Final Score: Penn State 31, Boise State 14
It took 10 years, but Boise State made it back to the Fiesta Bowl with a chance to extend their undefeated streak to 4. This time, it also came as Boise State’s first chance to play in and win a college football playoff game. The final score won’t reflect it, but it was very exciting at times. However, after a plethora of badly timed penalties, two missed kicks, and some 3rd-and-long defensive lapses, the Broncos came up short.
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyFirst Quarter
Boise State started with the ball and drove down the field before getting stalled and settling for a 45 yard FG attempt. It was a very uncharacteristic bad kick from Dalmas. Penn State answered with a 9-play, 72 yard drive that resulted in an 11 yard TD pass to superhuman tight end, Tyler Warren.
Penn State 7, Boise State 0
Penn State followed up on getting the first points of the game by taking their excellent field position after a Boise State punt from the end zone and turning it into a 4 play, 56 yard TD drive. It ended with a 38 yard TD pass from Allar to Evans.
Penn State 14, Boise State 0
On Boise State’s ensuing attempt to answer, it was Ashton Jeanty‘s turn to make an uncharacteristic mistake. He fumbled the ball and it was recovered in midair before the defender went out of bounds. However, two plays later, Oladipo forced a fumble and got Boise State the ball right back.
Unfortunately, it resulted in a punt that mostly just gave Penn State worse field position.
Second Quarter
Penn State responded with a three and out. On the ensuing punt, Cooper Jones got the Broncos into much better field position with a 19 yard return to the 48. Despite Jeanty coughing up the ball again, crisis was averted as an o-lineman fell on it, and the drive continued until the Broncos got on the board with a TD. The drive took 8 plays, spanned 52 yards, and ended with hometown hero, Tyler Crowe, dragging several defenders into the end zone.
Penn State 14, Boise State 7
Penn State got the ball and proceeded to get two false start penalties and take a huge sack from The Hassassin before being forced to punt again. Unfortunately, the Broncos had to as well, three plays later, after a deep connection from Madsen to Bolt failed to materialize.
Penn State ended up getting field goal just before the half, after the longest 1:01 of all time. 9 plays transpired and Boise State’s defense got multiple sacks…but Banks tripped in coverage and committed a PI as he recovered to extend the Penn State drive.
Penn State 17, Boise State 7
Halftime
Third Quarter
Boise State came out of the half and forced a quick three and out from the Nittany Lions. They made the most of their next possession by plinking their way down the field before ultimately scoring on a BEAUTIFULLY designed play to a wide open Matt Lauter from 53 yards out. The drive took five plays, spanned 83 yards, and ticked 2:28 off the clock.
Penn State 17, Boise State 14
Penn State was able to answer back though. After taking a few sacks, and McCoy dropping an INT, Allar got the Nittany Lions downfield and chucked another score up to his big tight end, Tyler Warren.
Penn State 24, Boise State 14
Boise State immediately drove down the field and scored!…however, Prince Strachan’s incredible catch and run for a TD was called back for illegal hands to the face, away from the play.
Fourth Quarter
Starting the fourth quarter with a 3rd and 25, Madsen threw his first interception in weeks. Although, after a personal foul on Penn State, for blindsiding Jeanty after the play, it essentially amounted to an arm punt. And Penn State went three and out anyway.
Boise State got the ball, drove down the field, and then they had to settle for a field goal attempt. It was no good. Wide right, from 38.
Penn State responded by killing 4:26 of clock and ending the drive with a 58 yard rushing TD.
Penn State 31, Boise State 14
That would be the final score.
After an incredible season, another Mountain West championship, and a historic Heisman candidacy, The Broncos finally lost their first Fiesta Bowl. They went down swinging, but a few untimely turnovers, a nearly unfathomable 13 penalties (one that erased a TD and resulted in no points on the drive), and a backbreaking TD run allowed in the fourth quarter sank their effort to come back after a disastrous first quarter.
Boise State will finish the season 12-2, as back to back Mountain West champions and having been a G5 that earned the #3 seed in the first year of the expanded college football playoff.
It’s been an incredible season with you all. To those of you that made the trip, travel safely. To all of you, we’ll see you in 2025, and as always…
REC… to the writers and all of the fans. Great season, not what we wanted in the postseason, but the fight was there. Just waiting for the media to spin the narrative that we or any G5 rep shouldn’t have been there. The game was way closer than the score for sure.
The Broncos’ Achilles has been giving up the long pass and chunk plays all year.
However, the Bronco’s backs played fairly respectable after the first quarter.
It truly is a game of inches and I think Penn State got the inches when needed, but altogether, not enough to make a foot.
I think the Broncos gave them a good game. Their coaches are probably thinking, an inch here, and an inch there, and this could have been a far different score. Likely, the Bronco coaches are thinking the same.
A good season. Let’s hope the band stays together.
This year it was Jeanty’s and Tuebner’s team. Next year it will be Mad Dog’s and Notoraini’s team.
Great year. That loss was tough because we didn’t play our best. Missed a lot of opportunities. Having said that, no complaints about our secondary. I have said on this site for years, I can’t live with opposing wide receivers running wide open. All of the passes were contended. Our guys were competing, just didn’t win some of the battles. I can live with that. They will be better because of this. Not a bad year for a first year head coach! He has the love and adoration of his players and staff. Our guys are high character men. I’m… Read more »
Can you imagine what the narrative would have been if Penn State beat Boise as badly as Ohio State beat #1 Oregon?
in the end, just pre-establish a transparent system to rank, and a playoff
no more “just trust me”
and publish the actual voting results of every single heisman voter with their name, no more secrecy
fwiw, at the game, like 70% of the stadium seriously freaked out booing at the noncall opi
they finally cleverly put up a politically sensitive video and the booing had to stop or it would seem people were booing the video contents
that’s why it seemed calm when the TV cast came back
This game was a heartbreaker. Our boys fought hard, but made too many mistakes. Plus, Penn State’s front 7 on D was just really good (better than our O-Line). Coulda, woulda, shoulda … After some reflection, though, I’m fairly excited about next year. Lots of good pieces in place. Another year of growth, strength, development, etc. and we might well be back in the 12-team field again next year. Also, please hear me when I say that Jeanty is the BEST! Still, I think we got one-dimensional this year on offense. Maybe next year (new OC, new ideas, new backfield)… Read more »
Agreed. I was watching the creative play calling at the Arizona State – Texas game & I have to say say Skattebo is my favorite RB not named Jeanty.
The play calling was great & the non-targeting call was garbage. I watched the play calling & thought WHY CAN’T WE DO THAT!?
It’s the Fiesta Bowl. Pull out the stops & pull out the stops. Go for it!
For some of their players (after the game) claiming “Jeanty who?”, I want to ask why they had 9-10 in the box if they weren’t concerned about him. No matter how proficient the OL is, being outnumbered is never a good thing.
That being said, we were definitely one-dimensional. The couple of RPO’s we ran were quite successful. I just didn’t get why Koetter remained so steadfast and unchanging. I’m hoping, like you, the new OC will bring some creativity back. We have a stable of good RB’s, let’s open things up a bit!
For sure, they knew who Jeanty was. They were probably given subliminal messages, tackle Jeanty, tackle, Jeanty, tackle Jeanty…
Wow, just picked up an interesting tidbit. Miles Walker, from Ohio State, entered the portal and committed to Boise State. When he entered 12/9 and committed on 12/30 he was 6’5″ and 275. Now he’s 317. He picked up 42 pounds by just committing.