Boise State Scores 21 Straight in the Fourth to Bury Washington State
It was 10-10 in the third quarter. Then Boise State ran the ball until Washington State stopped asking questions, and the Broncos walked away with a 31-10 win.
The Broncos scored on a Cam Bates 6-yard catch from Maddux Madsen with 13:33 left in the fourth, then Dylan Riley ran 33 yards for a touchdown at 11:40 and 72 yards for another at 6:26. That is 21 unanswered points in a game the Cougars had tied twice, first at 7-7 just before halftime and again at 10-10 on a 47-yard Jack Stevens field goal.
The yardage tells you how lopsided the second half got. Boise State ran 35 times for 261 yards and had 410 total to Washington State's 244. The Cougars managed 53 yards on 33 rushes and threw one interception. Boise State threw none, lost no fumbles and sacked Washington State four times without giving up one itself.
Washington State's offense did get through the air, 21 of 40 for 191 yards, and Kirby Vorhees scored from a yard out in the second quarter. It just never found the end zone again after that.
A few small details help explain why it never got tense. Washington State took the ball away from nobody and gave it up once, while Boise State kept it clean all afternoon. Eshelman threw 40 passes and completed 21, which is a lot of work for 191 yards and a single field goal in the second half. The Cougars' season is now 1-7, and the schedule does not owe them anything. Boise State, on the other hand, keeps its 6-1 record and gets to say it did it with a running game that ground the fourth quarter out of the other side.
The records say the rest: Boise State is 6-1, Washington State is 1-7. For fantasy, Riley's two long runs were 105 of his 128 yards, so most of his day came on two plays. You will take it.