Phil Steele's Boise State Projections

Phil Steele's College Football Preview is out.  Some call it the "bible" of college football.  Steele is a well respected prognosticator in sports media.  That being said, Steele seems hot and cold on the Broncos for this upcoming season.

The Broncos are picked 6th in Steele's preseason poll. 2 spots behind TCU.  In his "power poll", the Broncos fall to 7th, switching spots with Nebraska who was 7th in his preseason poll.  As far as strength of schedule, last season, the Broncos had the 114th toughest schedule according to Steele, this year he ranks the Broncos schedule as the 87th toughest in the nation.

He projects the Broncos to have the nation's 7th best passing attack, 2nd best in scoring and 3rd best in total offense.  On defense, the projections are 8th in rush defense, 10th in scoring defense and 7th in total defense.

Steele lists Broncos QB Kellen Moore the 12th best signal caller in the nation, behind the likes of Andy Dalton of TCU and Jerrod Johnson of Texas A&M although he does put Moore as the 6th leading contender for the Heisman trophy.  Jeremy Avery ranks 38th among the nations top running backs.

On the bright side, he lists Austin Pettis 9th and Titus Young 23rd  among receivers,  Nate Potter 19th at the guard position.

On the defensive side of the ball, Ryan Winterswyk checks in at 14 at d-end, Billy Winn at 37 among tackles.  Winston Veneble is listed as the 51 best outside linebacker, Brandyn Thompson is rated the 19th best corner, George Iloka is 34th among free safeties and Jerod Johnson is the highest ranked Bronco coming in at 7th among strong safeties to round out ranked Bronco defenders.

On special teams, Titus Young is the 8th ranked kick returner.

Boise State checks in as the nation's 6th ranked quarterback unit, behind WAC foe Nevada.  The running game comes in at 26th, receiving corps is 28th, and the offensive line 17th.

On defense, Boise State has the 21st rated D-line, 9th rated linebackers, 17th among defensive backfields and 2nd at special teams.

The bowl projections may have some Bronco fans scratching their heads.  Steele forecasts the Broncos to play Stanford in the "Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl"  Formally known as the Emerald Bowl, the game takes place in San Francisco at AT&T park, home of MLB's San Francisco Giants.

Steele does have a non AQ team going to a BCS bowl.  He sees TCU facing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.