BOISE, Idaho — Kellen Moore threw three touchdown passes, Doug Martin scored twice and the Bronco defense and special teams did just enough to hold on and give No. 5 Boise State a 37-26 victory over Air Force Saturday.
Moore was precise as usual, completing 23 of 29 passes for 265 yards. The victory was the 45th of his career and put him in a tie with former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy for the most victories all-time by a college quarterback. His second touchdown pass of the day, a 19-yarder to Matt Miller, gave him 122 for his career and pushed him past former BYU quarterback Ty Detmer for fourth best all-time.
Martin rushed for 125 yards on 21 carries, and his 15-yard score gave the Broncos (7-0, 2-0) a 27-13 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter. At the time, the score gave the Broncos back the momentum and brought some relief to fans that aren’t used to seeing close games in the second half.
But Air Force (3-4, 0-3) and its potent running game bullied back in the first meeting of these new conference foes.
The Falcons came in with the nation’s 10th best rushing attack, and they gouged the Broncos’ defense repeatedly with big runs and long drives that chewed up clock and kept Moore and the Boise State offense off the field.
After Martin’s score, the Falcons marched 80 yards in 18 plays and pulled within 27-20 when Asher Clark scored from three yards out. The Falcons’ ground game was led by Mike DeWitt’s 108 yards on 18 carries and the Falcons rushed for a total of 265 yards.
In other games involving Mountain West teams, TCU (5-2, 3-0) compiled 264 rushing yards and Casey Pachall threw for two touchdowns in a 69-0 rout of New Mexico (0-7, 0-2) in Fort Worth.
PACIFIC-12
Oregon routs Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. - Playing without Darron Thomas and LaMichael James, No. 10 Oregon bulldozed injury riddled Colorado 45-2.
The Ducks lost none of their quick-strike scoring ability without their injured quarterback and running back. Thomas was out with a knee injury and James missed his second consecutive game while recovering from a dislocated elbow.
With Bryan Bennett under center and Kenjon Barner at tailback, the Ducks (6-1, 4-0) used four drives that averaged just 1:36 each to build a 29-0 lead after one quarter.
In other games involving Pacific-12 teams, Zach Maynard threw for one touchdown and ran for another and California (4-3, 1-3) shut down Utah (3-4, 0-4) 34-10 in San Francisco. Isi Sofele ran for 84 yards and a score, Keenan Allen caught a touchdown pass and Josh Hill returned an interception 32 yards for a score. ... Stepfan Taylor, Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson powered eighth-ranked Stanford (7-0, 5-0) to a school-record 446 yards rushing to blow past visiting No. 25 Washington (5-2, 4-1) 65-21.
WESTERN ATHLETIC Nevada tops Fresno St.
RENO, Nev. - Cody Fajardo passed for 313 yards and a touchdown and ran for 61 yards and another score as Nevada held off Fresno State for a 45-38 victory.
Fajardo’s 23-yard touchdown run with 2:15 left proved to be the game-winner as Nevada (4-3, 2-0) claimed sole possession of first place. Fajardo’s touchdown run gave Nevada a 45-31 lead, but Fresno State (3-5, 2-1) responded with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Rashad Evans with 1:06 to play, cutting Nevada’s lead in half.
Nevada also got 198 yards rushing and a touchdown from running back Mike Ball.
In another game involving WAC teams, backup quarterback Colby Cameron led Louisiana Tech (3-4, 2-1) to 10 fourth quarter points as the Bulldogs pushed past Utah State (2-5, 0-2) 24-17 in Logan, Utah.
Sports, Pages 36 on 10/23/2011