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Broncos suffer second loss of season
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Boise State at Oregon State Photos by Stanley Brewster/the arbiter
The Broncos now find themselves somewhere where they haven't been since 2001.
This is the first 0-2 start to a season since Dan Hawkins inaugural year as the Boise State head coach.
The game ran all too familiar to the beginning of last season-on the flip side.
In 2004, it was Oregon State losing to an SEC team (LSU) on the road, and needed to jump right back in to play BSU in Bronco Stadium.
Saturday, it was the Broncos that were coming off a loss to a SEC team (Georgia) and needed to play the Beavers in Reser Stadium.
Last year, Oregon State jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first half, only to watch BSU get the victory.
Saturday, it was BSU that jumped early, but watched the game slip away.
The Broncos took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Electing to take the ball first, just like the Broncos did versus Georgia the week before.
This time the Broncos used five straight run plays to open the game, opening up for a 34-yard strike from Jared Zabransky to Drisan James for the early 7-0 score.
The next drive for Boise State, Zabransky (19-36, 233 yards, 3 TD) found junior wide receiver Jerard Rabb for the 6-yard fade route for the 14-0 score. Rabb finished the night with 4 catches for 41 yards and two touchdowns.
Boise State attempted a 4th and 5 from the Oregon State 25, with the lead still at 14-0 in the first quarter, but Zabransky's pass to former Beaver Cole Clasen fell incomplete.
The Beavers took advantage, and scored on a 51-yard run by Yvenson Benson (13 carries, 94 yards, 2 TD). Untouched, the senior running back took it the distance to bring the score to 14-7 with just two seconds remaining in the first quarter.
After a three-and-out, the Broncos recovered a fumbled punt return. Last week, Jeff Carpenter recovered a punt return against Georgia. Saturday it was freshman Ellis Powers who came up with the ball.
The Broncos were unable to capitalize on the turnover as Jared Zabransky was sacked on the Bronco 9-yard line to set up a 36-yard punt by Kyle Stringer.
With the ball on the Broncos 31, the Boise State defense held OSU to a field goal attempt. The holder fumbled the snap and the Broncos recovered the ball at the 26. The Broncos were still up 14-7.
After a 27-yard run by Ian Johnson, plus a personal foul called on Naymon Frank, the Broncos had 1st and 10 at the 17. Johnson led the Broncos with 74 yards rushing.
The drive ended in Anthony Montgomery’s first field goal attempt as a Bronco. The junior college transfer kicked it right down the middle to give BSU a 17-7 lead.
Hail began to fall during the second quarter. It came down so hard that it left a white blanket on the field.
The ensuing drive for Oregon State put the Beavers within three as Bernard found the end zone for the 5-yard score.
The drive was highlighted by a 47-yard strike from Matt Moore to Mike Hass (11 catches, 178 yards, 1 TD) down to the five. Hass was triple covered, but was able to pull down the ball despite the fact that Gerald Alexander had an easy look at the interception. Bernard scored on the next play.
The Broncos got the ball back with just under three minutes to play in the first half after Quinton Jones returned the kickoff 51 yards.
As the clock ticked down to two seconds on the clock, Boise State called a timeout, in what looked like a set up for a short field goal. Montgomery came out on the field, but then the offense took the line and Zabransky attempted the fade to Rabb to the right side of the end zone.
"I thought we could get behind (cornerback Keenan Lewis) on the fade. But he made a good play. He was definitely buckling up his chin strap when the play started, so we are going to take that shot 10 out of 10 times and we are going to get that the majority of the time," Zabransky said.
The Broncos were successful on the same play to take the early 14-0 lead in front a Reser Stadium record crowd of 42,876 sold tickets, despite the fact that there were over 1,000 empty seats throughout the stadium.
Unlike the score in the first quarter, the pass was broken up by Lewis in the end zone to end the half.
The second half started out in the Broncos favor. This time Wright fumbled the kickoff and Chad McKibben recovered for Boise State.
Five plays later, Zabransky found Rabb again for the fade route in the end zone to make it 24-14.
For the first time, a special teams mishap went the Beavers way. Kyle Stringer’s punt was blocked and the Beavers recovered the ball on the Boise State 25.
Following a defensive stand that was highlighted by the second sack of the game by Alex Guerrero, Alexis Serna made a 40-yard field goal.
Zabransky continued his inability to hold on to the ball as he fumbled the snap on third and one and the Beavers recovered the ball at the 40.
Oregon State drove to the 10, but after an illegal procedure on the offense and a Colt Brooks sack, the Beavers settled for a 32-yard field goal by Serna to make it 24-20 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter.
Quinton Jones continued to dominate on the kick return as he went 43 yards on the return to give Boise State the ball at the 45. The first play was a 35-yard pass to Clasen (3 catches, 52 yards) from Zabransky.
The Broncos finished the drive with a 36-yard field goal by Montgomery to give the Broncos a seven-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Beavers stormed back with a 12-play, 74-yard drive with Hass taking in the 22-yard pass to tie the score up at 27 with just under 10 minutes left in the game. Three straight three-and-out drives for both teams left Oregon State with the ball and 5:34 left to play.
A 12-play, 48-yard drive came to an end on a 40-yard field goal by Serna, giving the Beavers a 30-27 lead with just over a minute left.
Starting on the Boise State 14, Zabransky completed just one play and ran twice to get to the 41-yard line with just seconds remaining on the clock. Unable to get the line set for a spike to force a fourth down, Zabransky threw an incompletion to Rabb.
"At that point we kind of needed to line up and get going because we were probably going to kill the clock right there with not even getting the throw off," Hawkins said.
Trevor Horn
Sports Editor
