The streak is over

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Exactly four years to the day it all began. On Nov. 10, 2001, Boise State defeated Hawaii on the road to begin the longest conference winning steak in the history of the Western Athletic Conference.

On Nov. 10, 2005, the streak ended.

Boise State misfired on offense and allowed 27 unanswered points to Fresno State as the Broncos were beat by the Bulldogs 27-7 at Bulldog Stadium Thursday night.

“It’s really, really tough, especially being a senior to see it come down to an end. I know it’s always got to come down to it. Someone has got to lose,” senior running back Lee Marks said. Marks finished with a team-high six carries for 35 yards. But Marks fumbled the ball late in the second half to set up a Fresno State field goal.

“I know myself, I didn’t do a great job and I put this blame on myself because I fumbled,” Marks said. “That just wasn't the way a senior is supposed to do things. I will make sure that won’t happen again.”

There was a monkey on the back of Fresno State head coach Pat Hill and Bulldog senior quarterback Paul Pinegar. Fresno State had jumped to the No. 8 in the national rankings in 2001 before Boise State upset the Bulldogs, igniting the beginning of dominance for Boise State in the WAC.

Fresno State seemed to rise to every challenge possible, going with the mentality of anyone, anytime, anywhere-but the Bulldogs had one thing against them-a win against three-time defending WAC champion Boise State.

Until Thursday night.

“It was a great win to give Boise State a taste of their own medicine,” Pinegar said, who completed 22 of 36 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Pinegar passed David Carr as the all-time Fresno State leader in touchdown passes.

“Pinegar passed David Carr as the all-time Fresno State leader in touchdown passes,” Hawkins said.

Boise State jumped out quickly. On the second play of the game, running back Jeff Carpenter scampered down the field 67 yards for the score just 47 seconds into the game.

The stadium fell silent, but so did the Boise State offense following that play.

The Broncos were shut out for the final 59 minutes, and 13 seconds.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get back to more of that,” head coach Dan Hawkins said.

Pinegar came out on the ensuing drive and completed three of his first four passes. On second and eight at the BSU 27, Fresno State ran a wide receiver reverse to Paul Williams. Nearly seven yards behind the line of scrimmage, Williams appeared to be tackled, but got away from the Bronco defender and took the ball for a 12-yard run. The next play, running back Wendell Mathis rushed up the middle for a 15-yard score, tying the game up at seven.

The Bulldogs went up 14-7 on the first of two touchdown passes from Pinegar to Williams for 29 yards.

Three drives later, Kyle Stringer booms a punt down to the 2-yard line, pinning the Bulldogs deep. Mathis rushes for two yards. A false start and the Bulldogs are back on the two. Pinegar then ran a play-action pass to Williams for 98 yards, and shifted the momentum directly in the arms of the Bulldogs.

“That was definitely a momentum killer for us,” linebacker Korey Hall said. “Here we have them on the (two)-yard line and a chance to get a safety and then they run play action. It wasn’t like our guy was out of position, we just got to make those plays.”

Williams finished with a career-high 149 yards receiving and the two scores.

“Paul Williams was a freak (Thursday night.) He showed up and made it easy for me. All I had to do was get the ball in his hands,” Pinegar said.

Fresno State scored 10 more points in the second quarter to take 27-7 lead into the half.

“My hats off to their staff and their team, they out coached us and outplayed us. We couldn’t make a play when we needed it,” Hawkins said.

Neither team scored in the second half.

The Boise State defense shut down Pinegar in the second half. After passing for 251 yards in the first half, Pinegar threw for just 56 yards after halftime with no touchdowns and an interception.

“Second half we came out with a little more fire and tried to catch up and play better, but overall we needed to come out ready to go and that was something we didn’t get done,” Hall said.

Despite keeping the Bulldogs from adding to the lead in the second half, the Boise State offense was unable to capitalize on an interception by Gerald Alexander in the third quarter as Fresno State continued to control the clock throughout the game.

The Bulldogs ran 45 plays in the first half, compared to just 20 by Boise State.

Boise State never started a drive in Fresno State territory as the Bulldogs had three drives begin inside the 50-yard line.

“They did a great job, they really did. They made plays when they had to make them and a lot of guys made great plays,” Hawkins said.

The Broncos had opportunities to come back in the second half.

Following a drive where Boise State tried on fourth and short on their own 31 and failed, Fresno State had the ball on the one-yard line and the Broncos stuffed the quarterback sneak to retain possession.

“We just knew it was coming,” linebacker Colt Brooks said.

Boise State was able to drive the ball from deep in their own territory as Zabransky completed two straight passes to Jerard Rabb for 33 yards to the Fresno State 46. On just his second carry of the game, Carpenter rushed down the field 28 yards to the 18-yard line, but a holding call on Derek Schouman negated the play.

Boise State failed on fourth-and-20 four plays later.

“Just seemed like we were a little off,” Zabransky said. Zabransky was just 15 of 32 for 190 yards and two interceptions. “Early balls were just out of receivers reach and a couple penalties hurt us. Just wasn’t clicking for us. Just an off night.”