Broncos buck Ags
In a game where there were only six penalties and one turnover, a penalty and the turnover gave the Boise State Broncos all they needed to win 45-21 over the Utah State Aggies Saturday night.
The Broncos, three-time defending conference champions, scored 21 straight points in the second and third quarters thanks to the Utah State miscues to put the Aggies away.
“That’s a team that knows how to capitalize on a team that makes mistakes,” Utah State Head Coach Brent Guy said. “Every time we made a mistake, they capitalized.”
The Aggies took a 14-10 lead on a Kevin Robinson touchdown pass with almost 10 minutes left in the second quarter.
On Boise’s next possession, the Aggie punt team was called for holding on fourth down after forcing the Broncos into a three and out. After the penalty, Boise State marched down the field to take a 17-14 lead with six minutes left in the half.
The penalty was the second and last penalty called on the Aggies for the game, but it gave the Broncos an extra possession and they capitalized.
The Broncos added another touchdown before half to go into the locker room with a 24-14 lead.
In the third quarter, Robinson muffed a punt return when he tried to catch a ball in traffic instead of fair catching it. The only turnover of the game for either side resulted in a seven-play drive which made the score 31-14 and put the game out of reach as the Aggie offense struggled through the rest of the game.
“They waited for their chance and they exploited it,” Guy said. “They don’t ever look at the scoreboard. They just look at the sideline, get the call and execute. Then they wait for an opportunity to come up and jump on it.”
The Broncos did just that with their 21 straight points in the second and third quarters to get ahead before shutting the door on the Ags in the fourth.
“In the third quarter we just couldn’t do anything,” Guy said. “They eventually started to move the ball on us.”
Entering halftime, the Aggies had rushed for 72 yards and passed for 184. At the end of the third quarter, the Aggies hadn’t gained any yards rushing and had passed for just seven more yards.
The sputtering of the offense in the third could be blamed as much on the Boise State defense as on the inability of the Aggies to put together any drives or scoring threats.
“They mixed it up in terms of bringing a corner down to help with the run support,” Utah State Quarterback Leon Jackson III said. “But when we don’t execute what play we have called, we shoot ourselves in the foot and we make the opportunity to win even more difficult.”
In the first half, the Aggies had two scoring drives punctuated by nice touchdown catches by both Tony Pennyman and Robinson. Pennyman caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to tie the game in the first quarter. Robinson made a superman catch over the middle – he was parallel to the field when he caught the ball. The 20-yard touchdown pass from Jackson in the second quarter took the first and only lead for the Aggies at 14-10.
Part of what helped the Aggie offense in the first half was the use of their tight ends. Going into the game, tight ends had caught four passes total all season. Jason Stephens caught four balls for 55 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Stephens caught the touchdown pass after the ball was tipped at the goal line and he out-jumped the Bronco safety to make it a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The tight ends accounted for eight of the 17 completions the Aggies had. Part of the credit goes to the defense the Broncos were playing.
On Saturday, the Aggies will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the undefeated Crimson Tide.
-krn@cc.usu.edu
Utah State´s Terrance Washington and Jake Hutton attempt to sack Boise State quarterback Jared Zebransky. The Aggies lost 45-21 to the Broncos.