‘Fuel to the fire’: BYU’s Kodak moment on The Blue is major motivation for Boise State
Nothing about the way BYU’s win at Albertsons Stadium ended last season sits well with Boise State football players.
Not only did BYU earn its first win on The Blue and score its most points in the history of the Cougars’ series with Boise State, but the team gathered near the south end zone for a celebratory picture after the 51-17 win.
That moment stuck with the Broncos, and it’s come up several times this week as Boise State (2-3) has prepared for the latest installment of its annual game against No. 10 BYU (5-0) in Provo, Utah, on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ABC).
“The first thing that comes to mind is what happened last year,” Boise State linebacker Ezekiel Noa told reporters on Thursday. “That was unacceptable last year, and we have a chance to go out and compete again against BYU. We know they’re a great team, but we accept the challenge.”
Boise State and BYU first played in 2003, and the programs have faced off every year since 2012. The Broncos are 5-4 since the series became an annual event, including three straight wins between 2016 and 2018, but the Cougars have won the past two, including a 28-25 win at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2019.
The rivalry may not be an annual thing for much longer, though. BYU is one of four programs that accepted an invitation to the Big 12 Conference, which will require the Cougars to play a conference schedule full of Power Five opponents every year and could leave the program wanting to adjust its nonconference schedule.
BYU hasn’t publicly stated its intentions as they pertain to the future of the rivalry. Right now the rivals are scheduled to face off every year until 2034, except in 2024, but the Cougars’ move in 2023 means nothing beyond that season is guaranteed.
Boise State’s players know they might not have many more chances to turn the tables on what happened last season, so they can’t afford to waste one.
“For myself especially, it left a chip on my shoulder,” said edge rusher Isaiah Bagnah, who leads the Broncos with five sacks. “For that to happen on The Blue, it doesn’t feel good, obviously. It’s stuck in the back of all of our heads, and it’s definitely motivation coming into this week.”
Former Oregon running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio joined the Broncos this summer, so this is his first experience with the rivalry. Fellow running back George Holani filled him in on the history between the teams a couple of weeks ago, and Holani’s description of the Cougars’ team picture after their win last season got his fellow running back fired up.
“It’s my first year, but I feel a lot of fire and that’s fuel to the fire,” Habibi-Likio said. “When it feels personal to my teammates and my brothers, it feels the same way to me.”
Habibi-Likio led the Broncos with 46 rushing yards in a home loss to Nevada last Saturday, and he may have to carry the load again. Holani left the game in the first quarter after aggravating the leg injury that kept him out of the season opener against UCF, Boise State football coach Andy Avalos said.
There has been no word on Holani’s availability on Saturday, and there’s been no update on the health of center Kekaniokoa Holomalia-Gonzalez, who hasn’t played all season, or guard Garrett Curran, who missed last week’s game with an undisclosed injury.
That’s not good news for a running game that ranks last in the Mountain West and No. 127 nationally with 74.4 yards a game.
“It’s just getting into the right flow,” Habibi-Likio said. “Last week, we went to the pistol (formation) and it helped a lot with us being more downhill. We’re just waiting for it to click.”
On the other side of the ball, Boise State’s defense will face one of the top rushing attacks it has seen all season. BYU’s backfield is led by 220-pound running back Tyler Allgeier — a former walk-on who is well on his way to a second straight 1,000-yard season, with 564 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground through five games.
“He definitely has some size on him, and he definitely runs hard,” Noa said. “He breaks a lot of tackles, so a lot of us on the defensive side have been focused on staying low, driving our feet and how important tackling is. We know how important Allgeier is to their offense and how great of a running back he is.”
Allgeier has an interesting history in the series. He helped BYU beat Boise State for the first time on The Blue last season with 123 yards and two touchdowns on the ground — including an 86-yard touchdown run on the Cougars’ first offensive series.
In 2019, he played linebacker and led BYU with nine tackles in its home win over the Broncos. He’s sure to play a big role once again on Saturday, Boise State co-defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said.
“You can tell the edge with which he runs,” Danielson said. “Very seldom on film do you see the first guy take him down. I think he’s a very tough runner, he’s explosive, he’s got great balance, and you better gang tackle him because of how strong he is and how quick he is at the point of attack.”
The Broncos will also have to contend with a sold-out crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday. BYU announced Sept. 29 that all of the more than 63,000 seats in the stadium were sold. Boise State is 2-3 all-time on the Cougars’ home field, and that crowd isn’t going to make it easy for the Broncos to secure their first win in Provo since 2017.
Note
▪ The Mountain West championship game on Dec. 4 will begin at 1 p.m. Mountain time and air on Fox, the conference announced Thursday afternoon. It will be the second year in a row that the game was broadcast by Fox.
Last season, the title game was held in Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas and featured San Jose State beating Boise State to win its first conference title in program history. This year, the championship game will be hosted by the division champion with the highest winning percentage.
BOISE STATE AT NO. 10 BYU
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, Utah
TV: ABC (Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Tom Luginbill). That’s channel 6 on Sparklight and DirecTV and channel 6 or 5250 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 2-3; BYU 5-0
Series: Boise State is 7-4 all-time against BYU, but the Broncos have lost two in a row in the series.
Vegas line: BYU by 5.5
Weather: High of 50 degrees, 62% chance of rain, 8 mph winds
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 3:08 PM.
