Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - 2007 SEASON IN REVIEW: Boise continued to be the pride and joy of the Western Athletic Conference yet again last season. BSU opened the season as a nationally ranked program and that stuck with the group following a 56-7 dismantling of Weber State at home in the opener. However, once the Broncos were taken down by Washington the very next week (24-10) the question was how well will the team react to such an early setback. The answer was pretty good, as Boise State ripped off nine consecutive wins from the middle of September until the regular season finale versus 13th-ranked Hawaii, a 39-27 loss. The squad had to settle for second place in the WAC standings with seven wins in eight attempts and a 10-2 record overall.

An invite to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl may have sounded like the right place for some redemption, seeing as how BSU would be facing off against East Carolina in the same Aloha Stadium venue that had provided such a devastating loss in late November. However, not having top receiver Jeremy Childs to lean on was apparently more than the Broncos could handle as they bowed in a 41-38 decision on the final play of the game. As much as the loss to Hawaii hurt, coach Petersen believes it was the setback against ECU that really sticks out.

"The game that's obviously frustrating to the coaches and the players is our last game, just that first half. We rallied strong and the guys competed till the end and didn't quite, showed the competitive spirit that they usually play with so that was good. We kind of felt like we didn't put our best foot forward for four quarters, so that's a lesson that hopefully all these guys that are coming back will take to heart and won't let it happen again."

2008 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: After his heroics during the Fiesta Bowl versus Oklahoma, running back Ian Johnson became a household name. Johnson enters 2008 as the leader on the active rushing list with 3,417 yards and is also tops among all players with 45 rushing touchdowns and 46 career TDs overall. Serious injuries took Johnson out of the lineup in 2007 for an extended period of time, yet he still managed to produce 1,041 yards and score 16 times, earning him First- Team All-WAC honors. Having sophomore running backs Jeremy Avery and D.J. Harper to take turns when Johnson needs a breather will just make the All- American candidate that much stronger as the season wears on Petersen believes.

"One of the things that's going to help Ian is probably the depth we have at that position, so we don't have to play him every down and hopefully get him to last the season. Also (Ian) can be pushed a little but by some of these younger guys we have."

While the running back position is more than solid, the question here is who will be the third different starting quarterback in as many years for the Broncos. Since he's a senior, it is assumed that Bush Hamdan will have the inside track in that department, but nothing is written in stone. Junior signal-caller Nick Lomax spent last season as the fourth option on the depth chart, but he could be giving Michael Coughlin, Taylor Tharp's backup from a year ago, a run for his money. Coach Petersen was not completely sold on Tharp being handed the starting job heading into the 2007 campaign, but he let him compete for the position and that's how the coach is approaching this year's quarterbacking dilemma.

"With those lessons that we learned (with Tharp), we're willing to do the same thing again. I mean, it's nice to have a two-year starter coming back at quarterback...but that doesn't happen all the time and so it worked for us before to be patient and figure this thing out and kinda go from there."

Whomever it might be under center, they'll be learning a system that will make them successful regardless of talent level. It was thought that Jeremy Childs might not be back for the Broncos after missing spring practice, but it would be hard to completely cut ties with a player that set a new school record with 82 receptions, culminating in 1,045 yards, despite missing the Hawaii Bowl.

DEFENSE: Defensive end Mike T. Williams may have totaled just 28 tackles last season, but he registered 7.5 tackles for loss and six sacks for the Broncos. What will make those numbers rise in 2008 is the fact that opponents will have to concern themselves with yet another returning defensive end in Ryan Winterswyk. Although just a freshman last season, Winterswyk led the program with nine TFLs, including 5.5 sacks himself. The pressure coming off the edges all the time will help collapse offensive lines and give some of the interior linemen for the Broncos and chance to cash in.

What makes the squad so promising this time around is that there are as many as four linebackers returning who have played significant time in the system. Kyle Gingg is the leader of the group after posting a team-best 94 tackles in just 12 games, while Dallas Dobbs and Tim Brady, also seniors, placed third and fourth on the tackles list. All three have the talent to drop into coverage and are active enough to always be around the ball and disrupt plays.

"We've got some young guys that redshirted last year and some freshmen and that's an area that were really trying to push the envelope and take the next step with our linebackers," coach Petersen has stated. "I feel like our linebackers were very much on a mission in spring football and that we got better. There's a certain standard of linebacker play that we've had at Boise State and its that consistent game-in, game-out high level...we played like that at times last year, but we just need to be more consistent take that maturity step where we do it game-in and game-out and down-in and down-out"

Although still young and learning, sophomore Jeron Johnson and junior Kyle Wilson will try and hold down the deep part of the field.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Not only have the offense and defense done a great job for the Broncos in recent years, the special teams have also shouldered some of the load as well. Last year the squad was 10th in the nation in kickoff returns with an average of nearly 25 yards per attempt, but in 2008 the team takes a step backwards, needing to replace all of the starting kick returners from a year ago.

As far as the actual kicking is concerned, Kyle Brotzman is back after being named a Second-Team All-WAC performer and a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. Brotzman, now a sophomore, knocked through 16-of-18 field goal attempts and was good on all 66 PATs. But more than just a placekicker, Brotzman also handled some of the punting duties, which resulted in an average of 44.5 yards each. Sophomore Brad Elkin will probably handle more of the punting responsibilities this time around after averaging 37.5 yards on 27 kicks last year.

OUTLOOK: The Broncos have to be happy about taking on in-state rival Idaho State in the opener at home in late August. Another gift on the schedule for BSU is a bye week after the opener so the players can prepare for a visit from Bowling Green. A date with Oregon on the road might be a tough fight, but then after that the Broncos again get an extended break before having to open up WAC play at home versus Louisiana Tech. Looking at the conference schedule, it is easy to see why Boise State is expected to finish high in the WAC standings because meetings with both Hawaii and Fresno State will take place on the blue turf and those are the opponents the squad has to be the most concerned about in 2008.