In a game that will be forever remembered as the first “Black Out” in Boise State history, the Broncos made an impressive showing in a win over conference foe UNLV.
The Broncos (6-1, 3-0 MWC) defeated the Rebels (1-7, 1-2 MWC) 32-7 on Saturday afternoon and kept pace with Nevada in the conference standings as the two look prime for a season-ending showdown to decide the Mountain West Conference champion.
The Broncos defense once again proved to be too much for their opponents as they held UNLV to 210 total yards and just 71 through the air. For the fifth straight game the Broncos’ defense did not allow a single point in the first half with the Rebels only score coming off a fumble recovery returned 30 yards for a touchdown.
The Broncos defense now ranks 11th in the country in points per game allowed with just 14.7 per contest. “I think we just had a great game plan out there”, Jamar Taylor said, “We just flew around and just tried to make the best out of the oppurtunities.”
Taylor, a senior cornerback, had a very impressive showing for the Broncos with a career high nine tackles and two forced fumbles, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Jerrell Gavins.
“They’re playing great, we’re so proud of them”, head coach Chris Petersen said. “I really think the seniors that are out there, are taking the next step we’ve been talking about and I think they’re being coached really well.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Broncos seemed to be in much more of a rhythm on Saturday. “We did a great job preparing this week”, redshirt junior quarterback Joe Southwick said, “We had an idea of what they were going to do to us on defense and we came out and executed pretty nicely.”
Southwick, starting in just his seventh game, went 22-30 for 243 yards and zero touchdowns to one interception. The Broncos spread the ball around well on Saturday with nine different players catching a pass and senior Chris Potter hauling in a career-high four catches.
While the Broncos only picked up 137 yards rushing, the ground game was highlighted by redshirt senior D.J. Harper’s two rushing touchdowns to give him eight on the year and with his seventh, passed Jared Zabransky on the Boise State all-time rushing touchdown list with 32 now in his career.
At the end of the day, the “Black Out” talk was still the popular discussion.
“At some point in the game I took a step back and it was great.” Joe Southwick said, “It was cool. It was a great environment; it was fun to play football today.”
While Coach Petersen didn’t want the “Black Out” to be a distraction to his team, he was excited on how it all turned out.
“Yeah that black out was great, it was awesome. Interesting to see from the sideline.” Coach Petersen said. “I’ve been here a long time and it was a strange look. But I liked it, it was good, I hope the fans liked it and I know our players loved it.”
The Broncos head on the road next weekend to Laramie, Wyo. to take on the Cowboys of Wyoming. The Broncos will look to carry their momentum into next week and pick up their fourth conference win.
