Associated Press File
BOISE, Idaho””It was ugly.
It was demoralizing and even embarrassing.
But the 51-0 beat down that No. 4 Boise State put on Fresno State on Friday night was impressive.
“It was a domination no matter what the final score was,” head coach Pat Hill said.
In Hill’s 14 years, his Bulldogs have never been roughed up to a point where it felt utterly impossible to reach the end zone or even the red zone for that matter. The ‘Dogs were thrown, shoved and pushed around like a rag doll by the Broncos dressed in orange.
“I’ve said it before: This is an elite football team and there’s no doubt in my mind these guys, if they win out, should play for the national championship,” Hill said. “Defensively, we’ve played some good teams before, but we have never got manhandled like that. We got dominated tonight at the line of scrimmage. That doesn’t happen to us too often.”
Fresno State had 11 possessions that generated a season-low 125 yards of total offense. Quarterback Ryan Colburn, who entered the game with a top 20 passing efficiency, was harassed all evening in the 35 degree weather and completed just six passes for 76 yards—all career lows.
“That was part of the game plan,” Boise State defensive end Ryan Winterswyk said about stopping Colburn. “He’s kind of a dangerous guy. If you pressure him, he gets into the open field he makes things happen. We saw that against Nevada last week. We knew we had to pressure him, get in his face but also contain him.”
With Winterswyk and the Boise State defensive line providing relentless pressure in the Bulldog backfield, Colburn hit on just 26 percent of his passes while throwing two interceptions.
Colburn also lost a fumble on a crucial drive in Boise State territory. With the Broncos nursing a 17-0 lead in the middle of the second quarter, Colburn and the Fresno State offense was finally able to move the ball against the Western Athletic Conference’s top defensive unit and the nation’s second-best in total defense.
Colburn marched the Bulldogs to the Broncos 23-yard line from Fresno State territory after completing three passes for 55 yards. But on 2nd-and-10, Colburn was hit from behind and fumbled. The ‘Dogs would not get that deep into Boise State territory until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, with the game virtually over.
After becoming the first player in Fresno State history to record back-to-back 200 yard performances, running back Robbie Rouse was held in check for most of the night, gaining 70 yards on just 17 carries.
“I think we tackled pretty well tonight,” Winterswyk said. “He is a great runner. The past few games, that scary rushing yards have been going off. We contained him pretty well.”
The offensive line for the ‘Dogs struggled to open up running lanes with underclassman Richard Helepiko and Austin Wentworth both only making the second starts of their career. Colburn was sacked four times and the Bulldog running backs were dropped behind the line of scrimmage numerous times (eight total tackles for loss).
“I really didn’t think we’d get handled like that up front,” Hill said. “We could never get anything going on first down.”
After surprisingly holding Boise State’s explosive offense to just three points while forcing two turnovers in the first quarter, the ‘Dogs’ defense collapsed down the stretch thanks to Fresno State’s inability to extend drives on offense.
“Maybe if the two times we were in scoring position, we could make it a game [by scoring] to give us some confidence,” Hill said. “But we never did anything offensively to give us a jolt, give us a jump.”
Fresno State converted just one third down on 12 tries—a season low—while Boise State thrived, converting 10-of-13.
“I think you always have to give credit where credit is due,” Colburn said. “Give credit to Boise, I thought they played a heck of a game and had a great game plan for us on offense. I thought our defense played their hearts out, we just didn’t give them any chance. We put them on the field too long.”