Boise State notebook: Shoemaker has hernia, will be out at least until bowl

LOGAN, Utah — Boise State sophomore slot receiver Tyler Shoemaker will be out at least until the Broncos’ bowl game because of hernia surgery, the school announced Friday. Shoemaker didn’t make the trip to Logan for the Broncos’ 52-21 defeat of Utah State.

True freshman Kirby Moore replaces Shoemaker as the starting slot receiver, which is the No. 3 wide receiver. Shoemaker was injured in last week’s game against Idaho. He was tied for third on the team with 21 catches for 345 yards and two touchdowns through the Idaho game.

Moore had eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown through Idaho. He added three catches for 22 yards against Utah State.

Shoemaker is one of three players the Broncos lost in the Idaho game. Tight end/fullback Richie Brockel and tailback Matt Kaiserman are out for the season.

McClellin grabs pick

Boise State sophomore defensive end Shea McClellin, who was a running back at Marsing High, made a terrific catch on a deflected pass for his first career interception. The pick came on Utah State’s first drive.

McClellin dropped into coverage on the play. The ball deflected off a receiver. It was the fourth interception of the season for quarterback Diondre Borel, who led the nation in interception percentage going into the game.

Avery tops 1,000 yards

Boise State junior tailback Jeremy Avery topped 1,000 rushing yards for the season and moved into sixth in school history in career rushing yards.

Avery rushed 16 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He has 1,008 yards this season and 2,294 yards in his career.

He has rushed for 100 yards in three straight games. He has eight 100-yard games in his career, tied for eighth-most in school history.

Defense bounces back

The Broncos allowed 149 yards in the first quarter as they struggled to corral Borel.

“We were giving up too many big plays with him scrambling,” safety Jeron Johnson said.

The Broncos allowed 214 yards the rest of the night. They also recorded all four of their sacks after the first quarter.

“The secondary did a better job of not taking their eyes off the guys they were covering so they didn’t have as wide open of guys to throw to,” coach Chris Petersen said.

The defense’s other issue was penalties. The Broncos were flagged for face masks on the Aggies’ first and last touchdown drives of the game. They also were hit with a rouging-the-passer penalty.

“Our thing is, ‘Least-penalized in the nation,’ and we didn’t do that tonight,” defensive end Ryan Winterswyk said. In all, the Broncos had nine penalties for 83 yards. They entered the game fifth in the WAC in penalties.

Off-night for Moore Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore was 15-of-29 for 233 yards and one touchdown. It was the first time in 24 career games that he didn’t complete at least 60 percent of his passes. He also had thrown at least three touchdown passes in six straight games.

Moore was forced to throw more low-percentage, downfield passes than usual to try to attack Utah State’s unorthodox defense. He also had several passes dropped.

“They came with some funky stuff that we hadn’t seen on film,” Moore said.

Moore’s efficiency rating of 130.59 was the third-lowest of his career and his lowest of the year. His rating for the year dropped to 168.80, cutting his lead over BYU’s Max Hall for the national lead to 2.28.

Moore (33 TDs, three interceptions) has a two-touchdown lead on Houston’s Case Keenum. He took over the national lead in interception percentage and still leads in touchdown-to-interception ratio and touchdown percentage.

Proposed rule could help H-Bowl, hurt WAC

The Big 12 Conference has proposed a new rule that would allow .500 teams to be treated the same as winning teams in bowl selections.

Under current rules, a bowl using an at-large selection must take a team with a winning record before taking a team with a .500 record.

Under the new rule, a bowl like the Humanitarian in Boise could take a 6-6 UCLA this year instead of a 7-5 Bowling Green.

The rule would help the smaller bowls, which are funded in part by the non-Bowl Championship Series conferences, but could hurt teams from non-BCS conferences. A 6-6 team from a BCS league usually would be selected ahead of a winning non-BCS team.

“It’s disappointing,” WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.

Some of the non-BCS conferences are exploring the possibility of amending the proposal so that non-BCS teams with at least eight wins still would get preference over .500 teams, Benson said. The WAC likely will support the rule with the amendment, he said.

Benson expects the rule to be voted on early next year.

“It’s the bowl impact vs. the conference impact and (the amendment) might be a way to protect both,” Benson said.

Quick hits

Boise State won the coin toss and deferred. … The Broncos fumbled a snap in the first quarter. They had gone two games without one. … The crowd of 18,777 marked the fourth time in six road games that the opponent drew its largest crowd of the year. … When Utah State tied the game 14-14 with 6:28 left in the first half, it marked the latest in a game this year that Boise State did not lead. … Boise State wide receiver Titus Young had an 80-yard touchdown run wiped out by a holding penalty in the third quarter. He also was flagged for excessive celebration on the play. He posted his third straight 100-yard receiving game with five catches for 102 yards. … Utah State is 1-51 against ranked teams. … Utah State running back Michael Smith had three carries and two catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns. … Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman nailed a career-long 52-yard field goal in the second half. … Fullback Dan Paul made his first career catch, an 18-yarder. He also drew a pass-interference penalty for a third-down conversion. … Boise State safety Jeron Johnson made 14 tackles. … Boise State registered 13 tackles for loss. Utah State had one.