Presented by VETRANS PLUMBING.
This Day In Sports…September 4, 2015, 10 years ago today:
Chris Petersen returns to sold-out Albertsons Stadium just 21 months after leaving Boise State (and his rather incredible 92-12 record) for Washington. Coach Pete’s Huskies faced Bryan Harsin’s Broncos and fell behind 16-0 at halftime. Then UW came back via special teams in the second half before the Huskies’ Cameron Van Winkle missed a game-tying 46-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to preserve a 16-13 Boise State win.
Coach Pete was treated with respect, and it was mutual at Albertson Stadium, where the atmosphere was predictably electric. The only damper on the festivities was the cold front that blew through a little over an hour before kickoff. (The cooling fans behind the Huskies’ bench sat silent all night.) The Broncos defense was hot, though, holding Washington to just 179 yards of total offense in the debut of true freshman quarterback Jake Browning—the second-best performance against a Power 5 conference opponent in school history.
The Boise State offense was solid in the first 30 minutes with touchdown drives of 92 and 80 yards capped by Jeremy McNichols touchdown runs. The Broncos racked up 152 rushing yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, and Ryan Finley was 12-of-18 through the air for 102 yards. Boise State also converted 6-of-10 third-down conversions. In the second half, the Huskies locked down against the run. The Broncos managed just 31 rushing yards and 1.5 yards per attempt while passing for 50 yards, going 5-of-9. And they were just 2-of-8 on third-down conversions after halftime.
But it was special teams that became the real learning experience for Boise State. The Huskies were helped in that phase of the game. Tyler Rausa’s first point-after attempt of the season was blocked in the first quarter. Dante Pettis, cousin of former Broncos star Austin Pettis, pierced the Broncos with a punt return down to the Boise State 26 that set up UW’s first field goal in the third quarter. Then, moments later, Pettis had a 76-yard punt return for the Huskies’ only touchdown, pulling them to within 16-10. And a blocked punt in the fourth quarter resulted in Washington’s second field goal. That accounted for all of the Huskies’ scoring on the night.
As you know, Petersen’s fortunes would improve. His Huskies would go 7-6 in 2015 and win the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Then in 2016, Browning led Washington into the four-team College Football Playoff, where a 12-2 season ended with a 24-7 loss to Alabama. Coach Pete engineered 10-win seasons again the following two years at UW. His last campaign was 2019, when the Huskies went 8-5 and got back at Boise State with 38-7 rout of the Broncos in the Las Vegas Bowl in the finale. Petersen, of course, is now a college football analyst for Fox Sports.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
