Following last season’s Las Vegas Bowl, I opined that what former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore brought to the game of football -- his intelligence, mostly -- was going to be far more appreciated once he had moved on.
There was perhaps no better example of that loss in this young 2012 season than what happened Thursday night when No. 24 Boise State survived an ugly 7-6 win over BYU. It was bittersweet in a way. On one hand, it was the second time the Broncos have been held without an offensive touchdown this season (the other time being a 17-13 season-opening loss to No. 13 Michigan State). On the other, BSU defensive tackle Michael Atkinson intercepted a Riley Nelson pass and ran it 36 yards for a FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN!!!
But Boise State’s offense, like BYU’s, was stagnant the entire evening. While each defense deserves credit there, it also goes to show just how much the Broncos lost on offense outside of Moore. Boise won the turnover battle 5-0 and could only convert one into points. There were mistakes all evening. Both teams had eight penalties for nearly identical yardage and neither had much success converting third downs. Boise’s kicking game is still lacking too. Broncos place kicker Michael Frisina missed a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter and never got another chance; Chris Petersen opted for five fourth-down attempts the rest of the game (of which he converted zero).
Incidentally, Boise won tonight’s game because BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall opted for the two-point conversion (which failed) after backup quarterback Taysom Hill ran in from the 4-yard line for a touchdown with under four minutes to play.
It was an overall defensive struggle, but the miscues were glaring. While trying to run down the clock, Broncos quarterback Joe Southwick snapped the ball on a second-and-10 with seven seconds still left on the play clock and completed a pass to Holden Huff, who went out-of-bounds. Boise got the first down on the play, and that about finished the game, but Petersen looked like he was going to lose his mind. Two plays later, Southwick called a timeout.
When the clock hit all zeroes, Petersen unhooked his headset and said one word that was recognizable by lip reading:
“Unbelievable.”
