Boise State football defeats Colorado State 28-19 after ‘bye week’

The Boise State football team defeated the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colorado, 28-19 on Saturday, Oct. 30. 

After losing to Air Force two weeks ago followed by a “bye week,” Boise State bounced back with a much-needed win against a division rival. They are now 4-4 on the year and 2-2 in conference play.

The Broncos gave fans a spooky scare in the spirit of Halloween by going down 0-13 in the first quarter. 

“Offensively, we started off really slow, but we never waivered,” Avalos said. “They were excited coming out at halftime like we had practiced for the past two weeks. The way the offense finished today is exactly how we practiced.”

The Broncos got their first score off of a 97-yard drive that ended in a 9-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Hank Bachmeier to redshirt senior receiver Octavious Evans. The Rams responded to this touchdown with a 20-yard field goal to make it 7-16 heading into halftime.

“I knew Bachmeier was throwing to me because we had run that play earlier in the first quarter,” Evans said when asked about his touchdown. “He missed me the first time, but this time I could tell in his face that he was saying ‘I am throwing to you.’”

The Broncos dominated the game coming out of halftime. Evans cut the Rams’ lead down to three points with a 13-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter. Boise State also scored off of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bachmeier to redshirt junior receiver Stefan Cobbs. The Broncos outscored the Rams 14-3 in the third quarter of play.

The only score in the fourth quarter was a 51-yard touchdown pass from Bachmeier to redshirt junior tight end Tyneil Hopper. 

According to Boise State Athletics, this was the longest touchdown reception from a Boise State tight end since Nov. 17, 2001, when Jeb Putzier scored on an 80-yard reception against San Jose State.

The Broncos’ offense racked up 253 passing yards and 177 rushing yards for a total of 430 yards throughout the game. 

Their defense gave up a ton of yards, allowing Colorado State to have 381 yards in the game. Regardless, the Bronco defense stayed strong near the goal line and only allowed one Colorado State touchdown.

“Our success in this game started early on in the week,” said redshirt senior Tyreque Jones. “We started with getting our install in and knowing what they were going to do situationally. We were making sure that we are not assuming on the field and when we see a key that we go without hesitation.”

Boise State’s biggest headline of the game was junior safety JL Skinner getting reviewed for his third targeting penalty in three consecutive games. The call against Skinner was confirmed in the Broncos’ game against the Cougars from Brigham Young University (BYU) leading to his ejection, but was overturned against Air Force allowing him to finish the game. 

The call in this game was confirmed, resulting in his second ejection this season due to targeting. Skinner was leading the Mountain West for tackles made this season and was second in the NCAA heading into their game against BYU. He is now seventh in tackles in the Mountain West due to these ejections, which prevented him from finishing games. 

“We have to work on putting down our shoulder pad,” Avalos said when talking about Skinner’s ejection. “It’s hard for him because he is so tall. In these instances, it is very difficult when the ball carrier is low and putting down their shoulder pad level and you are 6’4 and working to create leverage to get some knockback on a positive angle tackle. We still need to work on that with him but there is no way we are going to take his aggressiveness and mentality away.”

Boise State stays on the road next week as they face Fresno State in Fresno, California, on Wednesday, Nov. 6.