BOISE, Idaho — It’s true that Washington Huskies football coach Chris Petersen might know the Boise State roster better than anyone outside the Broncos’ own locker room.
Petersen was the head coach here from 2006-13, and he recruited most of the players.
But these Broncos, who ended last season with a 38-30 victory over Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl, shouldn’t be much of a mystery to anyone who follows college football. They won 12 games in Bryan Harsin’s first season as coach after 92 wins in eight years under Petersen. They’re breaking in a new starting quarterback, sure. But they also return 17 starters, including their entire offensive line, their best defensive back and their top tackler from last year’s team.
In other words, the Huskies should know what they’re getting into when they take the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium on Friday night.
What the Huskies might look like, however, is much more difficult to discern.
They’ll be starting a new quarterback, whether it’s true freshman Jake Browning (the most interesting candidate), fourth-year junior Jeff Lindquist (the oldest candidate) or redshirt freshman K.J. Carta-Samuels (the most mysterious candidate).
They’re starting an entirely rebuilt offensive line comprised of players with just 15 combined career starts. None of the three defensive linemen listed atop the depth chart have started a game before, and the Huskies are replacing four defensive players who were selected in the first 44 picks of this year’s NFL draft.
So it figures that Boise State, ranked 23rd in the Associated Press preseason poll, enters this rare home game against a power-conference team as a 12-point favorite.
And after a 2014 season in which the Huskies finished just 8-6 despite all that defensive talent, it’s worth wondering if a belief exists around the UW program that this season, with so many young players now thrust into significant action, could possibly yield more victories.
“I think we can be a good team, I really do,” Petersen said.
The Huskies’ defense, while relatively inexperienced, does include a number of players who were well-regarded as recruits but simply haven’t played all that much (though the secondary, led by sophomores Budda Baker and Sidney Jones, features young players who saw the field plenty last season out of necessity).
One promising youngster is Elijah Qualls, a third-year sophomore nose tackle who backed up All-American lineman Danny Shelton last season.
“I’m honestly a little nervous,” Qualls said Monday. “Just first time ever starting, going to get a lot of playing time. I’ve got some big shoes to fill. At the same time, I’m trying to also make a name for myself and just be dependable for my team.”
The Huskies also are likely to play, at some point, a trio of true freshmen receivers— Chico McClatcher, Isaiah Renfro and Quinten Pounds— in addition to two true sophomores and two seniors.
“Obviously, when there’s a lot of young guys, people don’t really know what to expect,” said Dante Pettis, a sophomore who played last year as a true freshman. “But I feel like we have so much trust in each other. We’ve built up a lot of trust during fall camp with the freshmen, so I don’t think there’s that much uncertainty.”
The Huskies’ youth, Petersen said, reminds him somewhat of the last team he had at Boise State in 2013.
“So many of those kids played as young guys, and now they’re juniors and seniors,” Petersen said of the Boise State roster. “We played a bunch of those guys, which was a little bit uncommon for us over there at that time.”
That youth movement bore fruit: The Broncos obviously relied upon many of those players while winning the Fiesta Bowl last season. But there were growing pains along the way, such as the 2013 season opener against Washington at Husky Stadium.
Boise State looked considerably different in that game than it had in the 2012 finale, a 28-26 victory over UW (coincidentally enough) in the Las Vegas Bowl. Eight months later, the Huskies still had their primary playmakers, the Broncos had to re-stock with inexperience, and the Huskies won the rematch 38-6.
Does this opener, with Petersen now on the opposite sideline, feel similar to 2013?
“It’s hard to know,” the coach said. “I think every team is different. I think we have some good players. I really do. We’ve got some good talent, and I’m just excited to watch these guys grow. I know they’re going to as the season goes on.”
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