Boise State contains No. 1 rushing attack, rides ‘best defense in the conference’ to win

A Mountain West championship seemed like the loftiest of goals for the Boise State football team just a month ago.

A loss to 15-point underdog UTEP, the firing of offensive coordinator Tim Plough and quarterback Hank Bachmeier’s decision to transfer threatened to derail the Broncos’ season in its entirety.

Now that all feels like a distant memory.

Boise State earned its third straight victory Saturday, jumping ahead 16-0 and holding off a rally to beat Air Force 19-14 in Colorado. Just a month after what could have been a season-defining loss to the Miners, the Broncos are in ideal position to get a record fourth outright Mountain West title.

The Broncos (5-2, 4-0 MW) are the last remaining team in the Mountain West that is undefeated in league play. They have four more games on the schedule: Colorado State (Oct. 29), Nevada (Nov. 12), Wyoming (Nov. 19) and Utah State (Nov. 25) — and they should be favored in all of them.

“We’ve got unbelievable young men on this team,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “We’ve got a team that really cares about each other.”

Boise State, TCU, BYU and Utah are all tied with three outright Mountain West titles. Utah joined the Pac-12 and BYU went independent in 2011. TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012.

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The Broncos, looking to break out of that tie, stuffed the stat sheet on Saturday as they avenged a 24-17 loss to the Falcons at Albertsons Stadium last season.

Boise State, which won despite not scoring in the second half, outgained Air Force, posting 322 yards of offense to the Falcons’ 271. The Broncos held the Falcons’ potent rushing attack, which was averaging almost 360 yards a game to lead the nation, to 175; didn’t allow a first down in the first quarter; and gave up less than 90 total yards in the first half.

But as impressive as the Broncos were, they let Air Force (5-3, 2-3) hang around.

Boise State led 19-14 late in the fourth quarter and forced Air Force to punt from its own territory with a little more than 5 minutes to play. But the Falcons got a new lease on life after the Broncos were penalized for having two players on the field wearing the same number.

The penalty gave Air Force a first down, and the Falcons then drove to the Broncos’ 21-yard line. They faced fourth-and-13 with 1:25 to play, and Boise State’s defense came up with its biggest stand of the game, with linebacker Ezekiel Noa knocking down a Haaziq Daniels pass.

“We were ready for them to pass because it was fourth-and-long,” Noa said. “For us linebackers, we knew we had to drop, and I just made a play.”

Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, now 3-0 as a starter since Bachmeier’s departure, sealed the win with a 15-yard run on third-and-11.

“This is not an easy place to come play,” Avalos said. “To have the fortitude we did to be in the fight as a whole team and for the team to be backing each other up, that’s what it takes to come into a place like this and be 1-0.”

The Broncos had several chances to put the game further out of reach in the first half.

They engineered a 13-play scoring drive that took more than 6 minutes off the clock in the first quarter. It was capped by a 1-yard dive from freshman running back Ashton Jeanty — Boise State’s only touchdown of the game.

The Broncos drove into the Falcons’ red zone twice more in the first half, but settled for field goals both times. Kicker Jonah Dalmas connected on four field goals, including one from 51 yards, to stake Boise State to a 19-7 lead at the half.

Jeanty started Saturday night in place of injured running back George Holani, who made the trip to Air Force but was a late scratch. Jeanty posted 53 rushing yards and caught a 42-yard pass in the first half, but he didn’t play after halftime because of an undisclosed injury.

That left Utah State transfer Elelyon Noa to carry the load, and he finished with 45 yards on 17 carries. Green finished with just 15 yards on five carries, but he completed 16-of-24 passes for a career-high 207 yards and an interception.

“We’ve got really good defensive coaches in this league, and we’ve got really good defensive players,” Avalos said. “They’re not just going to let Taylen pull the ball and run it, but obviously it opens up other things.”

Falcons fullback Brad Roberts (25 carries, 90 yards) powered his way into the end zone to cut the Broncos’ lead to 19-14 with a little more than 9 minutes to play, and the Air Force defense had kept its team in the game by limiting Boise State to under 100 yards of offense in the second half.

But Air Force’s rally came up short because Boise State’s defense continued the stellar play it has shown all season.

Air Force didn’t convert a first down until the 8:56 mark of the second quarter. It was the first time Boise State’s defense had not allowed a first down in the first quarter since a win over BYU in 2014.

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The Broncos recorded two sacks, both of which were credited to edge rusher Demitri Washington. They recovered a fumble in the first quarter that led to a field goal and they forced five punts.

“We have the best defense in the conference,” Boise State pass rusher George Tarlas said. “We play with that mindset and that mentality.”

Turmoil surrounded the Boise State football team just a month ago, but now it’s in control of the conference. What a difference a few weeks can make.

“Every game in this conference is a battle,” Avalos said. “Every week, it demands your best.”

Boise State will try to move one step closer to hosting the conference championship game next week when Colorado State visits Albertsons Stadium on Saturday (5 p.m., FS1).