Boise State lost two turnovers, muffed both a kick and punt, gave up a trick play for a touchdown and just seemed out of sync for most of Saturday’s home matchup with Nevada.
But the Broncos had Ashton Jeanty – and that was more than enough.
Jeanty strengthened his Heisman Trophy case with 208 rushing yards and three touchdowns and Boise State snuck by the rival Wolf Pack, 28-21, in front of a capacity crowd at Albertsons Stadium.
Boise State entered the game as 24-point favorites but went into the locker room tied just 14-14. Quarterback Maddux Madsen threw an interception, Jeanty lost a fumble, Latrell Caples muffed a punt but got it back and Dylan Riley fumbled a kick off and got it back. The Broncos also gave up a 44-yard halfback pass for a touchdown on fourth down.
But Jeanty scored two touchdowns in the second half and the Broncos did just enough to avoid a devastating upset as they improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in Mountain West play with three regular season games left.
“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” Madsen said. “It’s tough, but we’ll learn and grow form certain things. It wasn’t pretty and there’s a lot of areas we can grow in, but at the end of the day, we won the game and that’s all that really matters at this point – winning.”
Madsen struggled big time Saturday, completing just 9 of 20 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown to go along with the interception. He had two other apparent interceptions called back, one by a penalty and one due to video review saying the defensive back didn’t complete the catch.
His completions, yards and touchdowns all were season lows.
“This was probably the worst game I’ve played personally,” Madsen said. “I’m obviously not happy with it, but at the end of the day, it’s a team sport and when we win the game I can sit there and smile and say we won the game.”
Boise State’s defense bailed the Broncos out. Marco Notarainni and Jeremiah Earby had huge fumble recoveries and the Broncos held Nevada to 3 of 14 on third down and just 319 total yards.
It was an uncharacteristically off night for the Broncos in all phases. But they still somehow found a way to win – which bodes well for the future.
“I think a lot of it was self-inflicted,” Notarainni said. “Just a sloppy game all around – offense, defense, special teams. We’ll clean that stuff up.”
Boise State hits the road for its next two games, starting Saturday at San Jose State. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network.
POSTGAME SHOW
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
