Boise State 33, Virginia Tech 30

THE SCORE

Boise State 33, Virginia Tech 30

THE STAR

Kellen Moore. The junior went 23-38 for 215 yards and three touchdowns but more importantly, he went 4-5 on the final drive for 43 yards and the winning touchdown while maintaining the coolness that has made him a household name in the past year.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Broncos outgained the Hokies 383-314 (215-186 through the air and 168-128 on the ground) to help them offset the difference in time of possession (34:20-25:40 Hokies), penalty yardage (55 for the Hokies, 105 for the Broncos), and turnovers (2-1).

THE SPIN

The Broncos keep their hopes for a national championship berth alive by outplaying the Hokies down the stretch. Virginia Tech maintains some hope of making it that far given their high ranking in the coaches poll coming into this game (5th).

In short, the Broncos proved they can play on a high level and the Hokies proved that they may have one of their strongest teams in the past few years.

BLOW-BY-BLOW

While most people have to wait until September 13th for the first Monday Night Football game of the 2010 NFL season, college football fans were given their own treat a week earlier between the #3 Boise State Broncos and the #10 Virginia Tech Hokies. Leading up to this game, many people wondered how Boise State would respond to being given the third ranking in the preseason poll. Before the game, head coach Chris Petersen simply said that they had to “try and win every game, no matter the opponent”.

From the opening snap of the game, the Hokies of Virginia Tech was determined to knock the Boise State Broncos off of their game. While the flea flicker pass was drastically underthrown by Tyrod Taylor, it still resulted in a pass interference penalty and the raucous crowd of over 80,000 started cheering louder. It didn’t last long.

On the second snap of the game, Taylor fumbled the snap and immediately handed the ball to Kellen Moore and the potent Broncos offense. On their sixth snap of the game, Virginia Tech had a punt blocked and gave it to the Broncos on their own 12 yard line. Two plays later, it was 10-0 Boise State.

In the first quarter, the biggest difference between the two teams was discipline. Virginia Tech looked like they wanted to sprint around and make the big hit and get the huge crowd behind them while Boise State looked like they wanted to simply execute their game plan. This lack of discipline was extremely apparent on the Broncos third drive. On a third and long on their first set of downs, Kellen Moore threw over the middle for a fifteen yard gain and the Hokies safety came up and made a big hit on Broncos receiver Austin Pettis. While Hokies safety Eddie Whitley celebrated the big hit, Pettis hopped up and went back to the huddle with a subtle taunt, handing the ball to Whitley as if to say “is that the best you’ve got?”

After an illegal procedure penalty against the Broncos, they threw a screen pass for no gain and then Kellen Moore got hammered in a nine yard sack to set up a 3rd and 24 and the crowd began to rumble. The first big mental error occurred when the Hokies allowed the Broncos to rumble 23 yards on that play to set up a 4th and 1. The next play could very well be the play that we’ll look back on and say that was the play where the Hokies lost the game.

On the Broncos punt, Hokies wide receiver DJ Coles came through the offensive line and ran into the punter after the punt was away and a flag came out. Coles began to head downfield and hit the punter again, knocking him to the ground after the ball had been received. Not done yet, Coles continued downfield and hit another Broncos kick cover man after the tackle had been made. Instead of a 35 yard return and a 1st and 10 from their own 40 yard line, two penalties were called on Coles, 5 yards for running into the punter and another 15 for a personal foul. A few plays later, Kellen Moore threw a beautiful pass from the one yard line (where the ball had been spotted after a Hokies pass interference penalty in the end zone) to Tommy Gallarda who made a diving one handed catch. 17-0 Broncos.

In the first quarter, Virginia Tech had five yards of offense and was penalized four times for 28 yards.

However, with the start of the second quarter came a different Hokies team. After the whistle blew on the first quarter, they marched down the field, going 67 yards on 9 plays to make the score 17-7. The Hokies would actually go on to handle the second quarter, outscoring the Broncos 14-3 but the first half was scattered with mental mistakes by Virginia Tech and a dominate first quarter by the Broncos. It wasn’t until Boise State’s fifth possession that they failed to score and it wasn’t until Virginia Tech’s fourth possession that they even got a first down. Despite that and a laundry list of mental errors, the score at halftime stood at 20-14 Broncos.

From the end of the first quarter until midway through the third quarter, it appeared that the Broncos were sitting on the lead that they had built. Their offense seemed stale and their defense seemed like they had lost a lot of the spark they had in the first quarter. Most of this was probably due to the fact that Virginia Tech stepped up and began playing not only hard but also disciplined. In the third quarter the two teams traded touchdowns and where the first half was marked by defensive heroics, the third was marked by offensive fireworks.

After Boise State fell behind in the second half for the first time since November 23rd, 2007, against Hawaii (which was also the last time the Broncos lost a regular season game; they have since won 25 straight), they answered with a 71 yard touchdown scamper and seemed to retake much of the momentum they had lost in the second and early third quarters. On the ensuing drive, the mental mistakes that had bitten Virginia Tech in the first quarter finally reared their ugly heads on the Boise State side of the field.

The Hokies got backed up to 4th and 10 from the BSU 33 yard line. The 51 yard field goal sailed far to the right but a Boise State kick cover man dove for the block and rolled into the kicker for a five yard penalty. Rather than attempt a 46 yard field goal, Frank Beamer went for the first down and Tyrod Taylor hit his receiver who eluded a defender, and ran the last twenty yards for a 28 yard touchdown pass. Because of Boise State’s blocked extra point and Virginia Tech’s failed two point conversion, the score at the end of 3 stood at Virginia Tech 27-26.

Coming into the fourth quarter, I’m not entirely sure that either team wants to win this game. I think the combination of coaches playcalling getting a bit stale and execution getting a bit sloppy on this humid Maryland night is contributing to the fact that with just under 12 minutes to go in a one point game, I don’t see momentum squarely on one side or another and neither team has shown me that they are capable at this point of putting the game away. Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh as this is the season opener for both teams and both teams are ranked in the top ten so on top of the early season sloppiness, there’s the fact that you’re going up against a very good opposing team, but I just feel like both teams should be showing me more. Whichever team wins this game will look back and see that they had many chances to lose it as well.

Back to the action. Boise State misses a 30 yard field goal after a good, prolonged drive which was reminiscent of the drives they put together at the beginning of the game. Speaking of mental mistakes, Tyrod Taylor scrambles around and tries to make a big play through the air and throws an incomplete pass. However, BSU defensive end Ryan Winterswyk hit Taylor late and drew a 15 yard personal foul penalty; the drive moves on. Third and eight from the Boise State 17 yard line; Taylor throws the pass high and his receiver can’t hang on. Field goal good; Virginia Tech takes a 30-26 lead.

On Boise State’s next possession, they never really got their offense rolling and ended up punting with about five and a half minutes to go in the game. The Hokies tried to run out the clock but then they called a pass play on 3rd and 8 with 2:08 to go and because of an incomplete pass, Kellen Moore and the Broncos get the ball back. After a decent punt, they returned the ball out to their own 45 but an apparent illegal block moved them back. However, the officials waved off the flag so they start their potential final drive at their own 44 with 1:47 to play.

Their first play takes just 8 seconds to get a first down as well as into Virginia Tech territory. On their next play, they gained another good chunk of yardage on a pass play and then gained 15 more yards on a questionable late hit penalty.

1st and 10 from the 13 yard line. An incomplete pass from Moore makes it 2nd and 10 with 1:14 to go. On their next play, Moore throws 13 yards to Austin Pettis for the touchdown and the first sign of life from the Broncos in what feels like ages. They go 56 yards on 5 plays in just 38 seconds.

Virginia Tech starts with the ball at their 35 yard line with 1:02 remaining in the game with two timeouts. On the first play, Taylor went deep the way they haven’t all night long but the senior defensive back Thompson for Boise State knocked the ball away inside his own 20 with 54 seconds left. On 2nd and 10, Taylor was sacked for a loss of a yard. 3rd and 11 with 46 seconds remaining. On 3rd and 11, Taylor threw the ball down the field over the middle to a WIDE OPEN receiver and the ball was underthrown and incomplete. 4th and 11: Taylor goes deep but the receiver drops the ball as he falls out of bounds for a turnover to Boise State.

Game Over.