Weekend Gridiron Wrap.
Boise St. (7-1, 4-0) 34, Fresno St. (5-3, 4-1) 21
With Ian Johnson injured and an amped up Fresno St. team on the opposite sideline, it very well could not have been Boise St.’s night.
But, the Broncos battled back from an early 14-7 deficit by getting big nights from Johnson’s two replacements, which sparked them to a big win over their WAC archrivals.
D.J. Harper ran for 153 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and Jeremy Avery ran for 124 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, and the Broncos defense limited Fresno St.’s own two-headed attack to 89 yards.
BSU took a 7-0 lead on Avery’s first TD, but Fresno St. countered with a Ryan Matthews touchdown run and a 65-yard punt return to take a 14-7 lead. But, Harper went 22 yards for a score to tie it up at 14, and started a run of 24 points in a row for Boise St.. Kyle Brotzmann’s 43-yard field goal put the Broncos up 17-14 at halftime, and Avery scored in both the third and fourth to put Boise up 31-14 before Fresno St. finally scored.
It was a convincing victory for Boise St., and it signaled a warning to Hawaii that the WAC title is anything but a certainty for the Warriors.
Hawaii (8-0, 4-0) 50, New Mexico St. (4-5, 1-3) 13
That’s more like it, Colt.
After a few un-Brennan-like performances, it was business as usual, as he injected some life into his Heisman hopes with a 425-yard, six-touchdown night in a rout of New Mexico St.
Ryan Grice-Mullen was his favorite target, as he caught 13 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns, and Davone Bess caught seven passes for 112 yards and a score, while Jason Rivers added four catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Brennan now has 26 touchdown passes on the season, and is now all alone in second in NCAA history in touchdown passes with 119, two behind Ty Detmer’s 121.
Brennan has a chance to break the record at home, when the Warriors take on Fresno St. in their next game on Nov. 10.
Nevada (4-4, 2-2) 37, Idaho (1-8, 0-5) 21
It looks like Nevada is beginning to peak at the right time.
Luke Lippincott ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns, and Colin Kaepernick threw for 203 yards and another touchdown, as Nevada won its second straight game by knocking off Idaho.
In a matchup of the WAC’s two leading rushers, Lippincott closed in on Deonte Jackson’s lead, outrushing him 119-45, as the Wolf Pack defense shut the Idaho star down.
With the win, Nevada moved into a tie for fourth with San Jose St. and kept themselves in the hunt for bowl consideration.
Louisiana Tech (3-5, 2-3) 31, Utah St. (0-8, 0-4) 21
Daniel Porter and Patrick Jackson both ran for over 100 yards as Louisiana Tech kept Utah St. out of the win column once again.
Porter ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, while Jackson rushed for 101 yards and two scores on 14 carries.
Jackson’s first touchdown, a three-yard run, gave Louisiana Tech a 10-0 after a quarter, before Utah St. drew within three at the half on a 82-yard touchdown pass from Leon Jackson to Jacob Atkinson.
But, Jackson and Porter rushed for touchdowns in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs comfortably ahead before Utah St. tightened the margin with two fourth-quarter scores, sandwiched around Porter’s second score of the game.
This Week’s Schedule
Nevada at New Mexico St.
San Jose St. at Boise St.
Utah St. at Fresno St.
Louisiana Tech at Idaho