3 Keys to beating Boise St.

Aside from the usual items, such as winning the turnover battle, as well as the super smart-assed "score more points than them," let's take a look at three things that would go a long way toward "upsetting" the #5 Boise St. Broncos on Saturday night.

Hit QB Kellen Moore early

Moore was sacked just five times last year. That's just over a third of a sack per game. 2 of those sacks came in the game against VA Tech, not surprisingly. Equally unsurprising was the fact that Moore had one of his poorer games that day. The Dawgs will need to do all they can to rattle the Heisman candidate early. Sacks could be tough to come by, given Moore's quick release, but Georgia can still do well by (legally) hitting Moore and taking him to the ground as often as possible.

Keep Boise State's defense on the field

I'm not always the biggest proponent of the importance of time of possession, but the Bulldogs could set themselves up for a strong finish here by at least having some sustained drives. Even if they only end up in 3 points, or even no points, putting together some nice 4 and 5 minute drives will pay huge dividends as the game goes on. Boise State matches up ok with their first-stringers, but if the Dawgs can wear them down, the Broncos simply won't have the athletes at backup spots to compete.

Take advantage of size mismatches

This goes for the running game, primarily. Boise State has a solid and experienced center in senior Thomas Byrd. Be that as it may, he is 5'11" and 288lbs. Georgia will be rotating in a pair of 350 pounders at nose, so there will be virtually no chance for Byrd to block either one on one. Boise's starting right tackle is 278 pounds, so you would figure on him getting the majority of help with DeAngelo Tyson or Abry Jones, while leaving their NFL caliber LT, Nate Potter, to fend for himself. The Dawgs shouldn't have to worry too much up front, if they'll concentrate on getting a solid, straight-ahead bull rush and crash down on running plays.

On the flip side, Boise State's 4 down-linemen are definitely not small. But, again, Georgia has a huge size advantage. Georgia's smallest O-Lineman, Chris Burnette (6'2", 313) still outweighs BSU's biggest starting D-Lineman by 17 pounds. On average, Georgia's O-Line weighs 327.4 pounds, versus the Broncos front four averaging 281 pounds. It's never as simple as that, but frankly, a 46 pounds-per-man advantage is pretty ridiculous. Then, you throw in a 272 lb. fullback who outweighs BSU's biggest LB by over 30 pounds, and you've really got something.

So, don't worry about getting too cute, at least early on. Push on forward, and wear them down on the LOS, and then take your shots later when some of their quickness has been taken away.


Of course, there's so much more to winning than just these three elements. However, if the Dawgs can start off being successful with these, and avoid the big mistakes, will hopefully work out.