Malik Sherrod rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns, and Fresno State’s defense came up with five interceptions as the Bulldogs claimed both the Milk Can Trophy and the Season 29 Mountain West Championship on Saturday with a 31-17 victory.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty gained 279 total yards and scored a pair of touchdowns, but Malachi Nelson—who came into the game having thrown just five picks all season—went just 15-of-24 for 208 yards with the five interceptions.
Linebacker Tuasivi Nomura came up with two of them, both of them inside the redzone. The first late in the first half with Boise State driving for points. But the second one was massive, as he intercepted a pass on third and goal from the five and took it 57 yards to give Fresno some breathing room.
“I’ve challenged the defense all season to step up and help out the offense, and boy did they pick a time to do it,” said Coach JasonUK after the win over their rivals. “Those guys struggled to contain that demon running back of theirs, but boy did they step up when it mattered most.”
Mikey Keene had a solid game, throwing for 148 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 pass attempts. He also had a huge run of 62 yards on the second play for the Fresno offense on an option keeper and looked destined for the endzone. But he was stripped from behind inside the 20 for a heartbreaking turnover.
Sherrod scored on runs of 50 yds and 66 yds, and Jalen Moss got wide open behind the defense for a 60-yd touchdown catch shortly before halftime to give Fresno a 24-10 lead heading into the break.
“We had some really big plays on offense today, more than we typically do,” JasonUK said. “It made it much easier for us to put up points, and force Boise into having to use the forward pass.”
Korey Foreman continued to make his case for national defensive player of the year. He sacked Nelson twice, pressured him three other times, and sniffed out a screen play late in the game that resulted in another sack.
Third down conversions also told the story of the game. Fresno State succeeded on six of their nine attempts, including the 60-yd touchdown pass. Meanwhile, the Broncos converted just once in seven tries, and failed on a fourth down attempt as well.
Las Vegas, NV - Coach Roc and Malachi Nelson appeared to have turned the corner at the midway point of the season. After starting 1-4 and having some fairly egregious turnover issues, the gameplan tightened up, Nelson stopped trying to play hero ball, and the Broncos finished the season 6-1 and made the conference championship.
Countless times, the Broncos battled back stayed true themselves and eeked out tough wins. However, that all ended in disastrous fashion in Vegas for the MWC Championship. Nelson nearly doubled his season long interception total in one game with quite a few boneheaded reads. It didn't help that Fresno St's d-line wreaked havoc on Nelson all game. Coach Jsence came in with a gameplan to stop Alshon Jeanty and that was bout the only thing he didn't do. Jeanty constantly got the Broncos in striking distance, accounting for well over 60% of the offense tonight, however, the Bulldogs were the epitome of a bend don't break defense and picked nelson off 3 times in the redzone which proved to be the difference.
Despite this, the Broncos had brought the game within one score and had forced a fumble on the onside kick, only to whiff on the ball several times before the Bulldog hands team came up with the ball, and promptly nailed the Broncos coffin shut to complete a game that BSU had no business being in to begin with.
The season is not yet over for Coach Roc and the Broncos, as they do have a bowl game to flail about in. The leak going around about Coach Roc's potential departure to... pastures elsewhere (greener or not) is not going away, as many speculate that Boise just isn't a good fit for Coach Roc's tendencies. Time will tell however, and hopefull the Broncos cancap off an up and down season with a bowl win.
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