Boise State blocks late field goal, survives BYU, 28-27

When BYU lined up to attempt a game-winning field goal with 16 seconds remaining, Boise State nose tackle David Moa was struggling to get his shoe on along the sideline as head coach Bryan Harsin was pleading for someone to help Moa.

"That might have been the most stressful moment in the whole game," Harsin said. "BYU is lining up for a field goal and I can't get my nose tackle out there."

Moa managed to get his shoe on in time before he blocked the Cougars' 44-yard field goal attempt and help Boise State escape with a 28-27 victory Thursday night in a wild finish.

The Broncos (7-0), who won their 23rd straight non-conference home game, overcame five turnovers in the victory. Since 2004, FBS teams that are minus-5 in the turnover category are 9-231.

"I think it shows the will of this team," Boise State linebackerTanner Vallejo said. "We scratched and clawed and were able to get the win. This is a confidence booster for this team."

BYU (4-4) still had another chance to win the game after Rhett Almond's field goal attempt was blocked. The ball didn't cross the line of scrimmage and Mitch Juergens recovered for BYU, giving the Cougars the ball at the Boise State 42 with 8 seconds left.

The Cougars, who beat Boise State on a last-minute Hail Mary play last season, couldn't duplicate the magic on the final play of the game as the ball was knocked down in the end zone.

It was another narrow defeat for BYU, which has lost all four games by a combined eight points.

"We had five turnovers and we were able to take care of the football, which is what kept us in the game," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "When you're ahead 5-0 in the turnover battle, you shouldn't even be in the game. That says a lot about how good this Boise State team is."

Taysom Hill was 21-of-42 passing for 187 yards for BYU, while Squally Canada rushed for 88 yards.

BYU, which was without leading rusher Jamaal Williams due to an ankle injury suffered in practice this week, mustered just 322 yards of offense, well below its 405 yards per game average.

However, it was still almost enough for the upset-minded Cougars.

BYU took a 27-21 lead with 13:33 remaining on a 37-yard field goal by Almond.

Then Boise State's offense came to life for the first time in the second half.

Rypien engineered a 10-play, 90-yard drive that ended in a 4-yard touchdown run by Jeremy McNichols with 10:37 remaining. Tyler Rausa's extra point gave the Broncos a 28-27 lead that withstood BYU's last-minute rally.

Rypien threw for 442 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

McNichols rushed for 140 yards and had 109 yards receiving along with a pair of touchdowns. Thomas Sperbeck also had 109 yards receiving on nine catches, his 11th career game with more than 100 yards receiving.

TAKEAWAYS

BYU: The Cougars have a chance to finish the season strong against a softer schedule that doesn't include any Power 5 schools.

Boise State: The Broncos remain in position to secure a New Year's Six bowl berth if it continues winning and Houston stumbles.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

This game was likely Boise State's last chance to impress Top 25 poll voters in the regular season with a win over a quality opponent. However, the Broncos won't likely move up much in the next poll since the teams directly in front of them are either idle or play weaker opponents.

UP NEXT

BYU: The Cougars take a week off before returning to the road for a game at Cincinnati on Nov. 5.

Boise State: The Broncos will take advantage of the extra couple days to prepare for a road tilt with divisional foe Wyoming next Saturday.

RECORD SETTER

Boise State senior Thomas Sperbeck celebrated his birthday in style by catching a 20-yard pass in the first quarter to become the school's career leader in receiving yards. He surpassed former Detroit Lion receiver Titus Young, who held the previous school record with 3,030 yards. Sperbeck needs 53 receptions to catch all-time leader Matt Miller.

No. 15 Boise State holds off rallying Colorado State, 28-23

Jeremy McNichols suggested just the play to spark Boise State's struggling offense, and then the 15th-ranked Broncos just had to hang on from there.

McNichols' play resulted in an 80-yard touchdown run to break open a tight game, and Boise State withstood a late rally by Colorado State in a 28-23 win Saturday night.

McNichols was untouched on the play, an inside run from a shotgun formation that put the Broncos up 21-3 late in the third quarter.

"We called the play earlier in the game and I almost broke that one," said McNichols, who rushed for a career-high 217 yards and two touchdowns. "So when coach asked me what play to call, I told him we needed to call it again. And he called it."

After the Broncos (6-0, 3-0 Mountain West) took a 28-3 lead early in the fourth quarter, Colorado State (3-4, 1-2) recovered two onside kicks in the final 6 minutes while scoring three straight TDs, cutting the deficit to five with 3:35 left.

The Broncos recovered Colorado State's third onside kick attempt and ran the clock down to 15 seconds before giving the Rams the ball at their own 27. Colorado State advanced the ball to the 40 on a play with multiple laterals, but a review ruled that a forward lateral was made, resulting in a 10-second runoff that ended the game.

"We came in tonight to make it a fourth quarter game," Colorado State coach Mike Bobo said. "It wasn't the kind of fourth quarter game we envisioned, but we did what we had to do to have a chance at the end."

The Rams became the first team to take a lead on Boise State this season when Wyatt Bryan kicked a 39-yard field goal with 7:24 remaining in the first quarter. The score snapped Boise State's FBS school record of 306:36 without trailing.

Colorado State, seeking its first road win of the season, struggled against a stingy defense for most of the game.

However, the night belonged to McNichols, who also set career highs in 34 carries and 264 total yards.

With Boise State's offense sputtering, McNichols scored on runs of 5 and 80 yards to ignite the Broncos. McNichols has three runs of 80 yards or more in his career.

"That was a fight," Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. "There are certainly things to work on. It's hard to win every single week and come out prepared to win every single week. But I'm fired up for our team and how they handled some adversity. Certainly at the end of the game, there are a lot of things we can learn from and coach from."

Brett Rypien was 16-of-24 passing for 207 yards and one touchdown. Thomas Sperbeck led Boise State's receiving corps with five catches for 72 yards and added an 11-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Richardson.

Colorado State quarterback Nick Stevens was 17-of-31 passing for 184 yards and two touchdowns, whileDalyn Dawkins led the Rams on the ground with 66 yards.

THE TAKEAWAY

Colorado State: Despite the loss, the Rams still have a good chance to become bowl eligible with three winnable conference games and a rivalry game with Air Force left on their schedule.

Boise State: The Broncos remain in control of the Mountain Division and primed to return to the conference title game for the first time since 2014. However, they have yet to play Wyoming, which is the only other undefeated team in the division.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Broncos have an opportunity to move up in the AP Top 25 again this week after No. 12 Mississippi lost to 22nd-ranked Arkansas.

TIP OF THE CAP

Late in the first half, Boise State, which honored the 2007 Fiesta Bowl team before the game, ran the Statue of Liberty, the same play the Broncos ran on the game-winning 2-point conversion to beat Oklahoma, 43-42, in the Fiesta Bowl. However, it didn't go as well, resulting in a 3-yard loss.

UP NEXT

Colorado State: The Rams stay on the road for an afternoon conference tilt with UNLV.

Boise State: The Broncos stay home but have a short week to prepare for a Thursday night matchup with nonconference foe BYU.

Rypien throws 5 TD passes, No. 19 Boise State rolls

Boise State expected its receivers to have a big day against New Mexico, and they did.

Brett Rypien threw five touchdown passes - three to Cedrick Wilson and two to Thomas Sperbeck - and No. 19 Boise State overwhelmed New Mexico 49-21 on Friday night.

"We expected a lot of cover zero, man, so we knew if we had the time to throw, we would get open," he said. "It getting a lot easier for us to see the coverages and what's coming and the blitzes. And I think our o-line did a great job picking it up."

The Broncos (5-0, 2-0 Mountain West) scored touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions. New Mexico (2-3, 1-1) scored on its second possession, and didn't reach the end zone again until the midway through the fourth quarter.

Rypien was 21 of 28 for 391 yards. Sperbeck had nine receptions for 198 yards and Wilson had nine catches for 167 yards.

Rypien said it was gratifying to have the two receivers complementing each other.

"We got into a rhythm," Rypien said. "The game plan called for us to make plays. The first four games we relied on Jeremy (McNichols), but we had to step up and we did."

In the last two seasons, Sperbeck has totaled 29 catches and 479 yards receiving against New Mexico. His performance last season wasn't enough to prevent the Lobos' upset, but it was a conference record for yards.

The unexpected loss last season wasn't much of a motivating factor, but it did make the victory feel a little sweeter, according to Sperbeck.

"It is a little bit of factor," he said. "It does feel good to get a win against anybody, obviously. But it feels little better since they beat us last year, but you can't think too much into that. I think we did a great of preparation all week and it showed (Friday)."

It helped that Boise State was stifling New Mexico early.

"When the defense stands its ground like it did (Friday), it takes lot of pressure off the offense," Sperbeck said. "It allows us to operate more smoothly. There's not as much pressure to move the ball down the field. We can take the shots we want."

THE TAKEAWAYS:

Although Boise State downplayed last year's loss to the Lobos was any kind of motivation, the Broncos certainly played like they meant to put New Mexico in its place.

"A lot of guys didn't really like how the Lobos celebrated last year so I think it was kind of a chip on our shoulder for last year," Wilson said. "We played pretty hard."

This was the first game this season that New Mexico did not have a double-digit lead at some point in the game.

The Lobos came into the game having allowed nine scoring plays of 40 or more yards and Boise State added two more to that total.

UP NEXT

Boise State: Hosts Colorado State on Oct. 15. The Broncos have readily handled the Rams in all five meetings since joining the conference. The closest game was 42-30 in 2013. Coming up, Boise State faces BYU at home Oct. 20 in a nationally televised game that could be the Broncos best chance to make a lasting impression against a name opponent - at least until the regular-season finale Nov. 25 against Air Force.

New Mexico: The Lobos travel to Dallas to face Air Force in the Cotton Bowl. For New Mexico, a loss to the Falcons would effectively end its chances at winning the Mountain Division.

KEY NUMBERS

Boise State had 391 yards passing, 368 of those coming in the first half.

"We could have had more if we cut them loose," said Broncos coach Bryan Harsin. "This show could have gone on all night."

New Mexico became the first team this season to top the century mark rushing against the Broncos, totaling 382. Lobos quarterback Lamar Jordan became the first player to rush for 100 yards against Boise State, finishing with 139, but he completed just four passes for 39 yards.

INJURY REPORT

Boise State suffered no injures of note.

New Mexico played the game without leading rusher Teryion Gipson, who injured his hamstring last week against San Jose State. Cornerback Isaiah Brown was lost to a foot injury in the first half. He was replaced by true freshman Elijah Lilly, who Lobos coaches had hoped to redshirt.

LAST WORD

"I tried to just block it out as much as I could and focus on the game," Rypien said, speaking of losing his grandmother Terry Rypien this week. "Now I can go home and focus on family stuff that I need to focus on. It was hard the first part of the week, but having the team around me and the coaches around me made it lot better."

McNichols powers No. 24 Boise State past Utah State, 21-10

Boise State has a long way to go if it wants to crash the New Year's Six bowl party, but the Broncos did what they needed to do Saturday night to check off another win and keep its early-season momentum rolling.

Jeremy McNichols accounted for 226 all-purpose yards, including 132 yards rushing and a 61-yard touchdown reception, to lead No. 24 Boise State to a 21-10 victory over Utah State.

"Having (McNichols) on the field is fantastic," Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien said. "He can do so many different things because he's strong in a lot of different areas."

McNichols' offensive prowess was on full display Saturday night, but he was almost overshadowed by wide receiverCedrick Wilson. Wilson threw a touchdown pass to McNichols and hauled in a 36-yard touchdown pass from Rypien.

The Broncos (4-0, 1-0) led 7-3 at halftime before taking control in the second half with a pair of touchdown passes byBrett Rypien and a stout defensive performance.

"I think there were some demons we needed to exorcise, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and we did that," Boise State coach Brian Harsin said, whose team lost 52-26 last season to Utah State. "But when your defense plays well, that's always exciting. I certainly get fired up when we play well on defense like we did tonight."

McNichols, who was named the Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week for his performance against Oregon State, continued to power the Broncos.

His 61-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Wilson gave Boise State a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter, Boise State turned to McNichols to grind out the clock and secure the victory.

Utah State (2-3, 0-2) didn't get the help it received last season in its win over the Broncos when Boise State committed eight turnovers.

"I thought our defense played well, but the culture around Utah State now is that we gave up too many points," Aggies coach Matt Wells said.

Utah State failed to score on Boise State's lone turnover when it recovered a muffed punt at the Broncos 25. After the Aggies' offense stalled in the red zone, Brock Warren pushed a 32-yard field goal attempt wide left just on the final play of the half.

"What hurts you is you miss that field goal and you know it's going to come back to haunt you," Wells said. "And sure enough, it came back to haunt us."

With leading rusher Devante Mays out with a right knee injury, Utah State struggled to mount any sustained drives on offense. The Aggies were held well below their 26.2 points per game average and narrowly avoided their first game without a touchdown since 2012.

TAKEAWAYS

Utah State: The Aggies will have to readjust their goals in Mountain West Conference play moving forward. Back-to-back losses to division front runners Air Force and Boise State along with a remaining tilt with San Diego State puts a serious dent in Utah State's hopes of emerging out of the Mountain Division and playing in the conference title game.

Boise State: The Broncos took a big step toward solving their second-half woes, which has been a point of emphasis for Harsin. Against both Washington State and Oregon State, Boise State was outscored in the second half and struggled to maintain its big lead. But against Utah State, the Broncos surrendered only one drive of more than four plays and outscored the Aggies 14-7 in the second half.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Playing in its first game since cracking the Top 25 for the first time this season, Boise State looks to rise this week after five of the seven teams directly ahead of them lost. The Broncos will likely also become the highest-ranked Mountain West team after No. 19 San Diego State lost to South Alabama.

UP NEXT

Utah State: The Aggies stay on the road to face division foe Colorado State on Saturday.

Boise State: The Broncos have a shortened week to get ready for a divisional road game at New Mexico on Friday.

COSTLY TARGET

Utah State's Anthony Williams was ejected for targeting near the end of the third quarter after hitting Boise State punt returner Akilian Butler as he was preparing to catch the ball. The officials on the field initially flagged Williams for kick-catch interference, but the replay official reviewed the play and ruled it more egregious.

Boise State uses big first half to beat Oregon State 38-24

 Jeremy McNichols ran for 208 yards and scored four touchdowns and Boise State is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2011 after a 38-24 win Saturday over Oregon State.

McNichols did most of his damage in the first half, as the junior running back ran for 146 yards and touchdowns of 5, 6 and 70 yards, and caught a 6-yard scoring pass.

Brett Rypien completed 19 of 36 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown for the Broncos, who won their fourth consecutive game against a Pacific-12 opponent, and their second this season.

The Broncos' offense accumulated 512 yards, but only 77 after halftime. Oregon State, held to 67 yards during the first half, finished with 287.

"I thought their mindset coming off a bye week was really good," Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. "We walk out of here with a lot of things we need to improve on, and we have a W along with that."

Both teams scored on their opening drive, as Oregon State (1-2) tied the game at 7 on a 14-yard run by Ryan Nall. But the Broncos ran over the Beavers from there, holding OSU to 41 yards on its final six first-half drives, while scoring 24 consecutive points to take a 31-7 halftime lead.

Boise State took a 14-7 lead on a 6-yard run by McNichols with 5:23 left in the first quarter, then sat on that advantage for nearly a quarter before scoring 17 points during the final seven minutes of the first half.

"He was angry out there," Harsin said of McNichols. "On that long run, I didn't see him, he just squirted out of there and he was gone. That's the offensive line, that's the tight end, that's J-Mac. That's what we're capable of doing."

OSU quarterback Darell Garretson was 11 of 16 for 53 yards, but was benched after a half in favor of Conor Blount. The freshman walk-on gave the Beavers a spark, as Oregon State scored 10 third-quarter points to cut the deficit to 31-17.

Darren Lee's 19-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Boise State offset a 99-yard kickoff return by OSU's Victor Bolden during the fourth quarter.

It was Boise State's first win in four tries at Oregon State. The Broncos have yet to trail in a game this season.

THE TAKEAWAY

BOISE STATE: The win should put the Broncos in a strong position to crack next week's AP Top 25 and add to their streak of 14 consecutive years where they have spent at least one week in the rankings. Boise State's schedule sets up well for one of its best starts in years, as the Broncos play three of their next four games at home.

Beating back-to-back Pac-12 teams is more mindset than talent, Lee said.

"Everyone we play is talented, everyone's got skill, but at the end of the day, you have to have that mentality. If you're not willing to go out and put it down on the line every play, that's the difference," Lee said.

OREGON STATE: The Beavers, coming off their first win in 11 games last Saturday against Idaho State, now head into Pacific-12 Conference play, where OSU has lost 11 consecutive games. Oregon State will have much to fix on defense, after giving up 435 yards and 21 first downs during the first half to Boise State. The Beavers offense wasn't much help, after managing just 41 yards on their final six drives of the first half.

"It was an absolute beat down in the first half. The kids fought and battled back and did some good things. But you cannot trick yourself into wins against good teams. We have to be able to execute, sustain tempo and sustain drives," Oregon State coach Gary Andersen said.

UP NEXT

BOISE STATE: The Broncos open Mountain West Conference play at home against Utah State next Saturday. Last year, Utah State beat Boise State 52-26, the Broncos' most one-sided MWC loss in school history.

OREGON STATE: The Beavers hit the road for their Pacific-12 Conference opener at Colorado next Saturday. The Buffaloes opened league play Saturday at Oregon.

Boise State holds on late for 31-28 win over Washington St

 On the verge of another win over a Pac-12 team on its home field, Boise State nearly crumbled in the final minutes.

Fortunately the Broncos did enough over the first three quarter to hold on.

Jeremy McNichols rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns, Tyler Hortonreturned his first career interception 85 yards for a touchdown and Boise State held on in the fourth quarter for a 31-28 win over Washington State on Saturday night.

Brett Rypien threw for 299 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown to Thomas Sperbeck, but was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter, giving Washington State chances until the final play when Luke Falk's desperation heave was batted down.

Boise State (2-0) won its 34th straight regular season non-conference home game, knocking off the last out of conference team to win on "The Blue."

"We did not face adversity in our first game. ... We got a chance to do that tonight," Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said.

Falk was 55-of-71 passing for 480 yards and four touchdowns, but it took three quarters before he could beat the Broncos throwing downfield, hittingTavares Martin Jr. on a 50-yard TD late in the third quarter that pulled the Cougars within 24-14. Rypien quickly answered, completing three straight passes for 68 yards before McNichols' second touchdown run pushed the Broncos lead 31-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

That proved to be enough - barely.

"There were definitely some uncharacteristic mistakes I made tonight," Rypien said. "But we won. We're 2-0."

Falk rallied in the fourth quarter, throwing touchdown passes of 14 yards - on fourth down - to Jamal Morrow and hitting Gabe Marks on a 33-yard TD with 4:17 left right after Rypien was intercepted to pull within 31-28. Washington State got the ball back with a minute remaining after poor clock management by the Broncos, but the Cougars had their own problems with the clock and settled for Falk's final throw that fell short.

Leach ripped into his team's toughness after the loss, saying the Cougars outplayed Boise State in every other category.

"We outperformed them in a ton of different ways but we're not tough enough," Leach said. "And as a football team we have to get (a lot) tougher and right now we're not very tough."

Washington State (0-2) was trying to match what it did in 2001 when the Cougars won 41-20 in Boise and rebound from being stunned by FCS power Eastern Washington in last week's opener. But the Cougars got off to an awful start with Falk getting intercepted on their opening drive deep in Boise State territory and watching Horton manage to stay inbound and sprint 85 yards to give the Broncos the early lead.

It was the first of six drives by the Cougars that reached Boise State territory and failed to end in points. The Cougars had a field goal attempt blocked, punted twice and turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Broncos half of the field, the last coming when Morrow was stuffed on fourth-and-1 at the 46 with 5:12 remaining.

TAKEAWAYS

Washington State: Any momentum from last year's nine wins and a bowl victory is gone for the Cougars. They were able to rebound a year ago after losing to FCS Portland State in the opener by winning at Rutgers, but an 0-2 start this year may be difficult to overcome with the upcoming schedule.

Boise State: The Broncos remembered how to win at home. Boise State lost its final two home games of last season, the first time losing consecutive home games since 1997. They made sure it wasn't three straight.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Broncos were on the edge of cracking the Top 25 last week. There's a chance the Broncos could slide in this week, although the fourth quarter rally by Washington State may have taken away some votes. Either way, if the Broncos can win at Oregon State in two weeks, they should be able to break through at that point.

UP NEXT

Washington State: The Cougars close out their non-conference schedule as Idaho makes the 8-mile trip across the state border to face the Cougars.

Boise State: The Broncos get the week off before facing a second straight Pac-12 school, traveling to Oregon State on Sept. 24.

LAST WORD

"It was a good test for us. It was nice to be able to see what we're made of early," Boise State linebacker Ben Weaversaid.

Boise State rolls past Louisiana-Lafayette 45-10

Brett Rypien was 22 of 33 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns, and Boise State cruised to a 45-10 season opening win over Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday.

It was Rypien's sixth career 300-plus yard outing - with Boise State winning all six contests.

Thomas Sperbeck, Cedric Wilson, and Jeremy McNichols each caught touchdown passes, adding 130, 113, and 98 yards receiving, respectively. McNichols also had two rushing touchdows and Sperbeck threw for a TD.

The Broncos scored the first 35 points, including a 48-yard trick play pass from Sperbeck to McNichols. A Stevie Artigue field goal for Louisiana-Lafayette made it 35-3 at halftime. The Ragin Cajuns scored their lone touchdown early in the fourth, when Anthony Jennings found Keenan Barnes from 11-yards out.

Jennings finished with 186 yards passing for Louisiana-Lafayette. Elijah McGuire had 46 yards rushing and Ja'Marcus Bradley caught three balls for 50 yards.