BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…September 20, 2019, five years ago today:
After enduring a painful three-game losing streak to Air Force from 2014-16, Boise State rallies to win its third straight over the Falcons with a 30-19 victory on the blue turf. Nose tackle Sonatane Lui was the star, racking up 16 tackles, the most by a defensive lineman in the Broncos’ FBS era. The victory saw Boise State improve to 4-0 and jump to No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the Coaches Poll. But it wasn’t easy.
Air Force held a 13-10 late in the third quarter when Boise State faced a fourth-and-10 at the Falcons’ 38-yard line, and the Broncos went for it. Akilian Butler ran a perfect route. Hank Bachmeier delivered a perfect strike for 13 yards. And on the next play, Bachmeier connected on a 28-yarder down the seam to John Bates for the go-ahead touchdown. The next Air Force drive ended in a monster fourth-down stop, followed by a how-did-he-do-it first down catch by John Hightower on a third-and-11. Robert Mahone’s 10-yard TD run on the next snap was the ultimate game-winner in the 30-19 victory.
As usual, a lot rode on how Boise State handled the vaunted Air Force triple-option offense. You always see the Falcons hit for four yards here, five yards there. Drip, drip, drip. But this time, they never hit the big one on the blue turf. There were only two 20-yard plays from Air Force: one rush for exactly 20, and one pass play of 31 yards on a touchdown after the game was decided. The previous year in Colorado Springs, the Broncos allowed six plays of 20 or more yards in their 48-38 win, three of them exceeding 30, and one over 50.
Seven tackles with a couple of them for loss and maybe a sack make for a solid night from a defensive tackle, right? But Lui had an out-of-this-world night against Air Force, registering 16 stops after posting 26 in all of 2018—as a starter. Lui was in on the crucial fourth down stuff with 12 minutes left in the game and continuously altered the mojo of the Falcons’ triple-option. It ended up being the key win in Boise State’s run to the 2019 Mountain West championship—Air Force would go 11-2 and would actually finish one spot ahead of the Broncos in the AP Poll.
(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.)
