With the weight of the losing streak off the Mustangs (1-4, 1-1WAC), the team headed to the blue turf of the Boise State Broncos(5-0, 2-0 WAC) to take on one of the hottest teams in thenation.
The Mustangs kept up with the Broncos, winners of 16 straight,for most of the game, but came out on the losing end 38-20. Bycomparison, the Mustangs lost 45-3 to the Broncos last season.
The Mustangs struck first when Alvin Nnabuife returned Boise St.quarterback Jared Zabransky’s pass 52 yards for a touchdown.After Chris McMurtray’s successful extra point, the Mustangsfound themselves up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
The Broncos responded with an 11-play, 49-yard drive that endedwith a 2-yard Antwaun Carter touchdown rush. Tyler Jones’extra point evened the score 7-7.
After a fourth-and-out, the Broncos’ Chris Carr returnedRyan Mentzel’s punt 78 yards to give the Broncos their secondscore in just over a minute.
Neither team scored for the rest of the first quarter, and itwas the Broncos who struck first in the second quarter.
With 7:35 to go in the second, Zabransky completed a pass toT.J. Acree who took it to the end zone. After the extra point, theBroncos took a 21-7 lead.
The Mustangs could not get past their own 40-yard line on thenext drive and had to punt.
The Broncos took possession on their own 31 and took the ball 69yards on an 11-play drive. The drive culminated with a 15-yardZabransky pass to Brad Lau. With the extra point, the Broncos tooka 28-7 lead into halftime.
The Mustangs only had 35 yards of total offense in the firsthalf and 25 of those were passing yards.
“Offensively, we just never got into a groove that firsthalf,” Head Coach Phil Bennett said.
In the first half, Bennett said he was “extremelydisappointed with quarterback mental errors that kept [the team]from getting first downs” and the “timidness” ofthe team in the first half.
The Mustangs got the first possession in the second half andfinally got some yardage on offense.
Mustang quarterback Tony Eckert led the team down the field andcompleted a 20-yard pass to Ryan Kennedy for the Mustangs’first offensive touchdown to narrow the score to 28-13.McMurtray’s extra point cut the margin to 28-14.
The Broncos responded with a field goal to widen their lead to17 points, 31-14.
Less than five minutes later, the Broncos got their final scoreof the night when Lawrence Bady rushed 17 yards for a touchdown.The extra points put the Broncos up 38-14.
The Mustangs scored late in the fourth quarter when Jared Romocompleted a 28-yard pass to Matt Rushbrook to narrow the score to38-20. The score was the last of the night by either team.
The Mustangs finished the game with 305 yards of total offense.Of total offense, most of it was from passing, Eckert went 8-of-19for 134 yards while Romo went 9-of-16 for 115. Each quarterbackthrew one touchdown. Eckert had one interception.
Led by Derron Brown, the Mustang rushers accumulated 56 yards.Brown finished 20 yards on only two attempts.
Despite the more competitive score against the Broncos, Bennettwas still disappointed with the loss.
“I told the players at the end of the game 38-20 was notthe score we were looking for,” he said.
“We didn’t play with the intensity it takes to playin this stadium.” Boise St. has now won 22 straight homegames.
The Mustangs next play the Rice Owls 7 p.m. Saturday at RiceStadium for the Mayors’ Cup. Last year the Mustangs fell tothe Owls 41-20.
