Boise State football coach Chris Petersen can’t remember ever before being part of a successful Hail Mary pass.

So maybe redshirt freshman wide receiver Matt Miller provided the proper perspective on his can-you-believe-it, 46-yard touchdown catch on the final play of the first half Saturday afternoon at Bronco Stadium — a catch that propelled the No. 7 Broncos to a 36-14 victory over Wyoming.

“That’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime catch,” Miller said.

Just moments before, the Cowboys appeared on the verge of taking a two-score lead over the Broncos. Boise State turned the game with a fumble recovery inside its own 20-yard line, a touchdown on a 17-play drive and the Hail Mary for a 13-7 halftime lead.

The Broncos followed with the first 23 points of the second half and turned a potential scare into another romp.

“We pulled it all out. And we needed something,” Petersen said. “I was really proud of our defense — how hard and how well they played. … We needed those plays to get something going.”

The Broncos (10-1, 5-1 Mountain West) collected their 10th win for the sixth straight season and kept alive their slim hopes of a Bowl Championship Series berth and slimmer hopes of a conference championship.

Senior quarterback Kellen Moore bounced back from a pick six on his first throw and a choppy first quarter to complete 17 of his last 21 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns.

The defense limited Wyoming to 191 yards, forced two turnovers and did not allow a first down during the Broncos’ 36-0 scoring spurt — a streak that started midway through the second quarter and continued until the early moments of the fourth quarter.

The defensive dominance was a return to normal for a team that had allowed an average of 29.5 points over the past four games.

“We had given up more points than what we were used to,” said senior nickel Hunter White, who had eight tackles. “Every time they may have got a first down or whatever, we came back and just rallied — made a big play, a big hit. I think we played really well on defense.”

For the first quarter and a half, the game went according to Wyoming’s game plan.

Punter Austin McCoy helped the Cowboys dominate field position, Moore made a critical mistake on the interception — “bad decision, bad ball,” he said — and quarterback Brett Smith hit a 28-yard throw down the sideline to give them a scoring opportunity.

On third-and-10 at the Boise State 23, Smith tried to scramble and defensive end Tyrone Crawford knocked the ball loose. The Broncos recovered and their offense switched to its no-huddle attack.

Moore engineered a 17-play, 87-yard touchdown drive that included five third-down conversions. He was 5-for-7 on the drive.

The Cowboys’ approach was to force the Broncos to drive as far as possible without help from long plays — and until that point, the Broncos hadn’t been able to do it.

“They executed their defensive game plan better than we did on offense,” Petersen said. “They let offenses self-destruct and they’re opportunistic. Most offenses can’t drive the length of the field without big, explosive plays. They let you trip all over yourself.”

Tailback Doug Martin, who rushed for 153 yards, capped the long drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 10 seconds left in the first half to make it 7-7.

Wyoming got the ball but showed no interest in trying to score. Instead, Petersen used his two remaining timeouts to force a punt and the Broncos took over on the Wyoming 46 with 8 seconds left.

After an incompletion, the clock was down to 1 second.

The Broncos had little choice but to try a Hail Mary — the traditional high-arcing throw to a cluster of receivers in the end zone. The plan was for the receivers to collect toward the numbers on the left side of the field.

“It didn’t really go like that,” Moore said.

The Cowboys defended the wide part of the field, so Miller went more to the middle. Moore got forced out of the pocket by the pass rush and dashed to his left.

He spotted Miller and fired on the run. One defender leaped at the 3-yard line and got a piece of the ball as safety Tashaun Gipson knocked Miller to the ground at the goal line.

“(Miller) said he was being roped down,” Moore said.

The ball hit Gipson in the hands and caromed behind him. He reached back with his left hand and batted the ball again.

Miller, who said he didn’t see the pass, tracked the deflection as he rolled to his back. The ball bounced off his hands and into his torso. He pinned the ball against his body — which was half in the end zone and half out.

The officials ruled that the ball broke the plane of the goal line.

“I was just trying not to get stepped on, really,” Miller said. “The ball just kind of fell right into my arms. It’s nothing you can explain — it’s a lucky catch.”

Said Moore: “Really, we stole some points there.”

And the momentum swing was so strong that it carried into the Broncos’ dominant third quarter. Boise State got the ball four times (one drive carried into the fourth) and scored three touchdowns and a field goal. Wyoming got it three times and gained 2 yards.

“We kind of felt the momentum,” said Moore, who was 24-of-36 for 279 yards and three TDs. “We were executing better. We were optimistic that that would continue in the third.”