Boise St. changes course in effort to prove pundits right

BOISE – As he stood before his team ready to address goals and expectations in preparation for Boise State’s season, Chris Petersen grabbed the attention of his players and changed the message he recited for years.

“Let’s prove everyone right,” the Broncos’ successful fifth-year coach told his squad.

Say what?

This couldn’t be the message coming from Petersen, not after years of eschewing all the public debate about Boise State’s place in the college football pantheon.

“People on the outside are giving us some credit and we don’t put a whole lot of stock into preseason rankings, but if people are going to say great things and are thinking about us differently, OK then. We’ll go ahead,” Petersen said. “We’ve always been kind of coming from nowhere in the past, so now we’re certainly not sneaking up on anybody. We’ll still have that chip on our shoulder, but it’ll be to prove everybody right.”

Boise State begins the season ranked No. 5 in the coaches poll and No. 3 in the AP Top 25, which has the Bronocs thinking about the possibility of a national championship season.

“It could happen,” said Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, who many consider a Heisman Trophy candidate. “You play well, in the end you’re going to be doing something good. You’re going to have an opportunity to be in a good bowl game and maybe eventually some things will fall down and things will open up for us.”

The reason most are so high on the 2010 team is the returning talent. Boise State finished last season ranked No. 4 and returns all but one starter – the lone departure being cornerback Kyle Wilson, taken in the first round of the NFL draft by the New York Jets.

Moore is the Broncos’ first legitimate Heisman candidate after throwing for more than 3,500 yards, 39 touchdowns and just three interceptions as a sophomore. His targets on the outside – Austin Pettis and Titus Young – combined for 142 catches and 24 touchdowns last season. Running back Jeremy Avery rushed for a quiet 1,151 yards a year ago.

The defense might finally be on par with the attention-grabbing offense, too.

Just how good the Broncos are will be tested immediately.

Petersen calls Virginia Tech “one of those teams,” and doesn’t hesitate to say the Hokies are the biggest challenge the Broncos have ever faced. After opening the season against them in Landover, Md., Boise State heads to Wyoming and its 7,165-foot-elevation home-field advantage. Finally, the Broncos come home Sept. 25 against Pac-10 title contender Oregon State.

“We have such high hopes from everyone else around the nation and getting some respect,” Pettis said. “Now it’s proving them right because we were fighting to get that respect.”