BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Boise State scored on its first offensive play Saturday and never looked back in a 42-14 victory over Colorado State.
Senior D.J. Harper went untouched on an 80-yard touchdown run, and the Broncos (9-2, 6-1 Mountain West) scored on five of their six first-half possessions against the Rams (3-8, 2-5) to keep their conference title hopes alive. Boise State entered the day tied with Fresno State and San Diego State in the Mountain West.
Harper, a sixth-year senior playing in the final home game of his career, finished with 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Quarterback Joe Southwick completed 17-of-20 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than one half of action. He connected with Matt Miller (5 yards) and Holden Huff (18 yards) for first-half touchdown passes.
Senior receiver Chris Potter had a 12-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation for the Broncos, which led 35-0 at halftime. It marked the sixth time this season that Boise State held its opponent scoreless in the first half.
Colorado State trailed 42-0 when it finally scored on a career-long 72-yard run by Chris Nwoke with 2:09 in the third quarter. Nwoke finished with a game-high 119 yards on 10 carries. The Rams managed only 229 total yards and committed three turnovers in their last chance to win a road game this season. Colorado State is 0-5 in away games this season.
Colorado State got its final score on a 30-yard pass from Conner Smith to Marquise Law with 4:09 left. It was just the third passing touchdown yielded by Boise State this season.
Backup quarterback Grant Hedrick had a 1-yard touchdown run for the Broncos, which wound up with 503 yards, their most this season since rolling up 599 against Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 15.
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| Scoring Summary |
| BOISE | D.J. Harper 80 yd run (Michael Frisina kick) |
| BOISE | D.J. Harper 2 yd run (Michael Frisina kick) |
| BOISE | Chris Potter 12 yd run (Michael Frisina kick) |
| BOISE | Matt Miller 5 yd pass from Joe Southwick (Michael Frisina kick) |
| BOISE | Holden Huff 18 yd pass from Joe Southwick (Michael Frisina kick) |
| BOISE | Grant Hedrick 1 yd run (Michael Frisina kick) |
| COLOST | Chris Nwoke 72 yd run (Jared Roberts kick) |
| COLOST | Marquise Law 30 yd pass from Conner Smith (Jared Roberts kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| COLOST | BOISE | |
| First Downs | 10 | 25 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 4-15 | 4-10 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 1-1 | 0-1 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 55-229 | 63-503 |
| Rushes-Yds | 35-157 | 41-269 |
| Passing Yds | 72 | 234 |
| Kick Return Yds | 75 | 41 |
| Punt Return Yds | 0 | 47 |
| Passes | 8-20-2 | 19-22-0 |
| Punts | 8-343 | 4-188 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-1 | 2-2 |
| Penalties-Yds | 7-55 | 6-70 |
| Time of Poss. | 29:32 | 30:28 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| COLOST: Chris Nwoke 10-119, Donnell Alexander 20-58, Tommey Morris 2-2, Conner Smith 1--4, M.J. McPeek 2--18 |
| BOISE: D.J. Harper 10-107, Jay Ajayi 8-67, Grant Hedrick 7-28, Drew Wright 6-23, Chris Potter 2-23, Jack Fields 5-12, Joe Southwick 2-9, Shane Williams-Rhodes 1-0 |
| PASSING |
| COLOST: Conner Smith 4-11-53-0, M.J. McPeek 4-9-19-2 |
| BOISE: Joe Southwick 17-20-216-0, Grant Hedrick 2-2-18-0 |
| RECEIVING |
| COLOST: Marquise Law 3-57, Donnell Alexander 2-8, Crockett Gillmore 1-8, Joe Hansley 1-2, Charles Lovett 1--3 |
| BOISE: Kirby Moore 4-36, Holden Huff 3-59, D.J. Harper 3-32, Dan Paul 2-24, Matt Miller 2-24, Chris Potter 2-15, Aaron Burks 1-15, Geraldo Boldewijn 1-15, Jay Ajayi 1-14 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| Colorado State | 6th Mountain West | 3-5 | 4-8 |
| Boise State | 1st Mountain West | 7-1 | 11-2 |
