‘It’s black and white.’ Special teams mistakes bite Boise State in loss to No. 7 Ducks

A win over No. 7 Oregon on Saturday night at Autzen Stadium would have given Boise State an early inside track to the College Football Playoffs.

But the Broncos were instead left wondering after special teams lapses in the second half resulted in a 37-34 loss to the Ducks.

“Football is a game of momentum. Any big-time, explosive plays on special teams, takeaways, all create momentum,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “They’re all things that we’ve got to look at and fix. And Coach (Stacy) Collins is the best special teams coordinator in the country. I believe that, and that will not change.

“But we’ve got to fix that. We’ve gotta find the guys that can execute on special teams to win their one-on-one.”

With the score tied at 20-20 late in the third quarter, the Broncos failed to wrap up Oregon punt returner Tez Johnson on initial contact, and the senior went from the left sideline clear to the right, sprinting 85 yards for the score and a 27-20 Ducks lead.

Boise State’s next special teams mistake was a little more forgivable: Fifth-year senior Jonah Dalmas missed a 54-yard field-goal try with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter that would have pulled the Broncos within 27-23.

But it was the third gaffe that probably left fans yelling at their TVs.

After the Boise State defense forced a pair of fumbles that set up two touchdown runs for star running back Ashton Jeanty — and a 34-27 lead with 10:15 to go in the fourth quarter — the Broncos’ kickoff return coverage unraveled.

Oregon redshirt junior Noah Whittington caught the football in the end zone and shot through a hole, skirting tacklers and zigzagging his way across the field for what appeared to be a 100-yard touchdown return. A video review of the play determined Whittington actually dropped the football in celebration before he crossed the goal line, but teammate Jayden Limar was credited with the 1-yard TD when he retrieved it as he followed behind.

“We’ve got to clean up our coverage unit,” Danielson said. “I haven’t had a chance to watch it on the iPad during the game or on film, but we’ll look at it and clean it up.

“There’s gonna be a matchup that we didn’t execute. I mean, it’s football. It’s black and white. Someone did not win their one-on-one, lost leverage and it was out — on both of them. We can be better. That’s fixable, and we have to.”

In addition to the special teams mistakes, a handful of explosive plays accounted for much of the Ducks’ passing yards against the Broncos. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel went 18-for-21 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns, but 160 of those yards came on just three plays.

Receiver Evan Stewart caught a 67-yard pass in the first quarter that resulted in an Oregon TD two plays later, and Stewart hauled in a 34-yard toss over the middle for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Boise State also gave up a 59-yard touchdown reception to Traeshon Holden in the third quarter.

“We’re gonna grow from every mistake that we made and make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Boise State safety Zion Washington said.