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This Day In Sports…October 26, 2010:
In the only Boise State regular season game ever played on a Tuesday, the Broncos cruise past Louisiana Tech 49-20 on the Blue to notch their 21st straight victory. A crowd of 32,206 showed up for the weeknight/school night affair, which accommodated a national telecast on ESPN2. Boise State took some heat from ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt for not selling out Bronco Stadium, though, as the team had just been ranked No. 3 in the second BCS standings of the fall. Meanwhile, the Broncos improved to 7-0 and clinched their 13th straight winning season with the victory.
There were oddities galore in this one. Kellen Moore threw only his second interception of the season—and made the tackle after the pick. Moore also punted once for 54 yards, and he made the only touchdown catch of his career, sneaking out to catch a seven-yarder from wide receiver Austin Pettis. Kyle Efaw recovered a fumble in the end zone for a TD—his rushing stats for the game: zero carries for zero yards and one touchdown. And Jeremy Avery dropped the ball on a wildcat exchange, picked it up, and ran 26 yards for a score.
When 38-point underdog Louisiana Tech was hanging around in the third quarter, trailing by 15 points, Boise State offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin turned to his masher. Doug Martin had a modest 43 yards on 11 carries at halftime, but he rushed for 107 yards on only 10 attempts after that. It started with the Broncos’ first possession of the second half. They didn’t get the ball after the intermission until more than eight minutes had elapsed in the third quarter—and then it was on their own nine-yard line, with a not-comfortable-enough lead.
But with Martin accounting for the first 57 yards of a 91-yard drive, Boise State took less than four minutes to score and put the game out of reach. In the fourth quarter, Martin sandwiched 44 more yards around a 53-yard Moore bomb to Titus Young, capping a 97-yard march with a 20-yard touchdown run. All in all, 150 yards worth of mashing on 21 carries for the junior from Stockton.
Idahoans were key to Boise State’s victory. In addition to Efaw’s Johnny-on-the-spot play, Tyler Shoemaker led the Broncos with a career-high six catches for 124 yards, including a beaut of a route on a fourth down that resulted in a 32-yard touchdown grab from Moore. J.C. Percy topped the team with a career-best 14 tackles, and Shea McClellin and Byron Hout each recorded a sack. The Broncos, a month away from a fateful trip to Reno, would remain No. 3 in the new BCS standings that Sunday.
(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.)
