Boise State’s offense figured to have a little bit of a different look this upcoming season with a change in head coaches. Chris Petersen is off to Washington to push the Huskies over the hump in the Pac 12, so one of his former assistants has returned to try to get Boise State to bounce back a little bit as well. Bryan Harsin is getting the Broncos ready to pick up the pace this spring, and that offensive mentality is expected to carry over in to the fall.
“We’ll be no-huddle and we’ll have movement within it,” Harsin said, according to Boise State beat reporter Chad Cripe of The Idaho Statesman. “We’ll still have personnel groups within it. There will be times of tempo and times for getting a little bit of funk in there. … The core still will be running the football on offense. That won’t change. To be a successful team, to be a championship team, you have to run the ball.”
Harsin ran this sort of offense in his short time at Arkansas State and offensive coordinator Mike Sanford dabbled in at while at Stanford. The news of the new style of offense at Boise State, or perhaps more of a renewed vision of the offensive philosophy on the blue turf, comes a day after the NCAA’s Football Rules Oversight committee tabled the 10-second defensive substitution proposal that has ruffled feathers of coaches using up-tempo offenses. Needless to say, Harsin is happy to hear that news. He responded to a question about the proposal being shelved with a dose of humor, staring at his watch for 10 seconds before responding.
“It’s not a lot of fun, is it, to sit here for that long? I’m glad it didn’t pass, to say the least,” Harsin said. “I think the way somebody wants to run their offense, that’s their offense. … You can go fast if you want to but you’re not always doing that.”
Harsin also announced that two players, tight end Holden Huff and linebacker Andrew Pint, will be suspended for the first game of the season against Ole Miss. Both are suspended for a violation of team rules, although the specifics of the violations is not known. Ole Miss announced safety Denzel Nkemdiche will also be suspended for the season opener.