from the Boise State Student Newspaper

[MrMustang1965]

by Jerry Rasmussen, Sports Editor - The Arbiter

Coming off the nail-biting win last week against BYU, the still undefeated Broncos will look to keep all of three winning streaks alive when they face Southern Methodist University on Saturday. Its homecoming week and among all the decorating and parades, the Broncos are aiming to extend a nation best 21-game home winning streak, a nation best 15-game overall win streak, as well as a 20th straight victory over a Western Athletic Conference opponent. The conference win would give the Broncos the second longest streak in WAC history, the record is 25 games set by BYU in the early ‘80s.

Last week, SMU broke their 15-game losing streak with a 36-13 win over San Jose State at home. SMU’s home crowd of 17,841 brought down the south goal post at Gerald J. Ford Stadium after watching the school-record losing streak come to an end. The Mustangs were 0-12 in 2003 and began this season 0-3 before beating San Jose State. SMU’s 1-0 conference record marks the first time the Mustangs have won their WAC opener since 1996. The Mustangs also have the youngest team in the nation with 85 underclassmen that make up 75.9 percent of the team’s roster.

The Broncos have outscored opponents by 23.4 points per game in the first four games this season. Leading the charge is sophomore quarterback Jared Zabransky averaging 302.8 yards of total offense with his arm and his mobile abilities. He has also thrown seven touchdown passes and ran in four. Four Bronco receivers have double digit catches this season with Drisan James is leading the team with 18 catches for 256 yards and a touchdown. Last week’s standout receiver was senior T.J. Acree. Acree pulled down seven catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was the 44-yard game-winning touchdown with 42 seconds left in the game. Acree was awarded WAC offensive player of the week honors for his efforts. Also, Bronco sophomore linebacker Korey Hall was honored as defensive WAC player of the week for the second time this season. Hall had 11 tackles (five solo) and two sacks against the Cougars.

The Broncos have had a consistent mentality this season as far as approaching games: Take them one at a time. The fact that the team is 4-0, 21st in the Coaches’ Poll, and owns several winning streaks means nothing when they step on the field for kickoff. It could be easy to overlook SMU, a team the Broncos pummeled last year 45-3 and won their first game in a little over a year, but it’s just another game to head coach Dan Hawkins and company. Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. at Bronco Stadium. The game will be broadcast by SportsWest with KBCI-TV covering the game.

[Horseshoe]

Hard to tell whether this is a preview or an editorial - lots of worry about BSU overlooking SMU without a quote from Hawkins or a player.
Decent story, though.

[Water Pony]

Here's hoping the Broncos are thinking they will be 6-0 going into their Fresno State game after Ws against us and the Golden Hurricanes.

Go Mustangs! You have tasted a Win and know what it will take in Boise. Make believers of us and them.

[giacfsp]

Right on - you can't make light of the benefit of what it feels like for the guys to experience a win. The players need to build on the confidence gained last week.

Last time we played a good game (TT), we didn't follow it up the next week. Time for a strong showing this week in Boise!