Boise State overpowered by Washington attack, lose 56-19

It’s one thing to expect to lose.

The Broncos were playing a top ten team and a Heisman contender.

But to be beaten with the deep ball time and time again, knowing what to expect, sucks the life out of you.

Simply put, Boise State was out-talented Saturday afternoon and didn’t have the horses to compete.

Scoring Timeline

1st Quarter

2:42 - 7-yard TD run by Ashton Jeanty (Missed Dalmas PAT)

Boise State 6 - Washington 0

2nd Quarter

14:09 - 7-yard TD pass from Michael Penix Jr. to Jalen McMillan (Gross PAT)

Boise State 6 - Washington 7

12:06 - 39-yard field goal by Jonah Dalmas

Boise State 9 - Washington 7

7:52 - 38-yard TD pass from Penix Jr. to McMillan (Gross PAT)

Boise State 9 - Washington 14

5:06 - 44-yard TD pass from Penix Jr. to Ja’Lynn Polk (Gross PAT)

Boise State 9 - Washington 21

1:27 - 20-yard TD pass from Penix Jr. to Jack Westover (Gross PAT)

Boise State 9 - Washington 28

0:02 - 34-yard field goal by Dalmas

Boise State 12 - Washington 28

3rd Quarter

12:49 - 50-yard TD pass from Taylen Green to Jeanty (Dalmas PAT)

Boise State 19 - Washington 28

10:38 - 5-yard TD pass from Penix Jr. to Rome Odunze (Gross PAT)

Boise State 19 - Washington 35

4th Quarter

14:54 - 19-yard TD run by McMillan (Gross PAT)

Boise State 19 - Washington 42

6:57 - 1-yard TD run by Dillon Johnson (Gross PAT)

Boise State 19 - Washington 49

4:03 - 31-yard TD pass from Dylan Morris to Josh Cuevas (Gross PAT)

Boise State 19 - Washington 56

FINAL

BOISE STATE BRONCOS 19

WASHINGTON HUSKIES 56

By The Numbers

• Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. had a field day against Boise State’s backline. He went 29/40 for 450 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 INTs. Deep balls were the name of the game as Penix Jr. converted over ten “explosive plays” through the air (20+ yards on a given pass).
• Boise State QB Taylen Green went through moments of great and being stagnant. His completion percentage was less than 50%, but he did throw for 244 yards. His two interceptions were on him as those throws were internal miscues. The most shocking stat line was that he only ran the ball five times for 31 yards.
• On the ground, the Huskies didn’t have to do much in order to be successful. With a total of 78 rushing yards, Washington sprinkled in some direct snap formations that led to easy gains.
• Boise State didn’t do badly when they ran the ball, but that option was used much less than we thought prior to kickoff. George Holani and Ashton Jeanty only combined for 20 carries and 95 yards despite being able to gain decent yardage on most attempts.
• Jeanty led all receivers with 109 yards via the air and had 50 more yards than wide receiver Eric McAlister. If you take out the receiving yardage by Holani and Jeanty, Boise State’s receivers only managed to get 148 yards.

Not good.

• As for Washington, the trio of Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan were able to outmaneuver the Broncos on nearly every drive. The three Huskies combined for 328 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
• Defensively, Boise State managed bring down Penix Jr. once via a Andrew Simpson sack in the first quarter. Unfortunately, that was the only time that the Broncos were able to put much pressure on the UW signal caller.
• The Broncos weren’t able to force any turnovers, but they did have the opportunity to recover a fumble. Alas, they pulled a Florida State and squandered the chance despite having three Broncos around the ball.
• Huskies Carson Bruener and Kamren Fabiculanan gobbled up an interception each on their way to stifling the Bronco offense.
• Kicker Jonah Dalmas went 2/2 on his field goal attempts, but he did miss his first PAT attempt (a doink off an upright).
• Punter James Ferguson-Reynolds had a great day considering he was sent out seven times. He had a booming 62-yard punt early in the game and he nearly landed a punt at the one-yard line, but the special teams unit allowed the ball to skedaddle into the endzone for a touchback.

The Eye Test

The Offense

This was not the flying start that fans were hoping for in offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan’s debut. Having Taylen Green throw the ball 39 times in a game is not a path to success for the Broncos. Additionally, Hamdan drew up one designed run for Green.

That’s it.

TG10 is a better runner than he is a passer.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

We don’t need a pocket passer to be successful (see Jaylon Henderson).

The three-headed monster of Green, Jeanty and Holani was not used to its full potential. The wide receivers were lackluster at best. Multiple drops across the receiving corps put the Broncos behind the chains and forced them to pass the ball even more than they wanted to. The tight ends were nonexistent as not a single one, including Riley Smith, made a reception.

The best aspect of the offense was the running game and the offensive line. Jeanty and Holani looked good when given the chance to run the ball and the big guys in the trenches did a good job of opening up some gaps. Left tackle Kage Casey impressed and right guard Roger Carreon held his own considering the last time he had his name mentioned was in the infamous UTEP loss.

The Defense

Let’s start with the positives.

The defensive line did pretty well defending the run early on and held the Husky rushing game in check.

Linebackers D.J. Schramm and Andrew Simpson had moments of really good play, but they were limited.

Now...the secondary.

Plain and simple, Alexander Teubner, Jaylen Clark and, to a lesser extent, Kaonohi Kaniho, were targeted all game. Each of these three got burned over the top and just couldn’t keep up with the talented Husky receivers. Rodney Robinson also got picked on as Washington was able to create separation from nearly every Bronco that was thrown at them. This is a nationally-ranked offense for a reason.

But to get burned again and again...and again?

Let’s try something else, eh?

The Special Teams

This unit had the best performance out of all three. Other than Jonah Dalmas’ lone PAT miss, he had a good outing. James Ferguson-Reynolds was one of the best players wearing a Bronco uniform and impressed with his performance. I will say that the punt return and kick return coverage underachieved. The missed downing of the ball at the one-yard line was a huge opportunity that was wasted and a few returns were taken to near midfield.

Going Forward

This game reset the lens that Boise State fans view them this team through.

Optimism was snatched as festering pessimism reappeared.

We must move on, but this was a hard one to swallow.

Next week’s home opener against UCF has the chance to restore the faith or send Bronco fans into a tizzy.

Look for a preview to be out late in the week (Thursday/Friday).

Expect Boise State to be a home underdog.

What were your takeaways from the game? Let us know in the comments down below!