Boise State avenges last season’s Mountain West title loss. ‘This one is special.’
The image that endured from last season’s Mountain West title game was Boise State pass rusher Curtis Weaver seated on the blue turf in Albertsons Stadium and getting comforted by teammates as the emotion of a championship loss overtook him.
The picture that will stand the test of time from this year’s championship game is an embrace at midfield.
When the clock hit zero on No. 19 Boise State’s 31-10 win over Hawaii on Saturday and both sidelines emptied, defensive end Chase Hatada immediately sought out fellow defensive lineman David Moa. Locked in each other’s arms, both massive men rocked back and forth as the totality of what the Broncos accomplished this season washed over them.
After completing its first undefeated run through the Mountain West in program history, Boise State claimed its third conference championship since 2014 and its fourth overall, which tied former members TCU, BYU and Utah for the most in conference history.
“I mean David, I look at him as an older brother, and he’s really special to me. Everybody on this team is special to me,” Hatada said. “Being able to go through our journey together and work hard together is special.”
The victory may be a little bittersweet because Memphis scored with 1:14 left in regulation to beat Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game, hurting Boise State’s chances at a New Year’s Six bowl bid, but the Broncos’ players weren’t letting that dampen their spirits.
“Right now it doesn’t matter. We’re just trying to celebrate the championship we won,” Weaver said. “With last year how we lost, we wanted to avenge that loss.”
Hosting the championship game for the third year in a row, Boise State (12-1) got hot at the end of the second and third quarters — scoring 28 points in just 1 minute, 44 seconds of combined game time in those two bursts. Defensively, the Broncos kept Hawaii out of the end zone until the fourth quarter and held the Warriors to 79 rushing yards and 4-of-12 on third down.
Hawaii scored the game’s first points on a 47-yard field goal with 6:44 left in the first quarter. The Warriors didn’t score again until running back Miles Reed found the end zone on a 21-yard run with 12:00 left in regulation.
“The message was about finishing, and we started this journey back in January,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “As the season went on, I think you guys have seen how it all unfolded with our players and things that went on. And here we are, and this one is special.”
[Related: Bowl projections: Boise State could face its former coach; Instant Analysis: Boise State has become a dominant force in MW; scoring summary]
With a combined six points and both teams reaching the red zone just once, the game was a defensive struggle until the final 70 seconds of the opening half.
On a scoring drive that was sparked by a 21-yard scramble by quarterback Jaylon Henderson, he went to the air on fourth down for the game’s first touchdown.
After rearranging the offensive formation a couple times before the snap on fourth-and-4 from Hawaii’s 36-yard line, Henderson was flushed out of the pocket to his left and lobbed a perfectly placed pass to Khalil Shakir, who had a couple steps on a defender and trotted into the end zone for a 10-7 lead with 1:07 left in the half.
The Broncos weren’t done. After the defense forced Hawaii into a three-and-out, Boise State got the ball back with 38 seconds left on the clock and Henderson immediately found Shakir all alone over the middle on a 21-yard completion, which again put the ball on Hawaii’s 36-yard line.
One play later, Henderson heaved a pass toward the sideline and John Hightower came up with what may be the catch of the year. He leaped and contorted his body in mid-air to make the catch while getting undercut by a defender. He landed on one leg, managed to keep his balance by placing a hand on the turf and stayed in bounds before casually trotting into the end zone for a 17-3 Boise State lead with 14 seconds left in the half.
“That created momentum going into half,” said Shakir, who finished with a team-high seven catches for 89 yards. “We started slow, but we knew what we were capable of. To see us do that before half, we knew how the rest of the game was going to be and we knew we could score on them, and that’s just what we did.”
Boise State didn’t get back into the end zone until the final minute of the third quarter.
Facing third-and-6 from Hawaii’s 4-yard line with 1:09 left in the quarter, the Broncos reached into their bag of tricks to pad their lead. Henderson faked a handoff to Holani and flicked the ball to Shakir, who was streaking across the formation and easily made his way into the end zone for a 24-3 lead.
Nine seconds later, Boise State defensive tackle Sonatane Lui got a hand on the ball to strip Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald (30-of-36, 241 yards) and STUD Demitri Washington pounced on the fumble at Hawaii’s 9.
Two plays later, Henderson carried the ball around the right side of the line and took a hit at the goal line that sent him airborne, but he stretched the ball across the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown, which gave the Broncos a 31-3 lead with 18 seconds left in the third.
Henderson finished his fourth consecutive start 20-of-29 for 212 yards, two touchdowns and a late interception, and he added 51 rushing yards and another score. He was named the game’s offensive MVP.
“It wasn’t really about Hawaii,” Henderson said. “It was just one of those things where we had to go out there and execute our plays and execute what was called.”
On top of his forced fumble, Lui added five tackles and two sacks. After the final horn sounded, he was one of the first Broncos on the field to celebrate, and when asked about the Broncos’ bowl bid on the podium during the trophy presentation, he told the crowd, “We’ll take anyone, any place in any bowl game.”
Walking hand-in-hand with his wife as the stadium emptied, he was cradling the Defensive MVP trophy like it was an infant and beaming about what his team just accomplished.
“It means the world to us,” Lui said. “We have it up in our team room on a big plaque that says win the Mountain West championship. That’s where it all began, from January to now.”
Boise State will learn its bowl destination Sunday afternoon. The season’s final CFP ranking will be announced at 1 p.m. and the Broncos will find out where they’re headed not long after. The Las Vegas Bowl, which is their most likely destination, is expected announced its matchup about 2 p.m.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 8:11 PM.
