The #4 BCS-ranked Boise State Broncos fell to the #19 Nevada Wolf Pack in a thrilling overtime game. Sadly it took place with a 10:30 EST start time, meaning it ended well after midnight for most people. For those of you who missed it, here’s a quick synopsis, along with video/screencaps.
Until late in the 3rd quarter, it looked like this was going to be just another of Boise’s many wins (I’ll even admit that I switched channels at points to check out some basketball).
The story of this game will end up being the two missed field goals by Kyle Brotzman, but it should be the complete no-show by the Boise defense. They gave up an absurd 528 yards, which allowed Nevada to get back into the game and with 5 minutes to go, the two teams found themselves tied at 24. That’s when things got crazy.
Boise scored on this fantastic touchdown by Doug Martin on a screen pass:
It looked like that might be it. But Colin Kaepernick led the Wolf Pack on a touchdown drive to tie it up with 10 seconds left. At that point, overtime looked like a sure thing until Kellen Moore unloaded this bomb to Titus Young:
Boise had this game wrapped up again, until a missed field goal forced overtime. In OT, Boise State missed another field goal, and Nevada made theirs, ending any hopes of a BCS Championship for the Broncos. A Few more notes:
- Both missed field goals (especially the first one) looked really, really close. For some reason, Nevada has shorter goalposts than other schools, which made the call even more difficult. Sports by Brooks took a look at it, but I’m still not convinced. If anything, I think all goalposts should be raised, or some sort of technology used to ensure proper calls, which makes it strange that Nevada (other schools may too, I’m not sure) is allowed to keep these low posts. If I was a Boise State fan, I’d be furious about this.
- Unfortunately, many people (SEC apologists, I’m looking at you) are going to look at this game and argue that Boise should never have been in the championship discussion, whereas had the first field goal gone through, they’d be right on track. In one play it goes from “what a gutsy win” to “maybe they were never good”. This is one reason to support a college football playoff. Why should one 3-point road loss to a team with nothing to lose disqualify a team from contention? When one element of sports is good fortune, it’s not reasonable. Plenty of other championship contenders have had close-calls. I don’t know about you, but I’d still like to see Kellen Moore & Company play a meaningful game against a top-tier team from a major conference.
- How can people defend the college overtime rules? I understand that it’s good to give both teams a chance with the ball, but why start on the 25? (I won’t even get into inflated stats or the removal of field position and special teams. I’ve got a full overtime analysis in the works.) Once Brotzman missed the 2nd field goal, the Boise defense had no chance to redeem themselves for a terrible game. All Nevada had to do was run 3 times and then try a field goal. If they made it, great; if not, they’d try 2OT.
- I haven’t seen anything from the bowl-prediction folks yet, so I’m not sure where the Broncos are headed. At any rate, it’s surely a disappointing end to Kellen Moore’s career. He’ll have a tough decision to make regarding the NFL. A number of his offensive teammates are Seniors and will be headed out (though running back Doug Martin, who turned some heads tonight and has quietly been putting up very good numbers, is a Junior as well). It’ll be interesting to see where the draft gurus place him and whether or not he’ll try to avoid a Sam Bradford situation by leaving early.
- On a lighter note, I loved the call in the Moore-to-Titus bomb (about :25 in): “Unbelievable! He supermanned and velcroed it!” Well done.
I’ve posted a few screenshots of the Nevada celebration and aftermath (Kellen Moore face?) here. (FYI, I launched that site (instntrply.com) to post screencaps and videos to keep that stuff from clogging up this site, and because yfrog and Twitpic are a pain). You can keep up on Twitter.
