October 20, 2016, 10 years ago today: Boise State moves to 7-0 by surviving five turnovers—two of them interceptions returned for touchdowns—to edge BYU 28-27 on the blue turf in a Thursday night ESPN matchup. There were some fantastic finishes in the 11-year home-and-home series between these two teams, and this was one of them. Boise State rolled up 571 yards, and it was victorious by one whole point. It was the fifth game in the planned 12-year set between the Broncos and the Cougars (eventually shortened to 11 when BYU moved to the Big 12 in 2023), with Boise State improving to 3-2 during that stretch.
The Broncos continually fought through adversity of their own making in this one. How many ways did they almost give it away? There were also three lost fumbles, a blocked Tyler Rausa field goal, a missed Rausa FG attempt, and perhaps the ultimate kick in the gut: an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Dylan Sumner-Gardner for spiking the ball at the worst possible time. BYU had just failed on an inexplicable fake punt out of its own end zone and was stopped at its two-yard line. A touchdown was almost a layup. Sumner-Gardner’s penalty put the ball back on the 17, and Rausa’s field goal try would sail wide left.
Broncos quarterback Brett Rypien offset his two pick-sixes with three touchdown passes, throwing for 442 yards. But the giveaways would not allow them to shake the Cougars. It was the game that just couldn’t end. The Cougars marched to the Broncos 27 in the final minute but had a field goal blocked by David Moa with 10 seconds left. It came on second down, though, and because the kick hadn’t gone beyond the line of scrimmage, it was recoverable by the offense. So the Cougars were able to get in two more plays before a final Taysom Hill Hail Mary was batted away.
Senior Thomas Sperbeck had nine catches for 109 yards in the game to become Boise State’s career leader in receiving yards, surpassing Titus Young. Sperbeck would end up with 3,601 yards, a mark that still stands today. He also tied Ryan Ikebe’s Broncos record with his 13th career 100-yard game. Sperbeck would break that standard three games later at Hawaii.
The last meeting between these two schools was in 2022 in Boise. BYU moved to the Big 12 the following year, and the Cougars could no longer accommodate Boise State on its non-conference schedule. There could be a one-off game against BYU in Provo in the future, but now that it’s a Power 4 team, it’s extremely unlikely the Cougars would ever visit Boise again. The Broncos are 8-5 all-time against BYU.
(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.)
