Up 9 in 4th quarter, Boise State wins by 16. Another game closer than it needed to be?
On the scoreboard and in the stats, Boise State’s victory over Oregon State on Friday looked pretty convincing.
The Broncos scored four touchdowns, had a pair of field goals and put up 465 yards of offense — with 28 first downs — en route to a 34-18 victory over the Beavers at Albertsons Stadium after a 10 a.m. kickoff.
But it was another game that felt way too close in the fourth quarter — against a team that was a 20.5-point underdog. It came a week after a come-from-behind 17-13 win over Wyoming, and three weeks after a 28-21 home win over Nevada. Those teams are a combined 5-18 this season.
No. 11 Boise State (11-1, 7-0 Mountain West) kicked two field goals after driving deep into Oregon State (5-7) territory, and turned the ball over on downs in the red zone in the fourth quarter. Late in the first half, superstar junior running back Ashton Jeanty suffered a rare fumble in the red zone.
And with the score 27-18, the final Boise State TD came in the last minute of play, after Oregon State turned the ball over on downs in its own half of the field and used all of its timeouts.
“(We) lost the turnover there and scoring touchdowns in the red zone, another huge stat,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said. “We settled for two field goals. Proud of our guys to come away with points, but if that’s 14 instead of six, it’s a different football game.”
The Broncos got off to a blistering start, scoring two touchdowns on the first two drives. Jeanty punched in the second touchdown, his sole score on another historic night for him.
Jeanty ran for 226 yards on 37 carries, bringing his season total to 2,288. He holds the Mountain West single-season rushing record and has moved to fifth all-time in NCAA history. His 2,390 all-purpose yards are also a Boise State single-season record.
But with the Broncos driving down the field to make it 21-0 and perhaps ignite a rout, Jeanty’s fumble gave the ball to Oregon State in the second quarter. Two plays later, junior running back Anthony Hankerson did his best Jeanty impersonation, bolting through a hole on the right side and going 83 yards for a touchdown.
“The challenge now is, once we get those leads, we’ve kind of got to step away a little bit more and find more comfort,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Maddux Madsen said.
Madsen led a 75-yard drive to close out the half, throwing for 69 yards and a touchdown to forge a 21-7 lead. He ended the game with 195 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 37 rushing yards and a rushing TD. He also completed just four passes in the second half.
The tighter-than-expected game was part of what’s become Boise State’s end of season pattern. The Broncos haven’t held a dominant first-half lead since 35-10 against San Diego State on Nov. 1, in a game they won 56-24. They beat San Jose State by 21 points, thanks to a defensive TD with 1:42 left in the game, but also trailed by 14 to the Spartans and were in a 21-21 game late in the third quarter.
So the winning has not stopped, but in this day and age — when a College Football Playoff committee is watching and judging everything — style points can matter. Boise State will be in the 12-team playoffs with a victory in next week’s Mountain West championship game, but the difference between a first-round bye and a first-round road game could come down to how impressive the wins look, like it or not.
“It doesn’t matter what the score is at the end of the day, as long as we find a way to win,” Danielson said. “If we win by 50, win by seven, win by one, just find a way to win.”
That the Broncos did, but it could have been more lopsided, if not for mental errors and missed plays.
Jeanty appeared to have a 29-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but it came back because of a holding penalty. That led to a field goal. Jeanty exploded for a 60-yard run on the Broncos’ next drive, but it stalled in the red zone.
“It’s execution and all these things we’re talking about; there’s not some mythical answer,” Danielson said. “There’s going to be a reason for it, and so it’s our job as coaches and players to look at and see how can we execute in those critical moments.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 4:53 PM.
