Oct. 1, 2008
Box Score
BOISE, Idaho -- Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley knew his team would have to play extremely well if the Bulldogs were to snap the 17th ranked Boise State Broncos 28-game home conference winning streak Wednesday night.
Instead, Tech (2-2, 0-1 WAC) wasted numerous offensive opportunities throughout the game as Boise State (4-0, 1-0 WAC) downed the Bulldogs 38-3 at Bronco Stadium before over 32,000 orange and blue clad Broncos fans.
Although Dooley knew his team hurt itself, he was quick to give credit to the Broncos.
"When you are playing a good football team, really any football team, and you make those mistakes on offense its tough," Dooley said. "We had a holding call after we converted a third down and got inside the five that hurt us. We had a couple of drops by guys who were wide open that killed drives. We had some mental errors. When you play teams like Boise and you make those types of mistakes, you get the result we got."
The Bulldogs had plenty of chances early in the game to keep within striking distance but dropped passes, a critical holding penalty -- the only penalty on either team in the entire first half -- , a missed field goal and a failed fourth down conversion allowed Boise State to pull away for a 21-3 halftime lead.
The Broncos refused to let Tech make it a game in the second half as they defeated the Bulldogs for the seventh straight time.
"It wasn't anything special they were doing; it wasn't their looks, it was there guys," Dooley said. "They whooped us up front at the line of scrimmage and made it tough on us running the football. I knew coming in that if we struggled to run the ball, we would struggle to score. Give Boise State all the credit as they are very deserving of their ranking. They are a great football team."
Boise State's first offensive possession was stopped when senior cornerback Weldon Brown intercepted a Kellen Moore pass and returned it six yards to the Bulldogs own 40 yard line. It was Brown's first interception of the year and the first by a Tech player since the season opener against Mississippi State, a span of 109 passes by the opponent.
Following Brown's interception, Tech went three and out before punter Chris Keagle pinned the Broncos inside their 20 yard line.
However, Moore led Boise State on an 11-play, 82-yard drive that was culminated by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Julian Hawkins, giving the Broncos a 7-0 lead at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter.
Tech went on an impressive offensive drive late in the first quarter as Bennett hit Dustin Mitchell for a 29-yard gain to put the ball inside Broncos territory. On a third down play at the Boise State 27, Bennett found Daniel Porter on a screen pass and Porter broke numerous tackles to take the ball inside the Broncos five yard line.
However, an offensive holding penalty was called on the play and Bennett's third down pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage forcing Tech's Brad Oestriecher to attempt a 51-yard field goal that he left just wide right. Boise State led 7-0 at the end of one quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Boise State used some trickery as a double pass led to a Moore 44-yard touchdown pass to Chris O'Neill. The scoring drive consisted of two plays and 66 yards in only 0:24 seconds.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard with 7:33 to play in the second quarter on a Brad Oestriecher 29-yard field goal, making the score 14-3. The drive started on Tech's own 2-yard line and was highlighted by a 53-yard pass completion from Bennett to Philip Beck and a 17-yard scamper by Porter. The scoring drive consisted of 10 plays covering 86 yards in 3:06.
Boise State added onto its lead late in the first half as Titus Young took a handoff on a reverse and scampered 15-yards around the right end for a score and a 21-3 Broncos lead with 1:26 to play in the half. The drive was costly for Tech in more ways than just on the scoreboard as starting linebackers Quin Harris and Brian White both went down with injuries.
After a three and out by Tech to start the second half, Boise State use a seven-play, 27-yard scoring drive to make it 24-3 as Kyle Brotzman connected on a 49-yard field goal with 11:12 to play.
Boise State added on to its lead one possession later as DJ Harper scored on a three yard touchdown run with 3:54 to play in the third quarter.
Tech drove inside the Boise State five-yard line late in the third quarter but three straight runs by Daniel Porter only advanced the football down to the one. On fourth down and goal from the one on the first play of the fourth quarter, Porter scored but a false start by the Tech offensive line negated the touchdown.
On fourth down and goal from the six, Bennett's pass for Beck was off-target and Boise State took over possession. The Broncos then proceeded to march 94 yards for another three-yard TD run by Harper, making the score 38-3 with 10:59 to play in the game.
Sophomore signal caller Ross Jenkins played the final 11 minutes of the game in place of Bennett, who ended the night completing 9-of-27 passes for 202 yards and zero touchdowns. Jenkins ended the night zero-for-three with one interception.
Porter led Tech on the ground with 16 carries for 68 yards.
Phillip Livas was Tech's top receiver with three receptions for 77 yards and a season long reception of 57 yards. Livas continued his impressive yards per game average of 163 with 164 total yards tonight, 87 of them coming on four kickoff returns.
Defensively, Antonio Baker led the Bulldogs with 11 tackles. Baker has recorded double digit tackles in every game this season.
Tech returns to action Oct. 11 when it travels to Honolulu to face Hawaii.
