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Boise State holds off Washington 16-13 to spoil Chris Petersen's return
It wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but No. 23 Boise State managed to hold off Washington on Friday night in Chris Petersen’s much-anticipated return to Boise.
Petersen, who left BSU for Washington in 2013 after eight seasons as the Broncos’ head coach, saw his team rally back from a 16-0 deficit to narrowly drop a 16-13 nailbiter. The Boise State win was sealed when Washington’s Cameron Van Winkle’s 46-yard game-tying field goal attempt in the final minute was wide right.
The first half was completely dominated by Boise State, especially via the Jeremy McNichols-led rushing attack. McNichols, who ran for 89 yards on the night, scored two first half touchdowns to help the Broncos jump out to a 13-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Washington, with true freshman Jake Browning starting at quarterback, struggled to get anything going and went into halftime down 16-0.
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The start of the second half was more of the same. Washington couldn’t move the ball at all, but got on a the board with a Van Winkle field goal after a solid Dante Pettis punt return set up good field position.
That wouldn’t be the last time we heard from Pettis. Boise’s next possession went three-and-out, and Pettis returned the ensuing punt 76 yards for a touchdown.
All of a sudden, it was a 16-10 game with 1:37 left in the third quarter.
As the clock rolled over into the fourth quarter, both offenses continued to struggle. However, Washington was able to cut the lead to 16-13 with 7:29 left thanks to a blocked punt by Jaydon Mickens.
The teams then traded punts until Browning and the Huskies took over from their own 35 with 1:59 to play. Three completions allowed Washington to advance into the red zone, but a holding penalty and a sack pushed the Huskies back to the BSU 29, setting up Van Winkle’s game-tying attempt from 46 yards out.
The kick from the usually reliable Van Winkle sailed wide right by a few inches, and the Broncos could finally exhale.
Though the offense had its fair share of struggles, the win is a solid one against a Power 5 opponent for Boise heading into another tough matchup at BYU next Saturday.
Washington looked completely overmatched in the first half, but showed impressive resolve – especially for such a young team – to get back in the game in the second half. Though the Huskies fell just short, there are some positives to build off heading into their home opener against FCS Sacramento State – a game that should give Browning some confidence leading up to UW’s loaded Pac-12 slate.
For more Boise State news, visit Blue-Turf.com.
For more Washington news, visit TheDawgReport.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
