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Boise State survives shootout
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ˇBoise State recorded its first Western Athletic Conference win on Saturday with a 41-34 victory against the high-powered run-and-shoot offense of the University of Hawaii. The Broncos opened a game with a 15-point lead, but the rest of the night was full of twists and turns.
The Bronco offense first found the end zone two and a half minutes into the first quarter on a 3-yard Ian Johnson touchdown run. After forcing a three and out on the first Warrior offensive possession, it only took three plays for the Broncos to march 57 yards and score. Quarterback Jared Zabransky found Jerard Rabb for a 24-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage for Boise State. After a 24-yard scamper by Johnson on the second offensive play of the game, he punched it in from three yards out to take a 7-0 lead.
BSU capitalized next when Hawaii receiver Devone Bess fumbled the ball after a 44-yard catch and run, which was forced by Gerald Alexander and recovered by the Broncos. From there, it took seven plays for BSU to extend its lead to 15-0. Zabransky found Legedu Naanee on a seven-yard pass that Bronco offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin capped off with a fake PAT attempt. The successful two-point conversion gave BSU a 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Hawaii gave its first answer to BSU’s quick offensive strike with an 11-yard touchdown pass from standout quarterback Colt Brennan. The score was the first of five touchdown passes by Brennan for the game. However, Boise State was able to counter with a 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Derek Schouman and a defensive PAT return by Orlando Scandrick after Hawaii’s second botched snap on a point after try. Anthony Montgomery finished the first half scoring with a 32-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the first half, giving BSU a 24-14 half-time lead.
The intermission didn’t slow down either offense, as BSU marched 65-yards down the field on the first offensive drive of the third quarter. Ian Johnson found the end zone for the second time in the game on an 8-yard run just three and a half minutes into the half. Hawaii managed to keep the game close with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Devone Bess.
Hawaii continued to put pressure on the BSU defense throughout the fourth quarter, scoring twice on passes from Brennan. However, a second touchdown catch by Schouman with just less six minutes left in the game put the Broncos out of reach once and for all. Boise State ran the clock out on a fourth down conversion with just over a minute left to play. Ian Johnson broke the Warrior defense one last time on a fourth and one that Johnson broke for 16 yards to finish off the Hawaii rally.
Johnson totaled 178 rushing yards for the game on 29 carries with two rushing touchdowns. It was the third consecutive game Johnson managed to break 100-yards rushing.
Senior quarterback Jared Zabransky threw his first interception of the season, yet still compiled his best outing of the year with a 17-for-29 passing performance for 273 yards. Zabransky’s interception came on a third and goal play from the 27-yard line.
“I thought (Jared) threw the ball very well in practice all week and it really carried over to the game,” Boise State Head Coach Chris Petersen said.
“I know everybody wants (Zabransky) to throw 40 passes a game and I know he wants to throw 40 passes, but that kid’s a winner and he’s doing a great job. He’s doing whatever we ask him to do to win the game. If that means running the ball 50 times a game, he’ll do that and you know there will
be games where we’re more balanced, we like to be balanced, and
I think we were very balanced tonight. And that’s where we think we’re most effective and probably most dangerous.”
As far as slowing down the high-powered Hawaii offense, the Bronco defense refused to get discouraged by its inability to shut down the wide-open Warrior passing attack.
“We knew if we didn’t just put them away early that they’re the type of team that they don’t care if they throw an interception, they don’t care,” BSU running back Ian Johnson said. “They’ll just keep going. They keep hitting big plays, it might only take one play. They’ll throw it deep on first down and 15, they’ll try and get a home run every time so we knew we had to keep putting up points and give our defense something to work with. And we were doing fine with it. We have a high-powered offense and we wanted to show what we can do.”
Senior linebacker Colt Brooks played a less-than-typical game for Boise State, only recording two tackles for the night. However, being played up on the defensive line all game long influenced most of Brooks’ defensive production. Korey Hall led the team in tackles once again, with 13 total and five unassisted.
“It’s difficult. The defense didn’t play as well as, you know, we planned on,” Brooks said. “But you know the offense stuck through for us. We just struggled with certain plays and we were trying to figure them out and they kept us thinking and it was a tough game for the defense. But it’s a good thing the offense was there to stick it through and help us out.”
Boise State travels to the University of Utah Sept. 30 for the Broncos’ last non-conference game of the season. The win over Hawaii may prove to be a crucial one, as many people recognize Hawaii as the biggest threat to a fifth-consecutive WAC championship for Boise State.
“Well it was just a little bit different than I thought it was going to go,” Coach Petersen said.
“You know we always have interesting games with Hawaii. They’re usually kind of high scoring, but I thought it would be more of a defensive struggle. I thought teams would get points on big plays, but it seemed like both offenses were just kind of marching down the field and nobody could stop each other. And I just didn’t predict it going like that."
Jake Garcin
