No fans, no problem. Boise State creates plenty of energy in rout of Utah State
With cardboard cutouts instead of fans filling some lower-level seats in Albertsons Stadium for Boise State football’s season opener Saturday, the Broncos knew they had to create their own energy.
Behind dominant performances from quarterback Hank Bachmeier and two of his favorite targets, as well as the defense, they did that and then some in a 42-13 win over Mountain West rival Utah State.
“Coach (Bryan) Harsin and the staff did an incredible job of preparing us throughout this whole COVID pandemic,” Bachmeier said. “I just felt like we’ve been preparing so hard and so long for this opportunity, and I think that it showed today, and I think we can be even better next week.”
Boise State didn’t have any players miss the game because of positive COVID-19 tests, and the Broncos put together a pretty complete performance for a team that hasn’t taken the field since Dec. 21, 2019, in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“It’s always great to win your first game,” Harsin said. “You have all these corrections you’re going to have to make going into the next one, but when you can do it with a win, I think the focus is better when you go back and start working on the mistakes.”
Bachmeier totaled four touchdowns, wide receiver Khalil Shakir and running back George Holani both posted more than 100 yards of offense, and Boise State’s defense kept the Aggies out of the end zone until late in the third quarter.
Bachmeier got into a rhythm early, completing his first six pass attempts and throwing two first-half touchdowns, including a 52-yard connection to Shakir for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Broncos’ sophomore quarterback had a hand in touchdowns on three straight second-quarter drives. Following his scoring strike to Shakir, Bachmeier (20-of-28, 268 yards) capped a nine-play drive with a 6-yard TD run.
Bachmeier’s second touchdown pass of the opening half was all Holani. The sophomore caught a short pass near the Aggies’ 10-yard line, made two cuts — freezing four defenders in their tracks — and trotted into the end zone to send the Broncos (1-0) into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
“That’s friggin’ George Holani for you,” Bachmeier said. “He did it last year and obviously he’s going to do it this year, so it’s pretty exciting just to watch him do what he does.”
Bachmeier got plenty of help from Holani on Saturday. A 34-yard scamper in the fourth quarter gave him his first 100-yard rushing performance (14 carries, 100 yards) of the season. He also capped a nine-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run for the Broncos’ first points of the night, and caught three passes for 33 yards.
Shakir did his part to fabricate some energy, too.
His 18-yard touchdown catch gave the Broncos a 35-13 lead in the fourth quarter, and he finished the game with seven catches for a career-high 132 yards. It was his third career 100-yard receiving performance, and the junior finished as Boise State’s second-leading rusher by darting 34 yards on three carries.
“As a coach, you do your job and come up with a really good plan for guys like that and let them go to work,” Harsin said of Holani and Shakir. “It’s not complicated because they work hard, they’re motivated, they want to be great and they’re willing to do what it takes to sacrifice time in their lives to make that happen.”
Defensively, Boise State shut down Utah State early and most of the game, holding the Aggies to 41 yards of offense in the first half. Utah State didn’t score until Jaylen Warren plunged in from a yard out with 2:05 left in the third quarter.
Warren scored again early in the fourth quarter after what Harsin dubbed the “butt punt.”
Boise State’s Joel Velazquez bounced a punt off a teammate and watched it travel 38 yards in the wrong direction, giving the Aggies the ball on the Broncos’ 21-yard line. Six plays later, Warren scored from 2 yards out, but there wasn’t a point in the game when Utah State moved the ball well.
The Aggies (0-1) finished with 203 yards of offense.
“I think we did a great job of stopping the run, and when you stop the run, you make an offense one-dimensional,” said Boise State linebacker Riley Whimpey. “And then when they did pass the ball, we did a good job getting to (Utah State quarterback Jason Shelley).”
Shelley, a transfer from Utah making his first start for the Aggies, finished 14-of-27 for 92 yards and also threw an interception, which Boise State cornerback Tyric LeBeauf snagged in the game’s closing seconds. The Broncos also recorded three sacks.
Boise State hits the road next weekend to face Air Force (4 p.m., CBS Sports Network).
This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 11:15 PM.
