There’s always Dylan Riley talk around here, as the Boise State star has regained the national lead in rushing yards with 937. And then there’s this: Saturday’s game against Texas State will feature two of the top four rushers in the country. The Bobcats bring in their own home run ball, Torrance Burgess Jr., who’s fourth with 889 yards. Riley’s averaging 6.9 yards per carry and Burgess an eye-popping 7.5, although Burgess has the benefit of a 224-yard game against the woeful Colorado State defense. That’s when he scored four of his five touchdowns. But Texas State is fourth in the nation in rushing at 272 yards per game—the Broncos are seventh at 238.
RILEY DOESN’T WANT TO WAIT THIS WEEK
Riley now needs just 37 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for the second straight season. That would seem like a layup in the Halloween tilt on the Blue. But if the Bobcats do to Riley for four quarters what Washington State did for three last Saturday, it won’t happen. Such was the weirdness of Riley’s game against the Cougs. His first 10 carries went for just 23 yards. And his final three attempts covered 105 yards and two touchdowns. Riley was totally bottled up by Wazzu—until he wasn’t. And you can’t take those two long TDs away. You check the bottom line, and it’s 128 yards on 13 carries, 9.8 yards per tote. And it looks like just another day at the office for Riley.
IT WAS NOT A WORK OF ART
Boise State survived what ended up as a trap game in the 31-10 win at Washington State—its first-ever road win over the Cougars. It was tense until the fourth quarter. Wazzu took a page out of the Broncos’ time-of-possession book, going 73 yards on a 16-play touchdown drive that took 6:44 off the clock in the second period. But that would be Washington State’s only TD of the game. Possession time evened out after WSU tied the game late 10-10 in the third when Maddux Madsen marched Boise State 70 yards in 15 plays lasting 7:14, taking control of the contest early in the fourth. Then came Riley’s two explosives. The Broncos defense avoided the dreaded explosives—the Cougs’ longest play was 26 yards.
PUSHING THE POCKET
The sacks are indeed back for Boise State, and they’d be a huge factor if they materialize again versus Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson Saturday night. The Broncos’ pass rush was relentless at Washington State last week, logging four sacks among eight QB hits. Boise State now has 12 sacks over the past three games and 18 for the season. Defensive tackle Lopez Sanusi is the guy on the rise. The NFL Academy England product had two sacks of Wazzu quarterback Owen Eshelman, and he’s now tied with Jayden Virgin-Morgan for the team lead with three. Texas State has done a good job protecting Jackson, allowing only 11 sacks so far this season—about 1½ per game. As has been the case all season, the trenches will tell us a lot on Halloween.
NUMBERS DON’T DO JONES JUSTICE
Rasean Jones’ Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award is a good excuse to talk about the Rocky Mountain product. = Jones got the nod after five catches for 69 yards in Boise State’s win at Wazzu. His 33-yard grab on the Broncos’ second possession of the game set up their first touchdown. Jones, despite missing the Fresno State game, still leads Boise State with 28 catches for 428 yards and a touchdown. The thing is, those receptions would be half-again more in many other offenses. Jones would have racked up several 100-yard games by now. Is that a concern in the Broncos’ hopes to retain him next year? Maybe not. Jones will be a focal point next season, and he could patiently watch the Boise State offense evolve that way as a new quarterback takes over.
KELLEN’S WHOLE ENCHILADA
It would be a shock to see Kellen Moore here Saturday night for his Boise State statue unveiling. Things are not going well for him in New Orleans right now, and it wouldn’t be a good look. But Kellen’s being honored as the winningest quarterback in college football history, so let’s look at his playing career the way only the Scott Slant can. Or would, anyway. Here is his total, total, total career. Combining Prosser High, Boise State and the Dallas Cowboys, Moore threw for 28,813 yards, 319 touchdowns and only 68 interceptions. That’s in exactly 100 games. As a Bronco, he tossed 142 TDs against only 28 picks. Kellen’s 173 touchdowns at Prosser are still a state of Washington record.
HEARING ALL ABOUT THE BEAVS
The national media has gifted Boise State with a chip on the shoulder. The Broncos like those. Various College Football Playoff bracket projections now have Oregon State or New Mexico in as the Group of 6 representative. It’s OSU that’s on a national PR run with its suddenly dynamic offense—and the “decision” announcement by the country’s leading wide receiver, Jesse Legree, that he’ll remain in Corvallis next year. Those Beavers are somethin’, though. They played well in their losses to Houston and Texas Tech. They didn’t know how good they were. Are Oregon State’s two losses to the Cougars and Red Raiders better than Boise State’s one to Oregon? Despite the Ducks’ faceplant last Saturday, it’s evened out somewhat as Houston and Texas Tech were both knocked off, too.
GEM STATE CHECK-IN
Around the horn in-state, Idaho hosts Portland State Saturday, and Idaho State visits Utah Tech in the Big Sky. The Bengals are going for their sixth win of the year and are favored to do it. Getting a seventh victory to clinch a winning season will be the challenge. After this, ISU is home against Montana State, at Montana, and home versus the Vandals. The Bengals have had just five winning seasons in the past 30 years—and not a one since 2018, so it would be a big, big deal for coach Cody Hawkins and his team. They were 6-6 last year. For top-ranked College of Idaho, it’s been rout after rout, the latest one 63-28 over Eastern Oregon. The 7-0 Yotes go to Arizona Christian Saturday night.
AC BOISE LOOKS FOR THE ZENITH
What a payoff for Athletic Club Boise in its first season. After shutting out Fort Wayne FC 2-0 on the road last Saturday, AC Boise will host a first-round game in the USL League One Playoffs this Sunday at 6 p.m. The opponent is One Knoxville SC, the defending USL1 champion. ACB climbed to the No. 3 seed in the playoffs with the takedown of Fort Wayne, getting goals from Jesús Barea and Thomas Amang, along with a six-save shutout from goalkeeper Jonathan Kliewer. Boise hasn’t defeated Knoxville this season, falling 2-1 on the home pitch in July before rallying from a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw in Tennessee in August.
THE STEELIES’ HOCKEY LADDER
The Idaho Steelheads, after sweeping New Mexico in three games on opening weekend, got swept back on home ice in two last weekend by the Allen Americans. One of the losses was in overtime, so the Steelheads are now 3-1-1 on the young season. The Steelies now head for Texas to face the Americans on Thursday morning (for their annual October School Game) and Friday. Coach Everett Sheen has another example of “you can get there from here” for his club. Matthew Seminoff, who former Steelheads play-by-play man Will Hoenike points out played five games for Idaho in 2024-25, has been called up by the Dallas Stars and made his NHL debut last Sunday. Seminoff was a sixth-round draft pick of Dallas in 2022.
RICE CAN TINKER THURSDAY NIGHT
Bismarck State, an NAIA school, puts a wrap on Boise State’s exhibition schedule Thursday night in ExtraMile Arena. Not to take anything for granted, but this could be a chance for coach Leon Rice go a little further down his bench and see what’s there before the games start counting. Four potential contributors played sparingly in the 109-81 win over Washington a week and a half ago: returnees Ethan Lathan and Bhan Buom and transfers JQ Stanback and Jikany Deang. Lathan was good on his one field goal attempt—he was the only one of the four who scored.
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October 28, 1962: Y.A. Tittle of the New York Giants becomes the third quarterback in NFL history to throw seven touchdown passes in a game in a 49-34 win over Washington at Yankee Stadium. Tittle went on to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player for the second time (the first being in 1957 with the San Francisco 49ers). Minnesota’s Joe Kapp would match the feat in 1969—then there was a 44-year gap until Denver’s Peyton Manning and Philadelphia’s Nick Foles each did it in 2013. New Orleans’ Drew Brees, the new Pro Football Hall of Famer, also threw for seven TDs in a game in 2015.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
