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Boise State Holds Off Hawaii, 40-32
Late night game on the islands does not disappoint
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Boise keeps its undefeated league record alive.
Late kickoffs seem to lend themselves to exciting games. Boise State, who are still missing 11 players with Covid and contact tracing, had to fly in on Friday since they didn’t have access to practice facilities on the islands and are still missing George Holani due to injury.
https://twitter.com/BJRains/status/1330350491776163840
Both of those could have been factors to the incredibly slow start offensively for the Broncos. Andrew Van Buren struggled to find holes on the ground and outside of one big pass from Hank Bachmeier to C.T. Thomas, there was minimal action in the first quarter. Like last year’s game, the Broncos and Warriors played to a 3-3 tie.
The second quarter was mostly uneventful as well. Kicker Jonah Delmas added a field goal to put the Broncos up 6-3 and Bachmeier threw his first interception of the year that Hawaii was unable to do anything with. The scoring opened up for the Broncos after that with Khalil Shakir catching two touchdown passes, a 38-yard throw from Bachmeier, and a 3-yard throw from C.T. Thomas on an end-around RPO.
Hawaii opened up the Second half scoring with a 1-yard run from Calvin Turner after JL Skinner let an easily returned interception go right through his hands. Boise State responded very quickly with Avery Williams returning the following kickoff 99-yards. Van Buren got on track and scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to open up a 40-17 lead. Hawaii did add a 36-yard touchdown on a catch and run by Chevan Cordeiro to Calvin Turner.
https://twitter.com/MountainWest/status/1330395017626537986
Starting with the Turner catch and run later in the 3rd, the Bronco defense had issues tackling in the open field and penalties in the fourth quarter. After starting the quarter with a 23-point lead, the Warriors trimmed it down to 8 points as Cordeiro connected for touchdowns to Turner and a mostly quiet Jered Smart. It finally came down to a lengthy review and re-spot that allowed the Broncos to come out in victory formation and run the clock out.
Player of The Game goes to Khalil Shakir with 11 catches for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns. Andrew Van Buren (113 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Avery Williams (192 return yards, 1 touchdown) are 2a and 2b, respectively.
Any trip out to Hawaii is a tough one, and with the sluggish start on offense and the lifeless end for the defense, the Broncos will have plenty to work on in the coming week. With next week’s matchup being against San Jose State for the driver’s seat to the Mountain West Championship game, Boise State won’t likely have the luxury of taking half the game off and winning.
Even though it has the overall feel of a bad game for the Broncos, there were some solid individual performances, including from Kekaula Kaniho, who made some big hits and had a key block on Avery Williams’ return touchdown.
Boise State hosts San Jose State on Saturday, November 28th, for their next game at a time to be determined. The Broncos look to strengthen their hold on a spot in the Mountain West Championship game and add to their 14 game win streak against the Spartans.
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