Boise State shows grit in come-from-behind victory over Utah State

Boise State kept its Mountain West championship game dreams alive on Friday with a dramatic 25-24 come-from-behind road victory over Utah State. 

The Broncos (8-4, 6-2) trailed 24-13 late in the third quarter but closed the game with two unanswered touchdowns to stun the Aggies (6-6, 4-4). 

Boise State out-gained Utah State 512-405 and converted a season-best 13 of 24 opportunities on third down. The Broncos were 1 for 4 on fourth down while the Aggies failed to convert both fourth-down attempts. On third down, Utah State converted 1 of 10 tries. 

Here are three takeaways from Boise State’s impressive comeback. 

Boise State looked dead in the water after a Tanner Rinker 37-yard field goal put Utah State up 11 points with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter. 

Making his third career start, backup quarterback Max Cutforth gave the Broncos some life with a perfect throw to true freshman Quinton Brown for a 66-yard touchdown. 

The Boise State defense took over in the fourth quarter by forcing two punts with a pair of fourth-down stops, including a critical fourth-and-one hold at the Utah State 42 with 5:22 to go. The Broncos swarmed star Aggies quarterback Bryson Barnes on the play to get the ball back. 

Cutforth then orchestrated a seven-play, 41-yard drive that ended with a Dylan Riley go-ahead seven-yard touchdown run with 2:26 remaining. The Boise State defense forced an immediate three-and-out, and Utah State’s ensuing desperation drive ran out of time.

Cutforth had his best game as a Bronco, completing 26 of 49 passes for 341 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. Boise State did just enough on the ground (46 carries, 171 yards) to support Cutforth and steal the win. 

Barnes, a potential MWC Offensive Player of the Year candidate, finished 13 of 31 passing for 184 yards with no touchdowns and a lost fumble. Barnes ran for 89 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. 

Boise State trailed 21-13 at halftime, but the Broncos easily could’ve held the lead if not for two game-changing penalties. 

On the first drive of the day, Jeremiah Earby jumped a curl route for an interception and raced 80 yards to the end zone. Earby was flagged for a questionable pass interference on the play, and Utah State wound up taking an early 7-0 lead on a Barnes touchdown run. 

Late in the second quarter, Max Stege was called for a targeting penalty on Barnes that negated a Ty Benefield end zone interception. One play later, Miles Davis scored from 11 yards out for a 21-10 advantage. 

The Broncos were flagged six times for 55 yards in a disjointed first half that featured eight — yes, eight! — replay reviews. The opening half took north of two hours to complete. 

Boise State was called for just one penalty after the break en route to a massive comeback win. 

After Friday’s results, computer rankings will determine the two participants in next week’s Mountain West championship game. 

Boise State, New Mexico (9-3, 6-2) and San Diego State (9-3, 6-2) have all secured a share of the regular-season title, and UNLV (9-2, 5-2) can join the party on Saturday with a road victory over Nevada (3-8, 2-5). The Lobos took down San Diego State in double overtime on Friday, 23-17. 

Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, computer rankings will break the tie between the MWC co-leaders. 

Boise State, New Mexico and San Diego State are all 1-1 against each other. The Aztecs and Rebels did not meet in the regular season, which would force a computer rankings tiebreaker. 

The computer rankings are an average of Connelly SP+, SportSource, ESPN’s SOR and KPI Rankings.

The SportSource rankings are not provided to the public. Entering this week, San Diego State had the highest average ranking in the other three metrics at 42.3, followed by UNLV (46.3), Boise State (52) and New Mexico (57). 

The highest-ranked team in the computer rankings will host the MWC title game.

Boise State has won the last two MWC championships.