In runaway win, Boise State finds offensive ‘rhythm’ for beatdown of San Diego State

Taylen Green’s quarterback coach, Mike Keith, said his freakishly long strides play tricks on the minds of defenders.

Keith’s words came to fruition on Friday night.

A pair of San Diego State players looked flummoxed trying to chase Green down in the fourth quarter of Boise State’s 35-13 win over San Diego State.

Boise State was leading 21-13 when Green faked a handoff to running back Ashton Jeanty, tucked the ball and sprinted around the left side of the Broncos’ offensive line. Defenders gave chase, but one tripped over his own feet and the other didn’t even have time to reach out to grab Green’s jersey.

The redshirt freshman QB glided down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown.

“The boy can run, for real,” Boise State nickel Tyreque Jones said after the game. “He may look like he’s just out there jogging, but with his legs, he eats up ground. I can only imagine what it’s like for other teams trying to chase him, because I know at practice it’s a challenge for us.”

Green made his first career start Friday, and it’s one he’s not likely to forget. He rushed for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading a second-half rally that helped Boise State move past what was a tumultuous week.

Boise State offensive coordinator Tim Plough was fired less than 24 hours after the Broncos’ loss at UTEP last Friday. A couple of days later, four-year starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier entered the transfer portal.

Either of those distractions could easily derail a team’s season on their own. Put them together and you have a recipe for disaster, and that kind of what was the first half looked like: a 13-0 deficit and drives that couldn’t be sustained.

But Boise State (3-2, 2-0 Mountain West) engineered its most dominant second half of the season and kept itself squarely in the running for a league championship.

“If you commit to the opportunities and stay together in this game, it’s unbelievable what will happen,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “That’s what the team did and what we talked about in the locker room at halftime.”

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Welcome back, Koetter

Green wasn’t the only Bronco making his 2022 debut on Friday. Former Boise State and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter was tapped as Plough’s replacement this week.

Koetter’s first game in charge got off to a slow start. The Broncos had more penalty yards (61) than rushing yards (43) in the first half, but their defense kept them in the game. It was 13-0 only because San Diego State’s Tyrell Shavers returned a blocked punt 32 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Boise State has gone in the tank after poor starts in the past year and a half, but that wasn’t the case Friday.

The Broncos racked up 273 of their season-high 316 rushing yards after halftime, held the Aztecs scoreless through the final two quarters and had five rushing touchdowns.

It was Boise State’s most rushing yards in a game since 2018.

“The mentality in the second half was really great,” Boise State running back George Holani said. “In the locker room, we knew what we needed to do. We just had to figure out a rhythm, and understand it’s a team game.”

In the second half, Green scored on runs of 17 and 39 yards, Holani racked up 91 of his game-high 131 rushing yards — with TD runs of 12 and 29 yards — and freshman running back Ashton Jeanty looked impossible to tackle on a 32-yard touchdown run.

It was the first time since 2016 that Boise State had two players rush for more than 100 yards in a game.

The Broncos narrowly missed making history. The program has never had three players rush for 100 yards in a game, but Jeanty almost made it happen, finishing with 82.

Much of the Broncos’ success on the ground was thanks to Green’s ability to eat up yards on the perimeter, which opened things up for the rest of the backs, Avalos said.

“That loosens up the defense and we saw the effect of it on the interior of that defense tonight,” Avalos said. “George and Ashton were able to do what they did because bodies were flowing to the perimeter.”

Green posted his second 100-yard rushing performance of the season. He replaced Bachmeier in the second quarter of the season opener at Oregon State and finished with 102 yards on the ground.

For a while it looked as if Green wasn’t going to have a chance to light up the scoreboard. He was replaced by Oregon State transfer Sam Vidlak after the Broncos’ first three drives didn’t produce much.

Vidlak came in and completed the most explosive pass play of the day, a 53-yard bomb to Billy Bowens. But Avalos said the staff wasn’t trying to send a message by sending Green to the sideline. The Broncos planned to play two quarterbacks all along, he said.

“If you just do the same thing over and over, it’s not going to work,” Avalos said. “(San Diego State has) some talented players and coaches over there, and you have to mix it up.”

Defense dominates again

Boise State’s offense got a major assist on Friday from the defense, which limited San Diego State (2-3, 0-1 MW) to 114 total yards. The Broncos sacked the Aztecs’ quarterbacks three times, knocking two out of the game, and held SDSU to 1-of-14 on third down.

The Broncos’ defense kept the team in the game early. San Diego State’s first two drives ended inside Boise State’s 10-yard line, and the Aztecs were forced to settle for field goals both times.

“When teams get in the red zone, it’s three (points) or nothing,” Jones said. “It’s kind like a backs against the wall mentality, and we just put up a fence and don’t let them in.”

The defense also set up Boise State’s first touchdown of the night.

Jones intercepted San Diego State quarterback Braxton Burmeister’s first pass of the second half, giving the Broncos the ball on the Aztecs’ 31. Two plays later, Green scored on a 17-yard quarterback keeper.

“I think that’s a testament to how this team fights,” Jones said. “It wasn’t all about me and that play. The team came together after that.”

Boise State has another tough challenge next week with Mountain West rival Fresno State (1-2) coming to town on Saturday (7:45 p.m., FS1).

But the Broncos said they would enjoy Friday’s win for a little while. It was more fun than they’ve had in a long time, players said.

“You want to be loose and you want to have fun because it is still a game,” Jones said. “Obviously, we have goals and we want to win, but keeping it in your mind to make it fun gets the juices flowing.”