LOL Not a ton of confidence in this thread........you're not alone, very few Bronco fans expect to win this game, hell some think we might get smashed.....which is kind of bizarre, considering we beat UW in December minus our best player. I honestly don't know what to expect. Both teams assume certain positions will improve (O-Line for UW, QB/RB/Run blocking for BSU, etc.)....will that be the case? Not sure. I personally don't think we win, but making a prediction seems impossible. So many unknown factors. I do think a lot weighs on whether ASJ plays or not.....which I bet we won't know until game time.
There was a website, maybe Football Outsiders that had UW ranked in the top 15 at home and like 60th on the road.
No disrespect to Boise who is extremely well-coached and disciplined- the parallel opposite of UW, but frankly its a middle of the road game on the schedule. Even though Boise's best player will play, UW returns more talent on paper, UW had more talent last year, UW is much tougher at home and most important- its the first game of the season which benefits UW more because it has more experience returning and the coaching advantage for Peterson would be smallest at the start of the year (I.e. His cumulative impact in week 12 would be far greater than in week 1).
UW will win by 10 or 14 and it won't tell us jack shit about the season, though I fully expect local and even national media will make a big deal out of it. Then we'll struggle to beat Illinois which will remind us how mediocre we are.
I think ASJ is suspended for a half or quarter...or maybe even just a series or two. Sark is not going to risk it much.