Boise St. program keeps on rolling
LOGAN — Utah State looks at Boise State and can only envy at this point.
They're winning games, which equates to conference titles and bowl berths, and they have the attitude they will accept nothing less.
"I think it's fair to say that they are a team that believes they are going to win every week no matter who they play," Utah State football coach Brent Guy said. "Sometimes when they get behind or don't play well early ... things like (turnovers) don't get them flustered like it does with other teams, even a team like us."
Case in point: Last week, Boise State fumbled in the San Jose State end zone on its opening drive. Instead of getting flustered, the nationally ranked Broncos forced two stops and took a 14-0 lead.
After San Jose State trimmed the lead to 14-7, the Broncos didn't allow another score en route to the 42-7 laugher.
"We start and have some good momentum and then if we lose it we can't gain it back until we get another spark," Guy said. "They just keep on plugging away and know that something good is going to happen offensively, defensively or on special teams. I think that's always been part of the magic that they've had since they've started winning all those conference titles consecutively all those years they have."
Utah State has lost four games in which it led in the fourth quarter.
The Aggies (0-9, 0-5), losers of 16 straight games, host the No. 19 Broncos (8-1, 5-0) Saturday at 1 p.m. at Romney Stadium. The game can be seen live on KJZZ.
The Broncos have won seven conference titles since 1999 (two Big West titles and five straight Western Athletic Conference championships). Since winning their first WAC title in 2002, the Broncos are 55-7 overall and 39-1 in league play. That setback was a 27-7 loss to Fresno State in 2005 when the Broncos went 9-4 overall and 7-1 in league play.
The balanced Broncos lead the league in scoring defense (20.8 points per game), total defense (306.7 yards per game) and pass defense (186.4 ypg), and are second in scoring (41.8 ppg) and rushing (207.1 ypg), and are third in passing (274.7 ypg).
Running back Ian Johnson, who didn't play against the Aggies last year in Boise, leads the league in touchdowns with 12 in seven games. He is second in rushing at 103.7 yards per game.
"They're still very good at running the football and play-passing off of it," Guy said. "Although Ian Johnson is not the guy carrying the load all the time, they've spread it out a little with the two younger guys who are playing real well right now, too."
Jeremy Avery is rushing for 62.6 yards per game, while D.J. Harper is rushing for 43 per game.
Quarterback Taylor Tharp is 189-of-283 passing for 2,274 yards and 21 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. Wide receiver Jeremy Childs is his favorite target. He has hauled in 60 catches for 789 yards and eight touchdowns.
Boise State, which has won six straight games in the series, leads the all-time series 9-4 and is 5-2 in games played in Logan.
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