‘It hurts.’ With rare loss in home opener, winless Boise State deals with the ‘sting’
Sixth-year senior linebacker DJ Schramm had to collect himself more than once during Saturday’s postgame news conference at Albertsons Stadium.
This is not where the Boise State football team wanted to be.
With an 18-16 loss to UCF in their 2023 home debut on the game’s final play, the Broncos fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2005 and lost their first home opener since 2001, ending a streak of 21 straight wins.
“When you put so much into something and things don’t go your way, it hurts,” Schramm said. “Our guys put a lot into this week, so it hurts that we didn’t get the job done, and not just for us, but for the city of Boise.”
The announced attendance Saturday night was 36,447, and the often boisterous crowd saw a strange, entertaining game that ended in distressing fashion for the home team. The Broncos lost when UCF sophomore kicker Colton Boomer connected on a 40-yard field goal as time expired. It was Boomer’s fourth field goal of the game, including a career-long 55-yarder in the second quarter that he made easily.
“When you go down to the wire like that and you lose on the last play of the game, it’s gonna sting,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “When the team cares about each other as much as they do, it’s gonna sting. But that’s what we’re gonna draw from and be able to use as we work forward.”
The disappointing ending overshadowed a big moment for backup quarterback Maddux Madsen, who was forced into action in the third quarter when starter Taylen Green left the game with leg cramping problems.
With 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Broncos trailing 15-10, Madsen orchestrated a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive that included a 4-yard scramble on fourth-and-2 from the UCF 32 to keep the sticks moving. He then hit sixth-year senior receiver Stefan Cobbs over the middle, and Cobbs broke free for a 28-yard touchdown and a 16-15 Boise State lead with 1:49 left.
Those were the home team’s only points of the second half.
Madsen finished 5-for-8 passing for 67 yards and a QB rating of 174.1. He couldn’t convert on the 2-point try after the TD, though, leaving UCF a window to win with a field goal.
“We had a few drives there that obviously we weren’t able to get much going, but we did on that last one,” Avalos said. “And that was a really good job by (Madsen) taking what the defense gave him. A big-time play to Stef and what an extraordinary effort by Stef to run out of that tackle there and get us in position to get ahead at that point.”
Despite Madsen’s late heroics and another huge game from sophomore running back Ashton Jeanty, the Boise State offense was uneven for the second game in a row. The Broncos had 22 first downs and actually ran one more play than the Knights, but were able to put points on the board on just three of 10 possessions. They punted five times, and Green had a bad interception throwing into triple coverage.
“Offensively, we’re doing a great job, we’re just missing those little bit of big plays,” Madsen said. “There’s not much to say about that. We’ve got to be more consistent at certain things, and we’ll get there. It’s something that we obviously have done and we will do moving forward.”
With redshirt senior running back George Holani sidelined with a lower-body injury, Jeanty once again was the offensive star. He totaled a career-best 212 yards from scrimmage, contributing 115 on the ground and 97 receiving. His previous career high was at the 2022 Frisco Bowl, where he had 188 all-purpose yards.
Jeanty touched the ball on 29 of the Broncos’ 66 plays.
Before his exit in the third quarter, Green was 9-for-19 passing for 144 yards, including a 38-yard TD pass to a wide-open Jeanty in the first quarter. Green’s interception killed a drive that had taken Boise State to UCF’s 27-yard line in the third quarter.
“It’s not always going to be balanced every single week,” Avalos said. “You want to find some consistency within that, you know, spreading that ball around a little bit. Get (Eric McAlister) some more touches. Get Billy (Bowens) some more touches. ... We’ve got to do a really good job of that as we move forward, because those guys .... have shown to be explosive.”
A week after giving up 19 so-called explosive plays at Washington, the Broncos’ defense yielded 17 on Saturday. UCF had nine rushing plays of 10 yards or more and eight passing plays of 15 yards or more. The Boise State defense saved itself twice with interceptions on tipped balls in the red zone, and it managed just one sack for the second straight game.
Still, Avalos tried to be optimistic.
“That ball goes wide right, obviously it’s a different conversation,” Avalos said. “We’re talking about what is the outlook for the team. The outlook for the team is exactly the same. ... We’re gonna have a really good team. This team, they love each other ... and we’re gonna have a really good season.”
Boise State will be at home again next week against North Dakota. Kickoff is 10 a.m. Saturday on Fox Sports 1.
This story was originally published September 9, 2023 at 11:24 PM.
