The young Boise State Broncos rode into hostile
territory and wore down a determined and confident San Jose State team 33-16 tonight
in Spartan Stadium in a nationally-televised game by ESPN2. Coach Chris Petersen’s team, sporting one of
the youngest starting units in all of college football, emerged with an
important road win over the first-place team in the Western Athletic
Conference. The Broncos won for the
seventh time without a loss this season and moved their WAC record to 49-2 over
their last 51 conference games.
Even more important, an offensive line that starts
one sophomore and two freshmen controlled the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter when the
game was on the line. Tailback Jeremy Avery piled up 96 yards on 21 carries and Ian Johnson’s two touchdowns allowed
him to break Brock Forsey’s school record of 50 career rushing TD’s. Leading 23-16, Offensive Coordinator Bryan
Harsin put the game on the shoulders of the offensive line and they came
through, leading a 12-play six-minute drive that resulted in a 31-yard Kyle Brotzman field goal. Then, after the
Bronco defense held San Jose State on a three-and-out, the line opened huge holes for Avery and Johnson on
seven consecutive running plays that netted 55 yards and the clinching score by
Johnson.
Jeremy Childs blocked a punt to set up one Johnson
TD and made an amazing athletic play to grab a touchdown pass from Kellen Moore. Rapidly improving Austin Pettis
also made a nice grab of his own from Moore, who finished by
hitting 26-of-40 passes for 244 yards.
Give huge credit to the Bronco defense as
well. The unit that came into the game
second only to USC in scoring defense (allowing 10.7 points per game) allowed
just one touchdown on a fourth-and-one breakaway play and a field goal. The Spartans scored their other touchdown on
a 62-yard interception return by Justin Cole.
Coach Dick Tomey’s
Spartans were led by Brandon Rutley who scored the
60-yard rushing touchdown with leading rusher Yonus Davis bottled up all night
(9 carries for 24 yards). Quarterback
Kyle Reed hit 16-of-29 passes for 105 yards.
San Jose State slipped to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play with the loss.
Boise State is in a stretch where they must play four out of five games away from
home. The Broncos head to Las
Cruces, New Mexico next
Saturday for a battle with New Mexico
State.