Petersen joined Boise State's staff from Oregon, where he joined up with fellow Oregon defect Dan Hawkins, who, in turn, had joined Koetter at BSU after Koetter left Oregon in 1997. In one of the many layers of intrigue in this game, Petersen has said the Boise State offense really just grew out of the Mike Belloti/Dirk Koetter/Jeff Tedford system at Oregon, especially ironic now that the Ducks themselves run something entirely different, the Chip Kelly spread.