When looking at the surface of the No. 24 Oregon State Beavers (1-1) and No. 3 Boise State Broncos (2-0) a few things stand out. Both programs are on the rise under coaches who have helped developed their teams over the years.
OSU head coach Mike Riley has spent the past ten years rebuilding the Beavers’ football program back to national prominence. BSU head coach Chris Petersen has proven to be the most effective leader of the Broncos’ program during his tenure as both offensive coordinator and skipper of the BSU squad.
Both coaches have the utmost respect for what the other has been able to do. Both coaches have been around to see the teams go 2-2 against each other between 2003-06. This match-up will give the other the slight edge in bragging rights.
“This team will be ready. There’s no doubt about it,” Petersen said of the Beavers. “There’s no mystery to this game. They’ve got good players, they’re well coached. They will come ready to play. Their players step up in big game and are always ready to play.”
The Beavers came close to knocking off a top 10 program in TCU in its first game at Cowboys Stadium. They kept it close but struggled to score an equalizing touchdown lat in the fourth quarter and gave up a safety to make it a two-score game.
Riley has seen the Broncos develop from Corvallis, Ore. and has observed similarities in the teams.
“I think there are similarities, for sure,” Riley said. “I think that they do a great job of evaluation for their system. They have kind of been, in some respects, are we like them, are they like us in the fact that I don’t know you’ve heard of a lot of their guys going in but you hear of them coming out and they’re playing in the NFL. That just goes to show you that they not only evaluate well and develop well but they’re also good at taking a safety and making him a linebacker or taking a linebacker and making him an end.”
Both Oregon and Idaho have smaller recruiting pools compared to the juggernaut schools on the west coast, mainly in California. Oregon’s population rests close to 3.8 million people with Idaho sitting around 1.5 million residents. Though OSU has an edge in recruiting from its own state, both teams pull from similar pools in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Texas.
Riley attributes the Broncos’ acute eye for recruiting players who fit their systems. Petersen mirrors Riley’s thoughts on recruiting to their system.
“I think they do a good job of recruiting,” Petersen said. “They know their system. They’ve done the same things, their same general schemes on offense and defense. There’s enough variety to keep, obviously plenty of variety to keep guys off balance.”
And apparently both teams play on blue fields, at least temporarily. The OSU team has been practicing on a mock blue practice field prepared specifically for this game. Petersen joked about having the Beavers “right where they want them.” Though Riley is leaving little to chance by preparing on blue turf, he knows it is a minor detail to what OSU must do to overcome the No. 3 football team in the nation.
“The hardest thing about Boise (State) is not the blue field,” Riley said. “They are a very good football team and they have good players and they are well coached.”
The Broncos face OSU at Bronco Stadium this Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. MT and will be nationally aired on ABC.