Boise St. routs Utah in MAACO Bowl

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS

Doug Martin shook Boise State out of its brief postseason funk with an 84-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and the 10th-ranked Broncos dominated the rest of the way Wednesday night to beat No. 20 Utah 26-3 in the MAACO Bowl.

Boise State had turned the ball over three times and was trailing 3-0 when Martin went up the middle and outran Utah defenders down the left side to give the Broncos a much-needed spark. From there, Boise State’s defense shut the Utes out and Kellen Moore threw two touchdown passes as the Broncos cruised to an easy win.

The victory was small consolation for Boise State, which missed out on a possible Rose Bowl appearance on two missed field goals last month against Nevada. But the dominating win against a team that was at one time ranked No. 6 in the country was a reminder why the Broncos rode high in the polls before suffering their only loss in two years.

Martin’s run came after a mistake-prone first quarter in which Boise State kept giving the ball away and making costly mistakes. Utah wasn’t much better, and when the Broncos began finding their stride the game quickly turned one-sided.

Moore, who fumbled on the third play of the game and threw an interception later in the first quarter, rebounded with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Shoemaker in the closing seconds of the first half to give Boise State a 16-3 lead. He added another 18-yard TD pass to Austin Pettis in the third quarter in a game that was more lopsided than the final score.

Boise State (12-1), which had been ranked as high as No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll this year and once seemed headed for a New Year’s Day bowl, came into the game a 17-point favorite but early on looked little like the team that was everyone’s favorite BCS buster. That changed with Martin’s run, with the Broncos taking control on both sides of the ball against a team that was a BCS team itself two years ago and had won nine straight bowl games.