Things looked spooky for Boise State’s O-line. Then it ‘imposed’ its will
If there is ever a sign that the Boise State offensive line seems out of sorts, it’s a penalty being called on redshirt junior left tackle Kage Casey.
After all, in his 2,173 career snaps ahead of Saturday night’s game against New Mexico at Albertsons Stadium, Casey had committed just one penalty in his college career.
So when the yellow flag went flying to penalize him for a false start in the third quarter of Boise State’s 41-25 win over New Mexico, it was an indication of how strange the night was.
The offensive line had five presnap penalties, and allowed four sacks and 11 tackles for loss to an aggressive Lobos defense. And when the Broncos got the ball into the hands of their running backs without a flag being thrown, they averaged only 3 yards per carry on 54 attempts.
“(New Mexico) did a really good job with their movement up front, but we knew that going in, that’s what they do on film,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said. “And we didn’t handle it great throughout the game.”
Poor discipline across the entire team has been an issue through the first half of the season, with penalties piling up regularly. Among the offensive line, presnap calls have been more of an issue on the right side.
Redshirt junior right guard Roger Carreon was called for one false start penalty on Saturday, while redshirt junior right tackle Daylon Metoyer was flagged for two.
Overall, the Broncos (4-2, 2-0 Mountain West) had seven penalties for 50 yards.
“The negative plays, and you throw the penalties on top of that, too, that just puts you behind in every situation,” Danielson said. “And no offense is built to win third-and-long consistently, that’s just not what you want to be in offensively.”
As negative as all of that sounds, it was more a case of Jekyll and Hyde than an October night of horror.
All four sacks and 10 of the 11 tackles for loss came in the first half, which ended with the Broncos limping to a 17-14 lead, despite outgaining the Lobos 187 yards to 62. A much-improved front five appeared in the second half, helping the Broncos score on all four of their completed drives.
Boise State ran 86 offensive plays, its most in a game this season, and possessed the ball for over 40 minutes.
“It felt like we were starting to wear them out,” Danielson said. “Starting to get those 6-yard gains, 8-yard gains, but we’ve got to be way more efficient.”
In the first half, Boise State attempted 30 rushes for 53 yards, a woeful average of 1.8 yards per attempt. Those numbers improved in the second half with 108 yards on 24 attempts, an average of 4.5 yards.
Sophomore running back Dylan Riley led the charge with 101 yards on 18 carries, while redshirt freshman Sire Gaines added 65 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
Riley had just one run for more than 10 yards in the first half before exploding for a 28-yard carry late in the third quarter on a drive that ended with Gaines’ second touchdown and a 27-17 lead.
That was the start of a three-TD fourth quarter for the Broncos, who burst ahead 41-17 after leading just 20-17. New Mexico (3-3, 0-2) scored a late touchdown and two-point conversion to set the final score.
“We knew they were going to break,” Gaines said. “Our mindset and our ability to impose the run game, impose our will on teams, and that’s what happened.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2025 at 2:03 AM.
