PROVO — BYU and Boise State have played only eight times but most of those meetings have been memorable ones, including some games that have come down to the waning moments.
Some may wonder if this series can be called a rivalry. Don’t count Bronco coach Bryan Harsin among them.
“I would say it’s a rivalry game. The reason why I say that is because of the importance of the game with the fans,” Harsin said. “There’s a lot of connections between the two teams. We’ve played each other and we’re in a series for I don’t know how many more years. Probably forever, which is fine. I think it’s a good football game. The way I look at it is, it’s two teams that people really like to see play. That’s got to be one of those games that fits into that category. This is certainly one of them. Everybody, including people who aren’t fans of either team, is still interested in seeing BYU and Boise State play.”
The Cougars and Broncos are in the middle of a 12-game series that began in 2012. The two programs are scheduled to play every year through 2023.
IN THE SHOTGUN: BYU offensive coordinator Ty Detmer’s pro-style scheme features the quarterback taking the majority of snaps under center.
But Detmer has adjusted the offense to having his quarterbacks taking more snaps out of the shotgun.
“We’d like to be some under center for play-action and the run game. We like that. We want to mix and match both,” he said. “But we’ll scheme it toward the skill set of the quarterback. (Tanner Mangum has) been in the gun his whole career. After the first few weeks we feel like he feels more comfortable in the gun. We did more of that against Utah with him. If he’s able to go, obviously being under center would put more stress on the ankle anyway. We’ll probably be in the gun as we were with Beau (Hoge) and Koy (Detmer, Jr.) last week.”
ALMA MATER COACHES: Friday marks the third straight game for BYU that featured both head coaches coaching their respective alma mater.
Boise State coach Bryan Harsin played quarterback for the Broncos from 1995-99. BYU coach Kalani Sitake played fullback at BYU in 1994; 1997-2000.
Sitake and Harsin are among 22 FBS head coaches coaching at their alma mater.