WAC Football & Basketball blog

The WAC dropped to 0-2 in the bowl season with Boise St.’s last-second 41-38 loss to East Carolina in Sunday’s Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Ben Hartman’s 34-yard field goal on the last play of the game won it for East Carolina and capped off a dramatic final two minutes, when the Pirates appeared to have it all but sewn up, but wound up needing Hartman’s heroics.

Boise St.’s offense got off to a slow start, due in part to star running back Ian Johnson being limited by injury, and their only highlight of the first quarter-plus was Austin Smith’s 89-yard kickoff return that gave them a 7-3 lead, which would turn out to be their only lead of the night.

In the meantime, East Carolina produced fireworks upon fireworks in the first half, with their own Johnson having a big first half. Chris Johnson ran for a 68-yard touchdown to put the Pirates up 10-7 in the first quarter, and then in the second quarter had a 46-yard run to step up his own 18-yard touchdown reception, which put ECU up 24-7.

After the Broncos pulled within 24-14, a fumble by Ian Johnson late in the quarter resulted in another ECU touchdown and a 31-14 halftime lead.

But, the Broncos put that tough first half behind them and made a comeback in the final 30 minutes, giving themselves a chance at overtime.

The second half didn’t get off to a great start, as ECU picked up where they left off in the first half and scored on their opening drive to go up 38-14.

But, the Broncos made it 38-31 with seven minutes to go on D.J. Harper’s 1-yard touchdown run, and after forcing a three-and-out, marched down the field towards a potential tying score.

However, on 3rd and 9 from the Pirates’ 23, Titus Young fumbled on a reception, turning it over to the Pirates, and seemingly sealing the deal, with less than two minutes left on the clock.

But, on second down, Chris Johnson fumbled, and Marty Tadman returned it 48 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

But, the Broncos’ heroics from last season’s Fiesta Bowl weren’t going to be repeated.

Johnson atoned for his first fumble of the season by returning the kickoff 30 yards to the 39, and then, on 3rd and 8, Rob Kaas completed a 36-yard pass to Jamar Bryant to get ECU in position for the game-winning field goal, and Hartman connected to break Boise hearts.

Chris Johnson was named the game’s MVP, as a result of his 408 all-purpose yards (223 rushing, 32 receiving, 153 kickoff return) and two touchdowns.

Taylor Tharp threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns for the Broncos, who finished their season 10-3. East Carolina won their first bowl game since 2000, and finishes their season 8-5.

Before Hawaii can get ready for their pivotal clash with Boise St., the Warriors (9-0, 6-0) have to get past a huge obstacle on Friday night, as they travel to Nevada, where they haven’t won in three previous tries.

Nevada’s chances for the upset are more than fair, as the Wolf Pack (5-4, 3-2) come into the game on a hot streak, with three straight wins, and with a rising star in dual-threat QB Colin Kaepernick and the WAC’s leading rusher in Luke Lippincott, have the offense to keep up with Colt Brennan and Hawaii.

Brennan was cleared to play in Friday’s game after getting a concussion (fortunately, that was all that it was, because it didn‘t look pretty at all) in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 37-30 win over Fresno St. If he has any issues, the Warriors have a reliable backup to turn to in Tyler Graunke, who started against Charleston Southern and has seen action in a number of other games.

If Nevada can pull off the upset, it would make them bowl-eligible, and greatly help their bowl chances. The WAC has only three guaranteed berths, and Fresno St. (6-4, 5-2) seems locked into that third spot, but the Wolf Pack would look pretty attractive to one of the bowls who might need to find a replacement for one of their conference tie-ins that don’t get enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their slots.

If Hawaii wins, it will keep their BCS hopes alive heading into next week’s showdown with the Broncos, which will not only decide the WAC champion, but potentially if the conference will have a BCS representative for the second straight season.

The Broncos (9-1, 6-0) appear to have a much easier task ahead of them this week, as they host in-state rival Idaho, who’s 1-9 overall and winless in conference play at 0-6. BSU has been scoring a lot of points lately, but now that Ian Johnson is back and healthy, that makes their offense all the more difficult to slow down.

In the other two games on the schedule, San Jose St. (4-6, 3-3) travels to Louisiana Tech (4-6, 3-3) in a battle for fifth place, and New Mexico St. (4-7, 1-5) looks to keep 0-10 (and 0-6 in WAC play) Utah St. out of the win column in an all-Aggie battle in Las Cruces on Saturday. San Jose St. QB Adam Tafralis will try to reach career marks of 7,000 yards and 50 touchdowns (he’s currently at 6,837 yards and 49 touchdowns in his four seasons at SJSU), while New Mexico St.’s Chase Holbrook will look to reach the 8,000 yard and 60 touchdown mark (he’s currently at 7,795 yards and 58 touchdowns in two seasons)