LOGAN, Utah - The Boise State football team's offense is clicking just in time for Nevada - the one team the Broncos might need 50 points to beat.

The No. 6 Broncos rolled to a 52-21 defeat of Utah State on Friday night in front of 18,777 fans at Romney Stadium.

The Broncos topped 40 points for the fifth consecutive game. They extended their streak to 12 straight touchdowns on red-zone possessions, apparently solving one of the season's most-vexing problems. And they produced a pair of 100-yard rushers - with junior Jeremy Avery topping 1,000 rushing yards on the year and sophomore Doug Martin contributing four touchdown runs.

The offensive performance made up for a slew of mistakes on defense - some big penalties, two fourth-down conversions on fake punts and a couple breakdowns in coverage. The game was tied 14-14 midway through the second quarter before an offensive explosion that produced four Broncos touchdowns in 6 minutes, 51 seconds.

"That's why I love playing here," junior defensive end Ryan Winterswyk said. "Our offense, they can light up that scoreboard."

The Broncos produced 572 yards, including 323 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

Those sound almost like Nevada numbers. The Wolf Pack have rushed for nearly 3,000 yards during a seven-game winning streak.

They'll come to Bronco Stadium on Friday night for a game that will decide the outright WAC title unless Boise State (11-0 overall, 6-0 WAC) or Nevada (7-3, 6-0) loses to lowly New Mexico State.

The Broncos already were talking about the showdown in the locker room after the game. The game starts at 8:08 p.m. on ESPN2.

"Nevada's the hottest team, certainly that we know of, in the country," said Boise State coach Chris Petersen, whose team has won 12 straight road games. "There's no doubt about it. They've got a heck of a team. It should be a great game."

Petersen might be able to find a hotter team in his own locker room.

The Broncos have averaged 51.7 points per game in WAC play - more even than the Wolf Pack (47.8). And they have showed lately that they can score in many ways.

"It's not all just (quarterback Kellen Moore) and the receivers," Petersen said. "The O-line played well, the backs were running hard. If we can get that balance, it makes us tougher to defend."

In fact, the Broncos scored 52 points on one of the worst nights of Moore's career. Moore's Heisman Trophy campaign - which made the pages of Sports Illustrated this week - took a hit as he failed to complete 60 percent of his passes for the first time in his career and was held to one touchdown pass for the first time since the season opener against Oregon.

Moore was 15-of-29 for 233 yards and one touchdown. He was forced to throw low-percentage passes much of the night to try to beat the Aggies' funky defense, which often featured all 11 players standing up.

Junior wide receiver Austin Pettis' school-record streak of 10 straight games with a touchdown catch also ended.

"We just love when we don't have to rely on any one phase," Petersen said.

The Aggies looked like they might challenge the Broncos in the first half. Slippery quarterback Diondre Borel created some big plays with his mobility and led the Aggies to a touchdown that made it 14-14 with 6:28 left in the first half.

That's the latest in a game this season that the Broncos were not leading.

"I think I had a chance to tackle him three times on our sideline myself," Petersen said of Borel, who had 224 yards of offense but was sacked four times. "É He was making everybody miss."

The Broncos blew open the game late in the first half. Wide receiver Titus Young made a one-handed, 52-yard catch, Winterswyk recovered a fumble and Pettis made a 32-yard catch to set up three rushing touchdowns.

Avery provided the dagger with a 32-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the second half. Avery rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns; Martin had 121 yards.

The Broncos have outscored their opponents 308-106 in the middle two quarters this season, including 38-14 against Utah State.

"There's just a lot of energy early on to play us," Petersen said. "And they've got good players. And you could feel the electricity in the stadium. We're proud of how the guys settled down and just kept playing hard and got into a groove and made some plays."

Chadd Cripe: 377-6398