Like the warm Boise Sun, the Boise State Broncos brought the heat in the second half to score a 36-14 Mountain West Conference victory over Wyoming this afternoon in Bronco Stadium.
The Broncos started out cold, with Luke Anderson grabbing a Kellen Moore pass that fluttered in the heavy wind and returning it 29 yards to get Wyoming on the board on Boise State's first series of the game.
Wyoming would not score again until 42 minutes and 20 seconds later when Josh Doctson hauled in an eight-yard pass from freshman Brett Smith with 7:47 remaining in the game.
In between, Doug Martin ran for 153 yards and two scores to once again go over the 1,000-yard mark (1,038) and Moore rebounded for three TD passes as Boise State dominated the second half. It seemed as if just as the sun warmed the capacity crowd, the Broncos too came out of thawing. And not a minute too soon. The visitors from Laramie, who came into the game tied with Boise State for second place in the conference with a 4-1 record, played inspired football. Senior defensive end Josh Biezuns (6-2, 260) was seen several times getting the best of his Bronco opponent and throwing them down after the play had ended.
Daniel Sullivan kept Wyoming mostly in Boise State's end of the field with great punts, including a 61-yarder and the rugged Cowboy defense held the high-powered Bronco offense in check and it was a defensive struggle for much of the first half. After Aaron Tevis recovered a Smith fumble at the Bronco 12 midway through the quarter, Boise State began to come out of hibernation. Moore proceeded to lead his team on an impressive 17-play, 79-yard drive to tie the score as Doug Martin ran for 23 yards and Harper 22 on the drive. Martin' two-yard dash into the end zone finally got Boise State on the board with 1:10 remaining before halftime.
But it was Boise State's next possession that was the turning point in the game. After the Bronco defense stiffened and forced a punt, Moore and company took over on the Wyoming 47. After an incompletion, Moore avoided an oncoming rusher with one second left in the half and delivered a perfect strike to the end zone. The tipped ball was caught in the end zone by freshman Matt Miller and, although the extra point failed, Boise State took a 13-7 lead into the locker room.
It was a much different story in the second half. The Broncos scored 23 straight points and held a Wyoming offense that was averaging 417 yards per game to 182 for the game. Moore completed 24 of 36 for 279 yards and three scores, with tight ends Kyle Efaw and Gabe Linehan snaring scoring strikes in the second half.
Miller went over 50 receptions for the year (he now has 53) with four catches for 65 yards and the touchdown. Tyler Shoemaker had four catches for 83 yards and Harper was effective out of the backfield with five grabs fr 51 yards.
Boise State advanced to 10-1 on the season with one final regular season game next week. The Broncos are 48-3 in the last four years going into Senior Week against New Mexico next Saturday, far and away the nation's best mark among senior classes.
For his career, Moore now has 14,061 yards passing. That is not only far and away the school record (by over 4,000 yards), but is more than double the number of yards for every Bronco quarterback in school history except five.
Martin blasted past Bronco great Rodney Webster (1980-1983) into fifth place all-time at Boise State. Martin now has 3,170 rushing yards for his incredible career and is behind only Cedric Minter (4,475), Ian Johnson (4,183), Brock Forsey (4,045) and Chris Thomas (3,437). All four of those horses carried the ball often as freshmen while Martin was on the defensive side of the ball his first season at Boise State.
Martin, who had 1,260 yards last season, can once again crack the Top 10 for a single season with 104 yards next weekend. That would tie David Mikell (2003) and Eron Hurley (1998) for 10th. With his two touchdowns today, Martin moved into a tie for 7th all-time with 13 on the season. Doug tied Ian Johnson (2008), Jared Zabransky (2004), Mikell (2003) and Forsey (2001). With his two trips to the end zone today, Martin also passed Mikell for ninth place in career scoring with 240 points.Harper, with 525 rushing yards this season, is 12th all-time for the top total by the team's second-leading rusher and is enjoying his best year.
Efaw is now tied with Terry Heffner (1987-1990) for 25th in career receptions with 95 each. Tim Gilligan (101 catches) is next up the ladder.
Miller, who already has obliterated Austin Pettis's freshman receiving record of 46, is now one catch shy of Titus Young's total for two seasons. Miller is #9 in school history for catches by the end of a sophomore year, and he is, of course, a freshman. Miller needs 54 yards to break Titus Young's record for receiving yards as a freshman. Together, Miller and Shoemaker have 105 catches this fall, and are the ninth-best receiving duo in school history. The trio of Miller, Shoemaker and Mitch Burroughs (39 catches in 2011) is 7th all-time.
Smith finished 17-25 for 78 yards with one interception (on a diving play by Travis Stanaway) for Wyoming. Sam Stratton led the Cowboys with 14 carries for 54 yards and Smith picked up 37 yards on the ground. Dominic Rufran led Wyoming with five catches for 24 yards.
Wyoming (7-4) finishes next week by traveling to Colorado State but appears poised for a bowl game, quite an achievement for the team and head coach Dave Christensen.
