going into week six of the regular season, the Broncos' will have their work cut out for them with a Top-10 Cougars team. BYU also punished Boise State 51-17 last season when they rolled into Albertsons Stadium 7-0 and ranked No. 9.
While Bronco Nation can only hope history won't repeat itself in this chapter of Boise State's growing rivalry with BYU, this season, the Broncos have continued to struggle with basic pass protection and to play well, in general, in the trenches on offense and defense.
Through five games, junior quarterback Hank Bachmeier has been sacked 13 times, including six sacks by Nevada's defense alone.
In those games, the Broncos' have 353 total rushing yards. Boise State's leading running back is junior George Holani, with 34 carries for 123 yards, followed by senior Cyrus Habibi-Likio with 36 carries for 106 yards.
Prior to the COVID-19-impacted 2020 season, Boise State had 11-straight years of having a 1,000-yard rusher. With seven games left in the regular season, either Habibi-Likio or Holani will need to average around 127 rushing yards per game to reach that 1,000-yard mark. Currently, the Broncos are averaging 70.6 total rushing yards per game this season.
Without the offensive line giving Bachmeier enough protection and without any resemblance of a running game, the Broncos' offense will have their work cut out for them.
During Monday's press conference, Avalos and the coaches discussed the Broncos' loss to Nevada, how the team plans on improving and what they think of BYU so far.