The nightmare season continued for Boise State football with a 24-17 loss to Air Force on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Following this loss, Boise State has now lost three consecutive home games this season. The last time Boise State did this was in 1996, which was their first year at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). This is also their fourth loss out of the last six games.
“Obviously it is not a good feeling, everybody wants to win,” said redshirt junior receiver Stefan Cobbs when asked about how he feels about the loss. “We played a great team and just have to come out and prepare for the next game. It’s football, things like this happen.”
Photo by Claire Keener | The Arbiter
The first half of the play gave fans the impression that this game would result in a shootout as both offenses found success easily.
The game started off with an eight-yard Boise State touchdown pass from junior quarterback Hank Bachmeier to Cobbs. Air Force responded to this quickly by scoring a rushing touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
The second quarter opened with a 25-yard Air Force rushing touchdown by junior quarterback Haaziq Daniels followed by an 11-yard Boise State rushing touchdown by senior running back Andrew Van Buren. Air Force then scored off of a one-yard rushing touchdown by junior running back Brad Roberts to make the score 21-14 in favor of Air Force heading into halftime.
The third quarter consisted of drives resulting in punts but was highlighted by Boise State turning the ball over on downs in the red zone. This play started off with Boise State missing a player on the field and ended with a gruesome hit on Bachmeier short of the endzone to give the ball back to Air Force on their own three-yard line.
“Yep, there were only 10 players,” said head coach Andy Avalos when asked about the play. “There’s no question of that being a critical error in that situation. Again, that’s my fault. I have got to make sure that there are 11 guys that run on the field.”
The intensity was high in the fourth quarter as both teams still had a good chance to win. The first score of this quarter came from Air Force after scoring off a 28-yard field goal with 2:49 left in the game. Boise State responded with a 37-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Jonah Dalmas leaving the Broncos down seven points.
Boise State attempted an onside kick to try to get the ball back with 49 seconds left. The kick went in favor of Boise State as redshirt junior tight end Riley Smith recovered the onside kick, giving the ball back to the Broncos.
On the very first play after recovering the onside, Bachmeier’s pass was intercepted by Air Force, ending the game with a score of 24-17 in favor of Air Force.
The game came down to Air Force’s running game and Boise State was unable to stop the Falcons running attack all game. Air Force finished the game off with 309 rushing yards after running the ball on 63 of their 68 plays.
“They ran the ball all of the time,” said redshirt junior defensive tackle Scott Matlock. “They were very good at attacking certain defensive calls and formations that we were lined up in.”
Boise State has a bye week next week and will have extra time to regroup and fix their mistakes. Their next game will be in two weeks in Fort Collins, Colorado, against Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 30.
