Web Reactions: Boise State Comes Up Short Against Michigan State

Web reactions will be new series looking at news from around the web after Mountain West games.

Michigan State 17, Boise State 13

This tweet by the official Boise State athletics account says it all (it lasted just 30 seconds online, but it is saved forever):

Le'Von Bell is the reason Michigan State won, and here is all 50 of his touches in the Spartans win:

Then Bell did this:

Here is one play that Boise State would like to have back:

Michigan State quarterback Andrew Maxwell struggled on Friday night:

I'm not sure Andrew Maxwell was as good or as bad as the stats say. 22/38, 248 yards is nothing to sneeze at, but a lot of the incompletions were bullets that the receivers couldn't hang on to and this led to multiple turnovers. Boise State got three interceptions, two of which were on deflections off the receivers, and a forced fumble at the end of Tony Lippett's long catch.

Boise State's defense will be the strength of this team:

We learned that the Bronco defense will be the strength of this team.

Going into the season, we thought maybe the offensive line or the wide receivers were the backbone of the Broncos, but it appears that the backbone is going to be the defense -- tough, aggressive, opportunistic, and defiant. If Boise State can withstand an onslaught of Michigan State caliber and only allow 17 points, then the rest of the BSU schedule is going to seem like scrimmage. I'm one for getting my bold predictions really wrong, but here's one anyway: Boise State will not lose a game this year if it scores 24 points or more.

SMQ thinks Boise State could be in for a long season:

The final score says this one was close, and considering Boise State actually led well into the fourth quarter, I guess there's no denying it. But make no mistake: For now, at least, these Broncos are not the same Broncos that amassed the best record in college football over the last four years.

Which is just about what everyone expected, considering that the starting lineup tonight was literally a different set of players, in place of 17 departed seniors who helped put the program on the map. Only of them was Kellen Moore; the rest included Boise's leading rusher, leading receiver, four starting offensive linemen, nine of the top ten tacklers on defense and all eight players selected to last year's All-Mountain West team. Thriving opportunistic streak notwithstanding, this looked like a team in search of all those guys, all at once.

Now here is the animated drive chart:

For more Mountain West Connection Follow @JeremyMauss