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Boise State Escapes vs. Wyoming With Overtime Win

Broncos does just enough to get the win.

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Chase Cord is QB again as Boise State gets win.

Wyoming is coming into tonight’s game with Tyler Vander Waal at quarterback after starter Sean Chambers was injured in their last game against Nevada, which was a 31-3 domination.  It’s tough to call Vander Waal a back up since he started nine games last season for the Cowboys. Wyoming will likely try to stick with their game plan of giving the football to Xazavian Valladay who had 206 yards on 26 carries against Nevada.

Boise State comes in off of a shootout, 52-42, win over over an improved  San Jose State team. George Holani was dominant against the Spartans racking up four touchdowns in the win. 

Wyoming is a better defense then San Jose State was so it’s unlikely we will see a repeat performance, but it’s still expected that Holani will add to his breakout season.  Boise State is also looking to improve on their 12-1 all-time gains the Cowboys, with Wyoming’s lone win coming in 2016 in Laramie.

First Quarter:

Wyoming opened the game with the ball and put together a 10 play drive to start the game.  The Broncos struggled again with allowing conversions on 3rd down allowing The Cowboys to convert on 2 of 3 on the first drive.  Wyoming didn’t stray too far away from their game plan to run the ball but did have an 18-yard completion from Vander Waal to Raghib Ismail Jr.for 18 yards on the drive that stalled out at the Boise State 40 yard line.

The Bronco offense needed to get off to the same start that they did against BYU with Chase Cord at the helm.  Boise State mixed everything into the first drive aside from the deep pass as Cord went 6 for 6 on the drive and the Broncos mixed in runs from 4 different carriers on the drive.

Using 12 plays, the Broncos covered 92 yards to get on the board first. Most of the play calling was on the conservative side, but coach Harsin threw in some of the misdirection that Boise State has been known for with a counter shovel pass to C.T. Thomas that gained 8 yards to the Wyoming 5-yard line.  Chase Cord found Akilian Butler crossing the endzone for the touchdown to put Boise State on the board first.

Boise State 7, Wyoming 0

Second Quarter:

The second quarter left a lot to be desired from the Broncos.  With 3 possessions on the quarter, they could only muster a total of 28 yards, 16 of which were on an end-around by John Hightower.

Wyoming, on the other hand, started to get into their game plan.  They were also gifted with a couple of short fields on back-to-back drives, starting on the Boise State 47 and 48-yard lines respectively.  Both of these drives resulted in points from the Cowboys and gave the Cowboys the 10-7 lead at half time.  

Xazavian Valladay was able to break a couple of big runs on their touchdown drive gaining 32 of the 47-yards needed on the drive on just 2 plays. Vander Waal did the rest with an 11-yard completion to Josh Harshman and capped the drive with a 3-yard run for the score.

After forcing Boise State’s third straight punt, where Joel Valasquez was only able to muster a 19-yarder, the Cowboys went to work again with their second consecutive short field. Wyoming drove down to the Boise State 16-yard line, Curtis Weaver was finally able to bring down Vander Waal after getting contact on him multiple times, but not getting him to the ground. Weaver was able to get in the backfield and sack Vander Waal for a second time driving them back to the Boise State 31-yard line. 

Wyoming was still able to grab the lead with a Cooper Rothe 39-yard field goal, but it pushed the Cowboys back far enough and took additional time off of the clock that it took a touchdown off the table.

Boise State 7, Wyoming 10

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