Instant Analysis: Battered Boise State will play for division title at Utah State
Final score: Boise State 42, New Mexico 9
Records: Boise State is 9-1 overall, 6-0 Mountain West; New Mexico is 2-8, 0-6
Why the Broncos won: They’re a lot better than the Lobos — and they got off to an incredible start with a defensive touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and a 97-yard touchdown drive the first time they got the ball on offense.
What it means: The Broncos can clinch the Mountain West Mountain Division title and the right to host the Mountain West championship game (against San Diego State or Hawaii) by beating Utah State on Saturday in Logan, Utah. The Broncos still could win the division if they lose with help from Air Force.
But Boise State will limp into Logan. The Broncos lost star pass rusher Curtis Weaver during the New Mexico game, and it didn’t look good as he was helped to the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute in the southeast corner of the stadium. He returned to the sideline in a walking boot.
“Curtis is probably the best player in our conference at defense,” Boise State senior defensive tackle Sonatane Lui said, “and to see him go out was definitely a wake-up call, like, ‘Hey, we need to come together to get this done.’ ”
[Related: Jaylon Henderson shines but QB situation murky; Lui scores unexpected touchdown; scoring summary]
Senior left guard John Molchon, who didn’t play two weeks earlier, only played the first drive. Senior right guard Eric Quevedo limped off in the second half. Starting tailback Robert Mahone, who has been limited much of the season, was shaken up again. Starting safety DeAndre Pierce, the guy coaches rave about for how he makes the entire unit better, is out for the rest of the regular season. And the Broncos are down to two healthy quarterbacks — third-stringer Jaylon Henderson and walk-on Zach Matlock, who wasn’t even used to run out the clock in the blowout.
True freshman starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier has missed three of the past four games, and backup Chase Cord missed the New Mexico game. Neither even participated in warmups Saturday night.
That’s an ugly list of injuries for a team that will face a talented Utah State team that will want to avenge last year’s loss in Boise in the game that decided the Mountain Division title. The Aggies were 10-1 and ranked No. 14 at the time.
“With every person you see laying on the ground, your heart breaks a little bit,” Lui said.
Utah State hasn’t been as good this year, its first in the return of coach Gary Andersen, but the Aggies are 6-4 overall and 5-1 in the Mountain West. Their losses are to Wake Forest, which has spent time in the Top 25 this season, No. 1 LSU, BYU and Air Force — and all but the BYU game were on the road. The Aggies could have their own health problem, though — quarterback Jordan Love exited Saturday’s win against Wyoming with an injury.
It’s tempting to say Boise State should be fine with Henderson — but it looked that way when Cord and Henderson combined to finish off the Hawaii game the first time Bachmeier got hurt. The Broncos lost their next game, at BYU, with Cord running the offense.
Coaches and players have expressed significant confidence in Henderson, who spent much of spring ball with the first team while Cord was still out with a knee injury and Bachmeier was adjusting to college football. Henderson showed why on Saturday — Harsin cited a spectacular throw he made to wide receiver John Hightower for a 51-yard touchdown as an example of what he can do — but Henderson also threw an interception on a bad read, took two sacks, lost a fumble and oversaw a 27-minute scoring drought.
Harsin illustrated the level of belief the Broncos have in Henderson by pointing out that his first play was a first-and-10 at the Broncos’ 3-yard line. Rather than go the safe route, the Broncos ran the play they’d prepared all week as their opener — a bootleg to the right that forced Henderson to run in his own end zone with three receiving options. Henderson made the longest throw of the bunch, a 16-yard strike to Hightower.
“We didn’t expect to be on that yard line,” Harsin said. “And it was like: ‘Screw it. Let’s go. This is what we’re running. This is what we talked about, and this is what he’s going to do.’ And he went out there and operated. And he threw the longest throw on that entire concept on the very first play, right out of the gate. So pretty cool, I think, to see him do that.”
Who will start against the Aggies? Harsin said he didn’t even know Saturday night — but then he quickly raved about Henderson’s potential.
“I’d like to know the answer to that myself,” Harsin said. “... But I will tell you this: I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Jaylon Henderson and the way that he went out there and operated tonight. And we can get better. Just think of another week and a game under his belt, he can get better. And the thing about Jaylon that I believe, that’s exactly what he’ll do. He’s very motivated, very competitive. And, I think I’ve made it very clear, I like to be around guys like that. And I like to be in the huddle with guys like that.”
Player of the game: Henderson, in his first start as a Bronco, was 15-for-28 for 292 yards and three touchdowns with one interception and one lost fumble. He certainly made some mistakes, but his hot start took away any hopes the Lobos had of pulling an upset.
Henderson was 7-for-9 for 157 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter.
“I thought Jaylon Henderson played extremely well tonight, and you guys all got a chance to see this kid play, and he can throw it and he can operate, and he prepares himself,” Harsin said. “And this dude is really good.”
Play of the game: Lui grabbed a fumble and rumbled 24 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Defensive end Chase Hatada blew up the play in the backfield to force the fumble — hitting quarterback Tevaka Tuioti on a keeper — and Lui had just enough speed to get to the goal line before he was tackled.
The Broncos had worked against that play in practice all week and Hatada’s role was to hit the quarterback without worrying about whether he had the ball or had handed it off. Lui called the play a “tone-setter.”
“That was pretty awesome to see the play that we had been prepping for all week and have us stop it, not only with a stop but have a score off of it,” Lui said. “And then obviously having one of the fat guys score definitely picks up the energy for everyone.”
What’s next: Boise State plays Utah State at 8:30 p.m. next Saturday in Logan, Utah (CBS Sports Network).
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 11:53 PM.
