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GAME NOTES: Winners of seven straight road games, the eighth-ranked Boise State Broncos give it another go this weekend against the Bowling Green Falcons in non-conference action at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Ohio.

Boise State has already had its share of wild games this season, beginning with a 19-8 victory over Oregon in the opener. After sending Miami-Ohio packing in a 48-0 romp back on September 12th, the team opened its Western Athletic Conference slate against Fresno State on the road last Friday. In a game filled with enough highlights to satisfy a year's worth of action, the Broncos managed to escape with a 51-34 decision. The victory was the ninth straight in conference play for BSU after it ran the table in the WAC a year ago.

As for the Falcons, who are hosting a top-10 team for the first time ever at Doyt L. Perry Stadium, they've gone from beating Troy in the season opener (31-14) to bowing to both Missouri (27-20) and Marshall (17-10) on the road in recent weeks.

This matchup marks the final non-conference opponent for Bowling Green as it awaits the arrival of Mid-American Conference member Ohio University next weekend.

Boise State won both previous meetings against the Falcons, although last year's 20-7 victory at home in the second game of the season failed to live up to expectations as it was the lowest regular-season scoring output for the Broncos since defeating Wyoming, 17-10, in 2006.

The Broncos have been relentless in their pursuit of perfection in the WAC, winning for the 57th time in the last 59 tries versus league foes with the decision against Fresno State.

"We're really fortunate we could miss tackles like that, give up that many yards and points and still come up with the 'W'," said BSU head coach Chris Petersen after the wild outing at Fresno. "When you can't control the run game, it's not a good feeling...We had that going on for both sides. We had guys in position, we just didn't tackle well. That's the bottom line."

Petersen was referring to the fact that the Broncos watched as Ryan Mathews ran wild for the home team, posting three touchdown runs of at least 60 yards. And yet, as tough as it was to get a grip on the big plays being produced by the Bulldogs, the Boise State offense also had its share of monumental plays, particularly the one involving both Jeremy Avery and Titus Young.

Avery, who himself had three plays of 60 yards or more, had a 67-yard TD reception and also broke free for a long run late in the contest, but was stripped of the ball just short of the goal line. Thankfully for the visitors, Young was right on his tail and ended up making the recovery in the end zone for the score.

"A lot of playmakers making plays out there," remarked Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore after the frantic contest. "Good running backs on both sides making plays out of nothing and breaking tackles here and there."

While Moore threw for 181 yards and three touchdowns, running backs Avery and DJ Harper rattled off 186 and 107 yards rushing, respectively, and Young chipped in 154 yards on five kickoff returns on his way to being named the WAC Special Teams Player of the Week.

However, not all is cheerful in Boise at the moment because Harper was recently diagnosed with a torn left ACL and is now out for the remainder of the season. With Harper out the Broncos lose their most productive running back who gained 284 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground. With that being the case, BSU will now have to lean even more heavily on Avery who is second on the team with 279 yards on 45 attempts.

But really, at least for this weekend, the Broncos shouldn't have much to fear because Moore has been almost perfect in his efforts thus far, helping the team post a pass efficiency rating of 159.96 to rank second in the conference and 19th nationally. Moore, who has eight touchdowns and just one interception, has two dynamic receivers in Austin Pettis and Young who together have caught 29 passes for more than 400 yards and six touchdowns. Throw Avery into the mix as well and any one of them can break a big play at the drop of a hat.

After giving up 34 points to the Bulldogs last weekend the Boise State defense has been weakened a bit in the national rankings and is now listed as 22nd in the country with 14 ppg allowed.

Meanwhile, the Falcons are a much different breed when it comes to offense. As an example, BGSU ran the ball 20 times last week versus Marshall and was only able to come up with three first downs and a grand total of 10 yards on those attempts. Clearly the team relies more heavily on the exploits of quarterback Tyler Sheehan who was tasked with throwing 62 times, of which 43 were completed for 383 yards. However Sheehan, who set school records for completions and attempts in the outing, had just a single touchdown to his credit and because he was back in the pocket so much he was taken down six times for a loss of 34 yards. Receiver Freddie Barnes caught a school-record 17 passes, the second time this season he has established a new record in that department.

As productive as Barnes was in the game, he knows he could have done so much more.

"They (Marshall) took away a lot of our timing and as far as to the boundary, keeping us from getting down the field...I tend to blame it on myself a little bit, I feel like I need to get my quickness up but at the same time I know that pretty much everyone on that side of the ball is counting on me to get the ball, so I can't get too down on myself."

While the Bowling Green rushing attack was stuck in the mud at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, Marshall seemed to have an easy time moving the ball on the ground to the tune of 246 yards on 37 attempts. Granted, one of those runs was an 80-yard TD, but still the Falcons had their issues trying to slow down the aptly named Thundering Herd. Cody Basler and Chris Jones each accounted for a sack in the loss for the Falcons.

Clearly the offense for the Falcons revolves around what Sheehan is able to get done as he has the team ranked second in the MAC and 12th in the country with 309.3 ypg through the air. Unfortunately, with a rushing game that is generating a meager 58 ypg (115th), BGSU is managing to produce just 20.3 ppg and the squad's output has dropped off in each game.

Barnes, who is now first in the nation with 14 catches per game, is first in the conference and 11th nationally with 112 ypg. With so many receptions Barnes is bound to break into the end zone several times, yet last season he failed to score a single receiving TD even though he had 40 grabs.

The defense for the Falcons has been fairly decent over the course of three games, but as strong as that unit has been, forcing opponents to punt the ball over has not paid off as much as it should for Bowling Green. In fact, the special teams in that area is ranked second-to-last in the nation with a minuscule 0.50 yards per punt return.

Given that Sheehan drops back so often and the Falcons are currently the worst in the MAC in allowing sacks, expect the Broncos to go after the BGSU signal- caller early and often in order to get the BSU offense back on the field and into the win column yet again.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Boise State 55, Bowling Green 17