LARAMIE – When the Boise State football team was 2-2 and dealing with a historically bad loss at UTEP, many wondered if the Broncos would win enough games to even qualify for a bowl game.
Andy Avalos and the Broncos kept bigger goals, even as laughable as they may have seen to most at the time – win a Mountain West Championship.
“Our goal is still in front of us as we move into conference play,” Avalos said after the road loss at UTEP.
Two months later, the Broncos somehow moved a step closer to that goal. Thanks to a crazy finish featuring a game-clinching interception by JL Skinner in the final minute, Boise State beat Wyoming 20-17 Saturday in Laramie to not only lock up a spot in the Mountain West title game, but to host it against Fresno State on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. MT on FOX.
“We fight and we’re resilient,” said Skinner, who had two interceptions on Saturday. “We don’t let anything bother us and we’re a very tight knit family right now, and we know that’s us against everybody and that’s how we’re going to approach each game.”
Boise State started the game at 7,220 feet and took time to reach cruising altitude before bucking the Pokes in their rearview mirror, rushing for 269 yards and tallying 480 yards as a whole.
The Cowboys took control of the Broncos early, jumping out to a 10-0 lead after back-to-back scoring drives. Wyatt Wieland punched in the 2-yard touchdown and John Hoyland followed by knocking in a deep 53-yard field goal.
Down 10-0, George Holani and Ashton Jeanty got the Bronco offense moving midway through the second quarter, leading Boise State to a Jonah Dalmas field goal to cut the Wyoming lead to one possession. The two backs combined for 225 yards on the ground, with Holani rushing 20 times for 132 yards and Jeanty carrying it 13 times for 91 yards.
After a 3-and-out from Wyoming the Pokes were forced to punt, giving Green an opportunity to drive the team down the field to end the half. Dalmas cut the Wyoming lead to four with a 47-yard field goal as time expired to make it 10-6.
“Tonight we were in a two-minute scenario in the first half that we did a much better job of it,” Avalos said. “We’ll be able to grow off of that.”
With the Cowboys controlling the whole game on the ground, on their first drive of the second half Jayden Clemons took a deep shot to the end zone that Rodney Robinson intercepted. Clemons had only passed for 13 yards up until that point. He ended up finishing with as many interceptions as he had completions – 3.
The Broncos kicked it in gear to open the second half, charging down the field on a 9-play 80-yard drive that finished with a Green 5-yard rush into the end zone to make it 13-10 Boise State.
Green finished 20 of 34 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown while also rushing nine times for 47 yards.
“I love Taylen, he’s growing,” Skinner said. “He’s growing every week, he’s growing as a man, as a player, and I’m just excited to see him continue to grow.”
After both teams alternated unsuccessful drives, things started to get interesting in Laramie.
Wyoming running back Titus Swen broke loose on an 83-yard touchdown rush with 42 seconds left in the third quarter to give Wyoming a 17-13 lead. Swen showed utter dominance throughout the game and rushed for a career-high of 212 yards.
Both teams alternate unsuccessful drives again. Boise State trails in the fourth quarter with a chance to come back and clinch hosting the conference championship game.
Green started to use his legs – and opened up the passing game along the way. The redshirt freshman rushed three times on the drive including converting a 4th-and-1 to keep the chains moving. Green took a chance on 2nd-and-9 to Billy Bowens, heaving it towards the end zone and Bowens hauled it in for a 38-yard touchdown to take a 20-17 lead.
“That was an awesome job by Billy,” Avalos said. “It was awesome to see Billy position himself and go up for that ball and make a huge, huge play down there.”
TAYLEN GREEN WITH A DIME 🎯@BroncoSportsFB are back ahead! pic.twitter.com/3VVkXndgl1
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) November 20, 2022
Wyoming had a final chance with 2:16 on the clock to make some War Memorial Stadium magic happen, but Skinner intercepted Clemons to give Boise State the ball with 1:48 remaining on the clock.
Game over, right? Not even close.
The buses were warming up as Boise State looked to milk the clock, but Holani fumbled and the Cowboys used a long return to get the ball down to the 21-yard line with less than a minute to go. Green made a critical tackle on DeVonne Harris just outside the red zone with a full convoy of Cowboys around him to prevent the touchdown.
And that’s when Skinner saved the game. Instead of going for the game-tying field goal and playing for overtime, Wyoming took a shot at the end zone – and Skinner intercepted the ball and dragged his foot in the back of the end zone to seal the win.
“Relieved,” Bowens said as to how he felt after the second interception from Skinner. “I’m still processing. They were saying he was out, saying he was in and I mean I was like, what’s going on?”
What’s going on? Boise State finishes the regular season with a rare Black Friday home game at 10 a.m. MT on The Blue for Senior Day against Utah State (6-5, 5-2 MW) before hosting the championship game the following Saturday.
It seemed highly unlikely seven games ago, but here we are: thanks to the win at Wyoming, the Broncos are back in the title game.
