This will get your dander up - Phil Steele picks BSU by 10

[UofDuck]

Here is a Boise article following a Phil Steele radio interview with the local sports talk show:

"Phil Steele is most comfortable when he's out on a limb. Of course, Steele doesn't see it as being out on a limb. The publisher of "Phil Steele's College Football Preview" just thinks he's right. And he is more often than most of his peers. So it was interesting yesterday during his interview on Idaho SportsTalk when he said he gives Boise State's home field advantage a rating of 6, the highest on his scale (Virginia Tech is the only other team he has at that level). And it was interesting when he analyzed Oregon and tabbed the Ducks as a "rebuilding team." Bottom line on the game on the blue turf September 3: Steele favors the Broncos by 10 points."

[Destroyer77]

I favor the Ducks by 21, so I guess we'll see who's right.

[KeenanHowry15]

Steele is a Tool.

[karlhungis]

I can see his point. I can also see us winning by 10. It is way too early to tell.

[UofDuck]

All of this is just is going to make Sept. 3rd that much sweeter. Can you say - Civil War part II. There will be tears a flowin that night down blue painted faces.

Good bye sweet dreams and hello nightmares for BSU. Just ask the Beavs who brought roses to the CW game. Love it.

[uodux1212]

Only 91 days till kickoff.... not that Im counting down on my calendar or anything

GO DUCKS

[BisonDucks]

I am curious about the spot for 6 points. Is it the blue turf, the crowd noise, or the overall intimidation of the place? Or, could their home field advantage be the fact that they play SJSU, LaTech, and the Idaho State's of the world? Just curious is all.

[UofDuck]

I am curious about the spot for 6 points. Is it the blue turf, the crowd noise, or the overall intimidation of the place? Or, could their home field advantage be the fact that they play SJSU, LaTech, and the Idaho State's of the world? Just curious is all.

I've been to quite a few games at BSU (I was transfered here for work a few years ago - don't care for BSU at all, but that's life - PS, still keep my season tickets to UO). Here is some dope: It gets real-real hot here. It is a desert and you can fully expect 105-ish temperatures in early September EVERYDAY. The hotest part of the day is literally at 6:30pm which is odd and could be an issue as that is close to kick-off time I believe. It stays hot here pretty late too, so our boys will be sweating for most of the game I'm sure. It will be hotter inside the stadium too. These guys condition in this heat all summer, so they are kind of used to it.

The crowd is pretty loud, not "O" type of loud, but good support. The fans are nuts for their team here.

I honestly believe the "Blue" is a big part of it. It plays with your mind when you walk out on it. Kind of like, "something is twisted" in your mind. It is bright and not natural to the eyes/mind. Does that make sense? It can take you out of your game/mindset a little. I think it can be overcome during the game, but I think it is real. I personally think the QB has the biggest issue as their minds have to be so focused to succeed at this level. Masoli is cool customer though, so hopefully the effect will be minimal for him.

The other big contributer is that they play junk teams here. This fan base simply would not know what to do if their team started losing at home (they will find out what it feels like soon enough though). They simply never lose at home. I think they have only lost 2 games here in 12 or 13 years and they were quite a while ago. Oh boy, you guys have no idea how bad I want to win this game. Last year's loss was/is still such a nightmare for me living here.

[neezy3]

yeah i think they're 52-2 in recent home games so thats gotta equal some home field advantage along with the heat and blue turf. I like phil steele and usually buy his magazine every year because it is the best out there imo. Not as much info out there as some of the others but his picks and pre season all americans typically are pretty spot on. If i was picking a spread right now i would have BSU -3 or -6 based on the home field adv and our question marks leading into the season. Anything can happen in the first game of the year and i expect us to win this game but it wont be easy.

[ducksin2010]

Only 91 days till kickoff.... not that Im counting down on my calendar or anything

GO DUCKS

you must not be counting because it is 90

[Canard]

BSU's "home field advantage" is WAC refereeing. Ever see an OOC game played at Hawaii?

[Juice]

not really surprising... this year steele seems to have placed even more of an emphasis on returning starters than usual.

he really went out of his way to come up with some "all powerful" formula.

[UofDuck]

BSU's "home field advantage" is WAC refereeing. Ever see an OOC game played at Hawaii?

Hey Canard, instead of your signature boy showing up as "loser" in his YMCA dance gear, shouldn't it be labled "Cal"? I mean Cal is so close to San Fran and all, right? (just having some fun here folks) and since USC plays in Compton, that might be more accurate than Washington for the gang banger. Love the signature though.

[wiseforexinvestor]

Usually this type of material would get me all wired up and ready to start talking smack....but, this is from a local nobody who obviously has not done any homework on the Ducks. Really, the only way BSU wins this game is if the dirty ponies take out Masoli again.

Side note, are there any predictions one how many plays into the game it will be until one or two of our lineman dive high/low the douche bag who did that to Masoli last year?

[BisonDucks]

I really think there will be a dropoff from last year with BSU. There is dropoff with Avery as the starting back no matter how much they want to diminish Ian Johnson. He turned in a pretty good combine and I was surprised to see him go undrafted. JJ was right there with him though. Also, the wide receiver corp took a big hit. They had the most dynamic wide receiving corp we faced last year with Childs, Perretta, Pettis and Young. All 4 guys on the outside in their 2 deep are gone. However, Young and Pettis should step in just fine. The problem: there is dramatic dropoff after these two. They are touting the seconnd coming of "Moore" with the arrival of his brother at wide receiver, namely Kirby. They think the 3* recruit will take the 3rd spot in the rotation. Needless to say, there will be dropoff because Childs was just downright productive and Perretta, as well, to a lesser extent; both these guys signed NFL contracts. Titus Young was given a 9/10 game attitude adjustment suspension last year and did not practice with the team. Moore should be one year matured but the skill positions around him are not. We'll see.