Vandals dismantled

BOISE – Idaho dropped any chance it had to upset 17th-ranked Boise State Saturday afternoon, though it may be hard to believe an upset was a consideration after the Broncos put a 58-14 whipping on the Vandals before 30,681 fans at Bronco Stadium.

“For the first half it was a football game,” Idaho running back Deonte Jackson said. “They were scoring, we were scoring. Plays were being made, plays were being stopped.”

“All I can do is commend them. Whatever they did in that locker room during that halftime break, they just came out a whole different team. They really played a game.”

Especially in the third quarter, just after the Vandals fumbled away a chance to put life back in this rivalry that Boise State has snuffed out with nine straight wins.

The Broncos (10-1, 7-0), who will play at No. 13 Hawaii Friday for the Western Athletic Conference championship, had what could have been a back-breaking drive late in the first half to build a 24-14 lead.

But the Vandals (1-10, 0-7), who finish the season at home Saturday against Utah State, had other plans.

Three plays into the third quarter, Nathan Enderle connected with Jackson for a 47-yard pickup to the BSU 13. On the next play, Enderle and Brian Flowers couldn’t execute a handoff and Boise’s Ryan Winterswyk recovered on the 16.

“Soon as that ball came out of our hands, that changed the entire momentum of the ballgame,” Idaho coach Robb Akey said. “We got our tails whacked in the second half. They played their tails off. My hat’s off to them – they’re a darn good football team.”

The Vandals didn’t cave in right away. The defense forced a punt after three first downs, but Kyle Brotzman’s kick went out of bounds on the Idaho 3. Then the Vandals’ offense had three straight three-and-outs, each followed by a Broncos touchdown, and suddenly it was 45-14.

“We talked a long time this entire season about being a second-half team, no matter how the first half goes,” BSU coach Chris Petersen said. “We almost want to pride ourselves on that aspect of the game more than the first half. To those kids’ credit, they came out and played harder than they did the first half.”

The destruction was swift, taking just 8 minutes, 23 seconds.

The Vandals picked up 9 yards on nine plays. T.J. Conley punted three times for an average of just 39.3. Marty Tadman returned those three punts a total of 38 yards. The Broncos’ offense ran 10 plays for 132 yards, including a long strike from Taylor Tharp to Titus Young for a 58-yard touchdown on the first play after the second punt.

Tharp finished 22 of 31 for 282 yards and four touchdowns, three to freshman Austin Pettis, who had eight receptions for 139 yards. Ian Johnson rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns as the Broncos piled up 556 yards of offense.

“This one hurts,” said UI linebacker David Vobora, who had a game-high 12 tackles. “We did some things early and some things early hurt us. I think they came back to those things in the second half. We didn’t make the adjustments we needed to.

“They outscheme people – that’s what they do. Hats off to them. They execute everything really well. We didn’t execute.”