BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…October 24, 2014, 10 years ago today:
Boise State avenges a 17-point defeat at BYU the previous season by blasting the Cougars 55-30 on the blue turf. The Broncos built a 41-16 halftime lead behind the passing of senior quarterback Grant Hedrick, who finished with a career-high 410 yards through the air. That was the seventh-best mark in Boise State history at the time—only Ryan Dinwiddie, Kellen Moore and Jim McMillan had thrown for more yards in a game. Hedrick also tossed four touchdown passes and added a rushing TD.
Hedrick was 24-of-31 on the night for a completion percentage of 77 percent. That lifted his season accuracy to 72.5 percent, then tops in the nation. His pass efficiency rating rose to151.1, which was phenomenal considering his 11 interceptions on the season. This came four weeks after many thought the sky was falling, as Hedrick had thrown four interceptions in a 28-14 loss at Air Force (he also had four picks in the season opener against Ole Miss in the Georgia Dome). But from here, it was Destination: Fiesta Bowl.
It was a 31-point explosion in the second quarter that put the game away. And there was one sequence that took much of the wind out of BYU’s sails. Boise State looked to get good field position when the Cougars were forced to punt from their own 18 after another three-and-out. Scott Arellano boomed his punt 76 yards, coming to rest at the Bronco six-yard line. BYU, trailing only 13-0, had changed the field position scenario and was pumped to get a defensive stop. On the first play of the Boise State possession, Jay Ajayi peeled off a 16-yard run. On the second, Hedrick hit Thomas Sperbeck for a 78-yard touchdown that brought the house down (what a way for Sperbeck to score his first career TD).
Boise State rolled up 637 yards on the Cougars, and it wasn’t just Hedrick’s passing. Ajayi rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first rusher to top 100 yards that season against BYU. The Cougars were roasted in the Salt Lake media for their performance on the Blue. Dick Harmon of the Deseret News called for coach Bronco Mendenhall to re-take full control of the Cougar defense. Harmon had quite a zinger in his postgame column, writing, “BYU got whipped by a team that exemplified polish, execution, timing, intelligence, effort, moxie, swagger, organization, teamwork, blocking, tackling, imagination, gadgets, recruits, superior game planning and confidence.”
The decibel meter was pushed plenty during the first half as Boise State built its big lead. "That was a dynamic, wild setting," said Mendenhall on his KSL postgame show. "Boise State fans really know how to support their team." Mendenhall is accustomed to crowds of 60,000-plus in Provo. Attendance in Boise was 36,752, the second-largest in school history at that point next to the 2012 Broncos-Cougars matchup.
(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.)
