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Prior to the 2012 season, the Boise St. Broncos was ranked in the top five in scoring in four of the past five year, and the one year they were not they were at No. 12. In 2012 the offense took a major hit by being just No. 54 and scoring just 30.2 points per game, for Boise State standards that was just unacceptable.
The offense was good enough and was anchored by a defense that was No. 12 nationally, so the tradition of 10-win seasons, conference titles and a bowl win continued. The reason for the drop off was pretty clear, Kellen Moore, Doug Martin and others moved on, and the replacements were not up to snuff. However, being as good as Moore would be a tough feat at any school, and Joe Southwick did a good job in getting to 11 wins in his first season as a starter.
The 2013 season Southwick is looking for more, and is expecting a lot more from the offense. He thinks the offense will return to those astronomical numbers this year:
"This team is going to have a lot of explosiveness," Southwick said to the Idaho Statesman. "There are a lot of things that go into it that we've identified as players, coaches. That's the word that we've got to find. ... We do a lot of things really well. If we can incorporate that back into our offense, we're going to be just fine."
Offensive tackle Charles Leno, Jr., who is also at Mountain West media days in Las Vegas, also told the Idaho Statesman that the offensive line will be very good, and that should contribute to an improved offense this season:
"I just feel like the offensive line is going to be really good," said Leno, who enters his third year as a starter. "... For the offense, I feel like we're going to be extremely explosive this year. With this team, it's just going to be a whole other look - we're going to be way faster and stronger than we were last year. I feel like it's going to be new and improved Boise State."
Having Southwick getting another year under his belt should lead to some improvement, but the big position to watch on offense is running back where Jay Ajayi will be the starter. Last year he averaged over six yards per carry in a back up roll.
Also, if the offense is going to be really good they need Geraldo Boldewijn to finally step up along side Matt Miller and Kirby Moore. The past two springs and summers Boldewijn has been touted as a wide receiver on the rise, and 2013 will be his final chance to prove so. The Boise State offense will need Boldewijn to contribute at a high level if the unit is going to return to what has been known for over the past half-decade.