Boise State embarrassed after first loss to rival BYU in Albertsons Stadium
Boise State’s band, making its debut Friday night, did its best to create some noise in a mostly empty Albertsons Stadium with BYU threatening to score late in the No. 9 Cougars’ 51-17 win.
Band members, dotting the bleachers behind the No. 21 Broncos’ end zone, stomped and yelled at the top of their lungs, but it was no use. Already leading by 35 points, wide receiver Neil Pau’u’s 1-yard touchdown run was basically ceremonial.
After the final whistle blew, BYU gathered in the opposite end zone and commemorated its first win over its rival on The Blue in series history with a team picture.
The Broncos are now 5-1 against the Cougars in Albertsons Stadium after suffering their worst home loss since 1996 when Idaho rolled to a 64-19 win.
“Those things for sure stick with us,” Boise State wide receiver Khalil Shakir said after the game. “They came out and put on a show, and the thing that hurts the most is that it was on our Blue (field).”
BYU quarterback Zach Wilson looked as good as advertised, completing 21-of-27 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns and adding a rushing touchdown.
Many believe he’ll be a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and he certainly looked like it on the Cougars’ first drive of the second half. On third-and-5, he rolled to his right and delivered a pass down the sideline that only his receiver, Dax Milne, could catch.
Milne did catch it for a 38-yard gain, and Wilson followed with another 38-yard completion, this one to tight end Gunner Romney. One play later, he hit Isaac Rex on a 5-yard touchdown, which gave the Cougars (8-0) a 23-3 lead.
Rex caught both of Wilson’s touchdown passes. The second covered 20 yards and gave the Cougars a 31-3 lead.
“Going into the game, we knew BYU was a great team and Zach Wilson was a great quarterback, and they came out and executed and we didn’t,” Boise State linebacker Riley Whimpey said. “At the end of the day you need to be able to execute and be consistent in these kinds of games.”
Boise State was forced to rely on a pair of quarterbacks with a fraction of Wilson’s experience.
Sophomore Hank Bachmeier missed his second game in a row for undisclosed reasons, and USC transfer Jack Sears went out with a potential head injury on the Broncos’ second drive.
With Chase Cord still nursing injuries he suffered last fall, the Broncos were forced to go with freshmen Cade Fennegan and Andy Peters.
Peters, a walk-on from Timberline High, made his first career appearance and completed 4-of-8 passes for 26 yards.
Fennegan, who saw his first collegiate snap last weekend at Air Force, made some plays with his legs, but he also threw an interception and lost a fumble.
He did record the first two touchdown passes of his career, though, and both went to Shakir. The first covered 52 yards and made the score 45-10 with 9:17 to play.
Ten seconds later — after Shakir recovered an onside kick — Fennegan found the Broncos’ top receiver on a 46-yard touchdown pass. Fennegan finished the game 15-of-26 for 182 yards and earned some praise from Shakir.
“Obviously things weren’t going our way, and he stepped in and handled it pretty well,” Shakir said. “We have a lot of work to do just to get lined up faster, but under pressure, he lined up well.”
Shakir deserved some accolades of his own after finishing with career highs in receptions (10) and receiving yards (139), but he wasn’t interested in discussing moral victories after a second straight loss to the Cougars.
“We need to prepare better,” said Shakir, who was on the field in last season’s 28-25 loss in Provo, Utah. “Other teams were watching tonight, and what we put on tape is not what we wanted to put on tape.”
The Broncos’ young quarterbacks needed some help from the running game Friday, but it wasn’t to be.
With starting running back George Holani out after suffering an apparent leg injury last week at Air Force, the Broncos got just 45 rushing yards out of backup Andrew Van Buren and managed just 61 yards on the ground as a team.
“We got ourselves behind, so we were throwing more to try to create some bigger plays and try to get ourselves into the game,” Harsin said. “That’s not the plan we want to operate with, and we weren’t throwing the ball effectively enough to get ourselves back in the game so we could run it.”
BYU got much more production out of its backfield, especially Tyler Allgeier, who scored the first points of the game with an 86-yard run. He finished with 123 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, and the Cougars racked up 214 rushing yards as a team.
“I take a lot of responsibility for this game and how we played as a defense,” Whimpey said. “I’m going to be doing a lot of reflecting myself and finding areas I can improve on in my personal game.”
Whimpey is far from the only Bronco who is taking Friday’s loss personally. Harsin called it “embarrassing,” and he said his team has plenty of work to do, especially facing another short week before hosting Colorado State on Thursday (6 p.m., FS1).
“Not the kind of performance any of us is proud of whatsoever,” he said. “As coaches, it really falls on us. We have to do a better job at the end of the day. We got outcoached and outplayed.”
