Instant Analysis: Fresno State-Boise State

When Fresno State gained an early touchdown lead, the team with a hard-hitting lunch-pail style figured to be a very imposing obstacle for a Boise State bunch intent on completing a perfect regular season. Instead, the Broncos bucked the Bulldogs out of Idaho in blowout fashion. The 12-0 mojo that defined the 2006 season for Chris Petersen’s crew has returned to the land of smurf turf.

Fresno State is an inconsistent team, but say this much about Pat Hill’s pupils: When they receive a big dose of momentum in a big game, they normally compete on an appreciably high level. The program nestled in central California took USC to the wall in 2005, and battled Wisconsin from start to finish earlier this season, at a time when the Badgers had not yet fallen from grace. Therefore, when Fresno’s Damion Owens snatched a pick-six in the first five minutes of play at Bronco Stadium, the 11-0 boys from Boise appeared to be in for a (Bull)dogfight. The visitors from the Valley were ready and willing to pool all their mental resources into one final and furious fistfight; the unblemished Broncos had to war in the trenches against the Western Athletic Conference’s salty street fighter.

That’s exactly what they did, and as a result, the frail folks from Fresno folded up the tent after halftime.

Don’t let the lopsided final score fool you: For the first 37 minutes of this anticipated encounter, Fresno and Boise battled with bone-crushing boldness. These familiar rivals traded punches on the front lines, with each team making red zone stands and dealing out a heaping helping of hurt. In what was easily the WAC’s most physical and intense game of 2008, Boise carved out a small and not-very-safe 13-10 lead at the break. The Broncos had stopped a Fresno foray at their own 4, preventing the Bulldogs from taking a lead to the locker room, but even with that piece of gut-check gallantry, the home team had to expect another 30 minutes of muscular might from its angry opponent.

But instead of outlasting Fresno in a 15-round heavyweight bout, the Broncos—a smarter kind of boxer compared to the brawling Bulldogs—was able to finish off a perfect season with soft hands and open field excellence.

After halftime, the town of Boise had reason to get noisy, as quarterback Kellen Moore’s pinpoint passing led the home team on a touchdown drive that immediately turned the field-goal lead into a 20-10 advantage. Given a two-possession margin, the Broncos—now with a cushion—began to play freely. The positive momentum Fresno craved was nowhere to be found, and on cue, Pat Hill’s team—as has been the case in 2008 and, frankly, at any other time when adversity has entered the picture over the past few seasons—crumbled instantaneously. The smallest whiff of trouble sent the Bulldogs into a psychological black hole that swallowed up the remainder of their season, while the Broncos strolled to a second spotless regular season in the past three years.

Given a two-possession lead, the Broncos used a 90-yard punt return from Kyle Wilson, a pair of tip-drill interceptions, and a trick-play touchdown pass from receiver Tanyon Bissell to Julian Hawkins to ring up 28 points before the third quarter ended. In roughly 10 minutes of game time, that uneasy 13-10 edge turned into a 41-10 score. Chris Petersen looked on with admiration as the Babe Ruth of Boise, a man who owns the Idaho capital as fully as any human being can possess any municipality, once again coached the beloved Blue and Orange brotherhood to a 12-0 mark.

Forget, for a moment, Boise State’s bowl destination, which has not yet been made official. On a memorable Thanksgiving weekend in Idaho, the Bronco Nation is counting its blessings, after once again watching the BSU program excel at a level that exceeds the other non-BCS schools in all of college football.