reached into its bag of tricks again and stunned Texas Christian in a
Fiesta Bowl duel of unbeaten BCS busters.
After the Broncos pulled off a gutsy
fake punt at their own 33-yard line, Doug Martin scored the decisive
touchdown to give No. 6 Boise State a 17-10 victory over third-ranked
TCU on Monday night.
A 10-10 stalemate came alive when
Broncos punter Kyle Brotzman hit wide-open Kyle Efaw with a 30-yard
strike with about 9 minutes to play. Four plays later, Martin dove over
a tackler from 2 yards out as the Broncos became the second school ever
to go 14-0, joining Ohio State in 2002.
The trickery evoked memories of Boise
State's BCS debut three years ago, when it pulled out a passel of
gadget plays to defeat Oklahoma on the same field.
Unlike that thriller, this game offered little drama until Boise State coach Chris Petersen made another surprising call.
The Broncos caught the Horned Frogs
napping on the fake punt by Brotzman. Kellen Moore then completed three
straight passes to advance to the 2, and Martin scored to put Boise
State up 17-10 with 7:21 to go.
TCU took over at its own 1 with 1:06
remaining and marched to the Boise State 30 before cornerback Brandyn
Thompson disrupted a pass by Andy Dalton, and Winston Venable picked it
off to end the threat.
Moore passed for 211 yards. Dalton finished with 272 yards and a score through the air, but was intercepted three times.
Brotzman also made a 40-yard field
goal midway through the second to make it 10-0, putting the Horned
Frogs in the biggest hole they had faced all season.
Boise State is known for its offense. But its defense did most of the work in this one.
Thompson set up the winning drive
with its second interception of the game. He returned his first pick 51
yards for the game's first score.
Western Athletic Conference champion
Boise State earned its second BCS victory — as many as Michigan, Penn
State and Alabama have combined.
The Broncos are one of only three
remaining unbeatens, along with Texas and Alabama, which will play for
the national title on Thursday night.