‘It was a struggle’: Boise State gets blitzed by Washington in LA Bowl
Blitz the tee dog easily outran game host Rob Gronkowski in their race Saturday night.
That was just about the only highlight for Boise State.
In what was said to be the final LA Bowl, the Broncos didn’t quite have a night to remember in sparsely populated SoFi Stadium.
Trying to end a long losing streak against Power Four conference opponents, Boise State (9-5) instead got blitzed 38-10 by Washington (9-4) to end its season.
Giving up three straight touchdown drives in the second quarter spelled doom for BSU, and the offense just couldn’t keep up. In fact, it struggled to do much of anything.
One week after returning from injury to lead Boise State to a third straight Mountain West championship, quarterback Maddux Madsen struggled mightily in the first half — 7-of-16 passing for 51 yards, two interceptions — and spent the second half on the sideline with his re-injured foot and ankle in a protective boot.
Redshirt sophomore Max Cutforth, who started three games in place of Madsen and led a key comeback win at Utah State, played the second half and went 15-of-27 for 202 yards and a late touchdown — but threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter, including two on back-to-back pass attempts.
“It was a struggle, and it sucks to see our defense go back on the field and have to stop them again and again and again,” said senior tight end Matt Lauter, who caught that late TD pass in his final game. ”But that’s just the way it is, and we’re going to get those things fixed.”
The game stats were not very pretty, although final yardage totals weren’t completely lopsided (355 for Washington, 311 for BSU). The Broncos were 5-for-16 on third down, including 2-for-8 in the first half. They went 2-for-4 on fourth-down attempts and came up with zero points on their first two trips to the red zone.
They rushed 28 times for 58 yards.
Until Cutforth hit Lauter for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:18 left, Boise State had more interceptions than points.
It put a lot of strain on the defense, which played well until a blown coverage in the second quarter allowed a big play and sent the Huskies’ offense on its way.
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. completed 15-of-24 passes for 214 yards and four TDs, including a 78-yard score to a wide-open Denzel Boston, who had the equivalent of the 405 freeway between him and any defender.
Boston finished with six catches for 125 yards, and his touchdown was the first of three for the Huskies on consecutive drives in the second quarter that blew the game open and gave them a 24-3 halftime lead.
“We gave them a lot of free opportunity to make plays. ... You make a mistake as a defense, and they throw one over the top,” said linebacker Marco Notarainni. “We had 21 unanswered points, and as a defense, we can’t let that happen.”
The Broncos almost exclusively threw the ball after halftime. Chris Marshall, Lauter and Latrell Caples wound up with five catches apiece — Marshall for 97 yards, Caples for 70 and Lauter for 37 and the score. Marshall was targeted 13 times.
Boise State still hasn’t defeated a Power Four program since beating Florida State in the 2019 season opener. At the end of that campaign, BSU played Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl, losing 38-7. The Broncos traveled to Seattle to open the 2023 season and were walloped 56-19 by the Huskies.
Now there is another blowout to add to the ledger, and Boise State’s bowl-win drought continues. The Broncos won the 2022 Frisco Bowl but are 0-3 since.
“We’ve got to find a way to run the football. We’ve got to pick our shots. We’ve got to take care of the football,” said coach Spencer Danielson, who has lost those three bowl games. “We didn’t do really any of those consistently.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 5:56 PM.
