BOISE, Idaho””Coming into Friday night’s game against Fresno State, Boise State head coach Chris Petersen didn’t expect a blowout.
But his Broncos handed Fresno State its first shutout in 12 years after manhandling the Bulldogs en route to a 51-0 victory.
“It’s certainly not how I thought the game was going to go,” Petersen said. “I was very worried about this game because of the emotional games that we played up to this and what we got next week. Hats off to our guys. They listened to us. They studied tape hard. They have tremendous respect for Fresno. I think when they do that they are going to play well.”
During the week, Petersen firmly believed that Pat Hill’s Bulldogs were going to give his Broncos their best shot.
After coming off a one-point heartbreaking loss to now-No. 18 Nevada, Petersen expected a highly-contested game with the ‘Dogs. Against Nevada, Fresno State held a slim 34-28 lead deep into the fourth quarter. With the ‘Dogs playing very well against a ranked opponent, Petersen expected Fresno State to come into Bronco Stadium and test his Broncos.
“What I’m waiting for is one of those games where we have to go fight in the second half and I’m thinking this might be it,” Petersen said. “I think these kids will be up to the challenge.”
But it wasn’t. After the ‘Dogs held the Boise State offense to three points and two early turnovers in the first quarter, quarterback Kellen Moore rebounded and shook off his interception and fumble to torch the secondary for 333 yards and four touchdowns.
“It was a different start than we had in the past, but [give] credit to Fresno,” Petersen said. “Fresno was probably a little more athletic than we have anticipated. We played against those guys last year, a lot of those guys. Their plan of attack was certainly different than we have seen in the past. They were bringing a lot more blitzes than they showed. It took us a minute to settle down and try to adapt.”
With the loss, Fresno State drops to 6-4 and 4-3 in the WAC and Boise State improves to 10-0.