It took No. 8 Boise State almost a full quarter to hit its stride.
But once the Broncos got rolling, Bowling Green couldn’t keep up and Boise State went on to post a 49-14
victory Saturday night before a crowd of 22,396 at Perry Stadium.
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“It
took us (some time) to get comfortable and to get dialed in,” said Boise State head coach Chris
Peterson. “Once we started to hit (our) stride, the kids started to make some plays.”
Bowling Green played a solid first quarter, controlling the ball for 10:12 on offense while defensively
getting after the high-powered Broncos.
However, BG wasted a great scoring opportunity on the first possession of the game due in part to two
false start penalties inside the Boise 15-yard line. BG then missed a 29-yard field goal, thus putting
nothing on the scoreboard despite having the ball for the first seven minutes of the game.
“We got some stops early in the game. If our offense can punch one or two (touchdowns) in, now you give
yourself a chance to play against a team like that,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said.
Boise State scored three touchdowns in the span of 2 minutes and 33 seconds to start the second quarter.
The three scoring drives used only eight plays and covered 162 yards.
“We’ve got some explosive weapons,” Peterson said. “If we get those guys some space, they can usually
make some things happen.”
The Broncos added another score before halftime and were up 29-0 at the break. Boise State scored two
more touchdowns in the first 1:19 of the second half to increase its lead to 43-0.
Bowling Green put together two five minute-plus scoring drives in the third quarter. The Broncos closed
out the scoring with a TD in the fourth quarter.
“We made too many mistakes to compete with a team that plays at that level.” Clawson said. “We probably
made more defensive mistakes than we made the first three games combined.
“Offensively our struggles in the red zone continue to hurt us,” Clawson added. “Our turnovers, our
mistakes allowed them to be 49 not 24.”
Tyler Sheehan hit Adrian Hodges with a 7-yard pass for BG’s first score and then Sheehan ran 6-yards for
the second TD.
“We wanted to prove that we still had some fight in us and that we weren’t just going to roll over and be
shut out,” Sheehan said about the two scores. “We just did some real basic stuff and we did it well in
the second half and I think that will help us in the future.”
Boise’s offense finished with 529 yards and 23 first downs after having only 57 yards and no first downs
in the first quarter. The Broncos averaged 8.8 yards per play. There were only a total of 22 plays on
the seven scoring drives.
“That’s what they do,” Clawson said. “When they have 500 yards of offense, it will always be 10 to 12
plays where half their offense came from.”
Defensively, the Broncos pressured Sheehan throughout the game, holding him to 16-of-29 passing for 137
yards. The Broncos got three turnovers, turning two of them into touchdowns, one sack and three
quarterback hurries.
“We were really pleased with our defense. Bowling Green does a really good job, very creative. And they
have some playmakers,” Peterson said. “It was nice to see (our) guys step up and get some turnovers and
some short fields.
“They do a nice job with that ball-control pass game. Sheehan is a very accurate thrower,” Peterson
added. “We knew we had to get some pressure on him … I thought we did a pretty good job of getting
some pressure.”
Sheehan was impressed with Boise’s defense.
“Their defense flew around, make plays, got pressure. They were the real deal,” Sheehan said. “Their
defense is a defense where they don’t really blow a lot of assignments. It’s real hard to make the real
big plays because a lot of big plays that offenses get are off blown assignments.”
Boise State also limited the productivity of BG’s Freddie Barnes, who came into the game as the nation’s
leading receiver, averaging 14 catches per game over BG’s first three contests. Boise held Barnes to
four catches for 24 yards.
“Anyone who is leading the nation, you don’t have to say a whole lot to our secondary, about focusing on
him,” Peterson said. “He was the guy we certainly were paying close attention to and our guys did a good
job of making him earn some things.”
Sheehan said that Barnes faced double- and triple-coverage the entire game.
“They know that he’s a big part of our game plan. They know that if they are able to stop that they’ve
got a good chance of winning and they did a great job of executing tonight,” Sheehan said.
The Falcons open Mid-American Conference play this Saturday hosting Ohio for Homecoming with kickoff at 4
p.m.
Photo caption:
BGSU’s Freddie Barnes stretches for pass but can’t make the grab Saturday night against Boise State.
(Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune)