October 12, 2019: For the first time in 11 years, three different Boise State players throw touchdown passes in the same game, and an Albertsons Stadium record crowd of 36,902 is there to watch it. With the Broncos leading 17-7 early in the second quarter, they lost true freshman starter Hank Bachmeier to an injury after he had thrown a first quarter scoring pass. But Chase Cord came on to throw for three TDs and Jaylon Henderson one, finishing masterfully in a 59-37 win over Hawaii.
In order of appearance, Bachmeier was just 3-of-9 before leaving the game in the second quarter, but he did cover 58 yards and had a beautiful TD strike to John Hightower. Cord threw his own dime into Hightower’s hands on one of his three scoring throws as he went 12-of-18 for 175 yards. And Henderson was solid, going 6-of-10 for 82 yards and his first career TD.
Actually, five different Boise State players took snaps from center in the first quarter alone—wildcatters Khalil Shakir and Hightower in addition to the three quarterbacks. There was a wildcat option featuring Hightower and Akilian Butler (called back on a forward lateral) and a wide receiver pass with Hightower on which he tucked and ran. Meanwhile, true freshman George Holani threw a personal kitchen sink at the Rainbow Warriors, scoring the first three touchdowns of his college career, two as a receiver and one as a rusher.
The record crowd acted like it. It was Boise State’s first sellout since Chris Petersen’s return to the Blue with Washington in 2015, and fans deserved a lot of credit in this one. Stephen Tsai of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser blogged five minutes into the game, “This is the loudest crowd of UH’s three road games.” And that included one in front of a throng of 67,000 fans at Husky Stadium.
From there, it was an injury-riddled quarterback carousel for the eventual Mountain West champions. Bachmeier would miss the next game due to his hip pointer, and Cord started Boise State’s only regular season loss at BYU. Bachmeier returned for a win at San Jose State but suffered a serious shoulder injury that would keep him out until the Las Vegas Bowl in December. Cord then led the Broncos to victory against Wyoming but absorbed a shoulder injury of his own and never saw the field again. Henderson started the next four games, all wins, and was MVP of the MW title game (also versus Hawaii).
For those who like to reminisce, four different Broncos threw TD passes in a 49-14 win over Utah State in 2008, and only two were quarterbacks. Kellen Moore tossed two of them and backup QB Mike Coughlin another. The other two came on trickeration—from wide receiver Vinny Perretta, who connected with Jeremy Childs, and wideout Tanyon Bissell, who also found Childs on a 57-yard double-pass. A classic Coach Pete offensive day.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
