The television gods may have prevented any scoreboard watching until the end but No. 19 Boise State certainly stated their case to earn the Group of Five bid on Saturday afternoon after thumping Hawaii 31-10 in the Mountain West Championship Game.
The Broncos avenged last year’s loss in the game (to Fresno State) on the Blue Turf by turning in an impressive all-around effort to remain perfect in MWC play in 2019, netting a second title in the past three seasons in the process.
QB Jaylon Henderson, the third-stringer who has come on under center down this stretch run for the team, was impressive after a slow start and wound up throwing for 220 yards and two touchdowns (one interception). The signal-caller was quite the threat with his legs as well in rushing for 51 yards and one John Elway-esque goal line spin into the end zone after getting hit by two defenders late in the third quarter.
That touchdown was part of a run of 31 consecutive points for BSU to take firm control of the contest, which spoke to the offense shifting into high gear and the defense continuing to play stellar. Linebacker Riley Whimpey was a tackling machine and all over the field while Demitri Washington led a pass rush that was a constant disruptor behind him and fellow end Curtis Weaver.
The Rainbow Warriors played much better in their second trip to Idaho than they did in this year’s earlier meeting, a 59-37 turnover-filled effort. Cole McDonald was less prolific than usual in throwing for 241 yards and also tossed a pick as the offense was unable to move the chains much on third down. Miles Reed was a bright spot out of the backfield with 87 yards rushing but it was just too little and too late as missed chances doomed the visitors from the islands in a game where they had to play near perfect to emerge with their first ever win on the most famous home field in college football.
As for Boise State, all that’s left for them to do is celebrate and wait the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s decision on Sunday as to who earns the Cotton Bowl berth as the Group of Five selection. They certainly have made life difficult for the group assembled in a conference room in North Texas, having beaten Florida State to start the season while suffering their only loss to BYU on the road with one of their backup quarterbacks.
Who knows if that’s enough to slide past the AAC champion or a 12-1 Appalachian State that had their own impressive conference title victory earlier in the day but for now, the Broncos will focus mostly on just lording over the Mountain West once again.
