CARSON, Calif. — The Boise State football team led 13-3 and could have gone for the knockout punch midway through the second quarter against No. 21 San Diego State.
But instead of going for it on fourth-and-2 from the 5-yard line, the Broncos elected for a 22-yard field goal to take a 16-3 lead.
Given life, the Aztecs took advantage.
San Diego State scored the next 24 points to take a double-digit lead and never looked back, handing the Broncos a devastating 27-16 loss at Dignity Health Sports Park on Friday to end the regular season.
With the loss, Boise State was eliminated from the Mountain Division race and now will await a bowl invitation Dec. 5.
The Broncos (7-5, 5-3) finished with five regular-season losses for the first time since they went 6-5 back in 1998.
“There’s nothing that can be said to make us feel good about what happened today,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “There are no moral victories. So today we learn from what happened and we grow forward.”
The Aztecs (11-1, 7-1), who never have had a 12-win season, will host the Mountain West title game Dec. 4 against Mountain Division champ Utah State (9-3, 6-2).
Jake Stetz might have earned some team MVP votes and he didn’t play. The All-Mountain West offensive line candidate missed the game because of a knee injury — and the line struggled badly without him.
Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier was sacked four times and knocked to the ground on several other plays as a talented San Diego State defensive front had him running for his life all game.
Things were so bad that Avalos finally decided to get Bachmeier out late in the fourth quarter to avoid him getting injured.
“Hank obviously got hit a ton of times there and his mobility wasn’t great and we were unable to protect him,” said Avalos, a native of nearby Corona, Calif. “Hank battled today. Hank did an unbelievable job considering all the pressure and all the hits he got and he was hanging in the pocket. There was nothing on Hank.”
The game flipped when two things happened — Boise State elected to kick a field goal instead of going for it near the goal line in the second quarter and when the Aztecs made a switch at quarterback to Jordon Brookshire for the injured Luke Johnson.
As for the field goal, Avalos gave a short and simple “no” when asked if he considered going for it.
San Diego State had done little on offense when Brookshire entered with 3:04 left in the half. He had played in each of the first four games of the season, but he hadn’t played since Oct. 15 because of an injury.
Brookshire passed for 192 yards and a touchdown for the Aztecs, who celebrated at their temporary home in the Los Angeles suburbs after completing their first 11-win regular season in 99 years of football.
“It feels great, and it’s been a while since something like that has happened,” said Brookshire, who capped the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run through the heart of Boise State’s defense. “It’s a real confidence-booster, and I feel so grateful to be around this group of seniors and to be able to pull this off for them on their day.”
Jesse Matthews caught nine passes for 133 yards, and Greg Bell rushed for a touchdown — but Brookshire transformed the struggling San Diego State offense when he took over on the penultimate drive of the first half. On their next four drives, the Aztecs turned a 13-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
Aztecs coach Brady Hoke said he inserted Brookshire primarily because Johnson was “banged up,” but Brookshire immediately showed it was the right decision.
“There’s no question about it,” Hoke said. “Coming out after halftime there was an energy that may not have been there earlier, and you could really feel it. I also think we got on our heels a little bit in the first half defensively, and then that wore off.”
He immediately led San Diego State on a long touchdown drive and after the Broncos quickly went three and out, got the Aztecs back into field goal range just before the half.
San Diego State scored 10 points in the final 1:30 of the half and then used a long touchdown drive to start the third quarter to turn a 16-3 Boise State lead into a 20-16 lead for the Aztecs.
“We got them to switch to more of a passing offense which was really good for us because we knew they wanted to come in and establish the run,” senior nickel Kekaula Kaniho said. “We just have to do a better job of making adjustments.”
Bachmeier’s pass was tipped and intercepted on Boise State’s drive and San Diego State scored again to suddenly lead by double digits at 27-16.
Boise State’s start was great. The rest of it was disastrous.
It was particularly bad offensively in the second half. The Broncos ran 32 plays for 71 yards, didn’t score, threw two interceptions, got sacked five times and went 2-for-7 on third down — all in the third and fourth quarters.
Patrick McMorris made two of the Aztecs’ three interceptions, and Jonah Tavai got three of their four sacks as the defense harassed and hit Bachmeier throughout the second half, forcing backup Jack Sears to play the final two series.
“We just couldn’t execute,” Shakir said. “We couldn’t do our jobs, couldn’t win our one-on-ones. It comes down to us players executing and going out there and doing our job.”
