‘Not OK’: In LA Bowl, Boise State continues to have power-conference failure
Boise State used to strike fear into the hearts of Power Five (now Power Four) football programs.
Mighty Oklahoma and Adrian Peterson in the Fiesta Bowl? Beat ‘em.
The Georgia Bulldogs in the heart of SEC Country? A two-touchdown win.
Opening the season by rolling into town and defeating Florida State in Tallahassee? Check it off the list.
Wins over Oregon, Virginia Tech, Arizona and Washington? Oh, yeah, done that.
But that was then. This is now — and “now” means that the Broncos’ reputation has taken a big hit.
Yes, it’s been a long while since the Broncos have been able to boast about a win over a power-conference team. It was the start of the 2019 season, when a trip to Florida State ended in a 36-31 victory behind a 407-yard passing night from quarterback Hank Bachmeier and a 17-0 shutout of the Seminoles in the second half.
The latest chance to beat a Power Four program came Saturday night against Washington in the LA Bowl. As has often been he case recently, Boise State fell drastically short.
After taking a 3-0 lead about three minutes into the game, the Broncos (9-5) didn’t score again until a touchdown with a little over a minute remaining concluded a 38-10 loss to Washington (9-4).
Boise State is 0-for-10 against Power Four opponents since that win at Florida State, and 0-for-5 since Spencer Danielson became head coach of the program in 2023, just days before the Broncos’ 35-22 loss to UCLA in the LA Bowl.
Since then, BSU also has fallen to Oregon (37-34), Penn State (31-14) and Notre Dame (28-7).
“We’re not OK with losing these games,” Danielson said after the game. “It’s not like, ‘Well, we won our conference, and we’re just gonna go shoot our shot in a bowl game.’ ... You come to Boise State to win these football games, and it’s not OK that we didn’t.”
Washington has been a particular nemesis since that Florida State win, handing the Broncos three lopsided losses: 38-7 in the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl, 56-19 to open the 2023 regular season and now this LA Bowl. Combined score? 132-36.
“We had every right to win this football game. And that’s a really talented group, well-coached, that we went against tonight, but we’ve got to find a way to win those football games,” Danielson said.
Boise State had hoped it would finally break through again Saturday night, but the game was essentially over at halftime, with the Huskies ahead 24-3. They stretched that to 38-3 as the Broncos’ quarterbacks struggled to take care of the ball.
Starting redshirt junior quarterback Maddux Madsen threw for just 51 yards and two interceptions before leaving the game with an injury at halftime. His backup, redshirt sophomore Max Cutforth, managed 202 passing yards and a touchdown, but also had three interceptions.
Heading into the two-minute warning at the end of the first half, Boise State trailed 17-3 and was beginning a drive deep in its own territory. On the second play of the drive, with Washington rushers bearing down, Madsen threw a high-arcing ball into heavy coverage, and Huskies cornerback Rashawn Clark brought it down.
The Huskies scored just a couple of plays later.
The interception was Madsen’s second of the game, having also thrown a pass directly to Huskies linebacker Xe’ree Alexander late in the first quarter.
Madsen has been right in the middle of Boise State’s inability to beat the best teams the past couple of seasons, as quarterbacks generally are lightning rods. In his five games as a starter against P4 opposition, he has completed just 53.7% of his throws for 738 yards, two touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Danielson stuck right by his quarterback after the game, calling him an “elite competitor.”
“Maddux Madsen is a warrior, and he’s battled through injury all season, from game three to now,” Danielson said. “... I would say a lesser competitor wouldn’t have even tried to play in the game, wouldn’t have even tried to play in the (Mountain West) championship game. But Maddux Madsen is an elite competitor, and that’s our quarterback.”
Madsen, who missed a month with an ankle injury, limped off the field late in the second quarter, and he was on the sideline in the second half.
By the time Cutforth saw the field, Washington had scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, making the score 31-3. That made the offense one-dimensional with Cutforth throwing a lot of passes.
Over the six drives the Broncos had in the second half, Cutforth threw three interceptions, they turned the ball over on downs and punted, and then finally scored when Cutforth connected with redshirt senior tight end Matt Lauter on an 8-yard pass play.
“We just didn’t play well enough, and that’s on me,” Danielson said.
The Broncos’ next chance to get the Power Four monkey off their back comes early next season, when they travel to Eugene to take on Oregon for the second time in three years. It’s currently scheduled as the season opener.
Will Danielson approach that game any differently?
“I’ve got to continue to look at it,” the coach said. “Obviously, tonight, there are a lot of things that were missing. We didn’t execute enough in all three phases to find a way to win.
“But that’s why it’s on me. At the end of the day, our team goes as I go. And going to this game, we have more than enough to win. We didn’t win. There’s no excuses.”
