Goal-driven Boise State preserves perfect Mountain West record before title game
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Boise State 42, Utah State 23
A 21-point Boise State lead was cut to 5 in the fourth quarter before the Broncos pulled away and secured a perfect 8-0 record in the Mountain West ahead of next week’s conference title game.
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The Boise State football team isn’t shy about setting lofty goals.
Written in all caps on the team room wall is, “Our goal is to win the MWC championship and a bowl game with class, integrity and academic excellence.”
The Broncos will turn their attention to that Mountain West championship game next week, but for now, they’re going to celebrate checking a couple of lesser goals off the list.
Boise State jumped out to a 21-point lead Friday in its regular-season finale against Utah State, and the Broncos survived a late push from the Aggies and won 42-23 after scoring two touchdowns in less than a minute late in regulation.
With the win, the Broncos finished the regular season 8-0 against Mountain West teams for just the second time in program history. They also achieved the feat in 2019, which happens to be the last time they won a conference title. Boise State went 5-0 in conference play in 2020 — a season that was shortened to seven games because of COVID-19.
Boise State (9-3 overall) also improved to 5-1 at home this season with Friday’s win. The Broncos went 3-3 in Albertsons Stadium last year.
Coach Andy Avalos said after the game that he’s thankful to have such a resilient team. The Broncos were 2-2 after a loss to huge underdog UTEP on Sept. 23. They fired offensive coordinator Tim Plough soon thereafter, and four-year starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier decided to transfer in the middle of the season.
Now the Broncos have a chance to play for their Mountain West-leading fifth conference title.
“It’s just a reminder to be thankful for all the things we have, even the things that aren’t favorable and ideal,” Avalos said. “You go through a lot of different stuff for a reason, and in life you have two options. You’re either going to learn from it, grow from it, and get stronger and grow forward, or you know what the other one is.”
Boise State will host Fresno State in the championship game on Saturday, Dec. 3 (2 p.m., Fox). The Broncos cruised to a 40-20 win when the Bulldogs came to Albertsons Stadium on Oct. 8, but a different opponent will come to town for the title game.
Quarterback Jake Haener and safety Evan Williams were two members of a long list of Fresno State starters who missed the regular-season meeting. They’re both healthy now, and the Bulldogs (7-4, 6-1 MW) have won seven straight games since losing on The Blue. They close their regular season against Wyoming on Saturday.
“We can’t come in here and think we’re fixin’ to run over them again like we did last time,” Boise State wide receiver Latrell Caples said. “We’re going to prepare for them like we do every other game, and best man wins.”
The Broncos don’t have history on their side. The last time they played Fresno State twice in a season was 2018. Boise State won the regular-season matchup, but the Bulldogs escaped Albertsons Stadium with a 19-16 overtime win in the championship game.
“It’s what we’ve been working for since January,” Avalos said. “We know we have a great team coming in here to play us, and we know we have to be at our absolute best with this week of preparation.”
After a slow start, Boise State was at its best in the first half on Friday.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Taylen Green threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter, two of which went to redshirt freshman Eric McAlister. He managed to get a foot in bounds on a 6-yard reception for the game’s first points. The 6-foot-3 native of Azle, Texas, also came down with a 25-yard touchdown that gave the Broncos a 21-0 lead.
Green’s most precise pass of the first half went to Caples, who found a seam down the middle of the field and didn’t have to break stride on a 50-yard TD reception.
Green has had to work to shrug off the label of being a running quarterback — and he can still run, as he showed later in the game — but Caples said his arm talent is evident every day in practice.
“We make everything in practice harder than it is in a game,” Caples said. “If we don’t hit something in practice, we get it after practice, and I think that’s where his confidence comes in.”
Green’s career-high fourth touchdown pass of the game was a bit out of the ordinary. It was a 1-yard scoring strike to defensive tackle Scott Matlock, who was on the field in the third quarter as part of the Broncos’ “Clydesdale Package.” He was lined up as an extra tight end and had a free release off the line of scrimmage, which left him open in the end zone.
It was Matlock’s second career touchdown catch. He hauled in his first last season, and that also came against Utah State. Boise State ran the same exact play this year in the same position on the field.
“It kind of gets in your head a bit, but you just have to go out there and run the route or make the block,” said Matlock, adding that he wasn’t nearly as nervous when the play was called as he was last year. “I saw nobody was covering me ... so I knew I was going to be pretty open.”
Green completed 14-of-23 passes for 220 yards on Friday. He chose his spots to run most of the day, and he iced the victory with his legs late in regulation.
Green took off on a 91-yard touchdown run after Utah State (6-6, 5-3 MW) came roaring back. The Aggies cut the Boise State lead to 28-23 on running back Calvin Tyler Jr.’s 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and they were threatening to go ahead late before an interception gave the ball back to the Broncos.
Needing just a first down to run out the clock, Green faked a handoff and took off around the left side of the line for the longest touchdown run by a player at any position in Boise State history.
Green was also the first Mountain West quarterback to rack up four passing touchdowns and one on the ground against an FBS opponent since former Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro did it in 2020.
“It got real tight prior to that run, and for him to capitalize right there and pretty much put the game away, that was awesome,” Avalos said of Green. “He was efficient through the air today. (Utah State) wanted to bring everybody to the line of scrimmage, so it opened things down the field, and we were able to take advantage of that.”
The Broncos’ defense shut Utah State down in the first half. At one point, Boise State had more penalty yards (50) than the Aggies had total offense (31).
But the visitors didn’t go away.
Running back Terrell Vaughn capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run on the final drive of the first half, cutting the lead to 21-7. Vaughn also hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cooper Legas to cut Boise State’s lead to 28-17 in the third quarter.
Utah State had a chance to steal the win late. The Aggies trailed by just five points and drove all the way to the Broncos’ red zone late in the fourth quarter, but edge rusher Gabe Hunter ended the drive with an interception on fourth down.
Utah State gave up another turnover in the game’s final seconds. This time it was safety Seyi Oladipo who snagged a pass and returned it 48 yards to set the final score. Oladipo was on the field because safety JL Skinner was ejected following a targeting penalty in the first half, and backup safety Alexander Tuebner missed the game with an undisclosed injury.
“Credit to those guys for making those plays,” Matlock said. “They were where they’re supposed to be and they were reading their keys and they were able to make a play on the ball. Credit to everybody involved for doing their job.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2022 at 4:56 PM.
