By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com

The Boise State football team was a little sluggish Monday afternoon at Bronco Stadium in the first scrimmage of the fall.

The offense put together just two touchdown drives — a 70-yard drive featuring a 51-yard hookup between freshman quarterback Kellen Moore and senior wideout Vinny Perretta, who turned a short pass into a touchdown, and a 25-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run by Ian Johnson.

Meanwhile, the defense only recorded one turnover, when sophomore linebacker Derrell Acrey blitzed untouched up the middle and stripped Moore.

Senior Bush Hamdan and Moore took all of the snaps with the first-team offense, starting with Hamdan. Neither made a big mistake, but neither made many plays, either. They were hobbled by dropped passes, including a throw from Hamdan to Austin Pettis that likely would have been a touchdown, and protection breakdowns.

Neither quarterback was pleased with the performance.

“We’ve just got to bounce back and make some bigger plays when those chances are there,” Moore said. “… We’ve just got to execute our offense better.”

Coach Chris Petersen was not happy with the energy level and enthusiasm of his players. They ran gassers after the scrimmage, cheering and hollering in a show of enthusiasm.

“You know you’re going to have quite a few errors early in the first scrimmage,” Petersen said, “but when you’re young it’s hard to get excited and encourage your teammates when all you’re trying to do is take care of yourself. That’s on me. That’s something we haven’t had to coach in the past. So we’ll learn from that, too. We’re going to coach everything. We’re going to coach energy, excitement and enthusiasm.”

Moore was 9-of-22 for 137 yards and a touchdown. Hamdan was 5-of-15 for 48 yards. Junior Nick Lomax had the best day, with the third-teamers, going 7-of-9 for 68 yards.

Senior Ian Johnson led the team with 10 carries for 50 yards. Sophomore D.J. Harper added seven carries for 42 yards.

True freshmen Chris Potter (five catches, 20 yards) and Chandler Koch (three catches, 61 yards) had big receiving days.