No. 20 Boise State led Texas State 28-3 at halftime on the blue turf, trailed 39-28 with nine minutes left, and still won 46-45. That’s not a win you frame. That’s a win you survive.
Texas State scored 36 straight points. Brad Jackson threw touchdowns of 67 yards to Chris Dawn Jr., 3 yards to Ty Stamey and 44 yards to Beau Sparks, ran one in from 35, and then Jayden Bradley took an interception back 20 yards for a 39-28 lead with 8:58 to play, per ESPN’s play-by-play.
Then it got stupid, in the best way. Backup Max Cutforth came in and threw touchdowns to Rasean Jones from 9 and 11 yards to put Boise up 40-39. Twenty-eight seconds later, Jackson hit Zechariah Sample for 72 yards and a 45-40 Texas State lead. Cutforth answered with an 18-yard score to Akeem Wright with 2:40 left.
How it was decided: Texas State got the ball back down one and went four plays for seven yards. The last one, a fourth-down pass with 1:55 to go, was broken up, and Boise knelt it out. Bonus chaos: the last four two-point tries of the night all failed. Every one of them changed the math.
The numbers: Jackson went 23 of 38 for 327 yards and four touchdowns, plus that rushing score. Jones caught nine passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns. Cutforth was 8 of 13 for 131 and three scores in relief.
My take: a 7-1 Boise State team with playoff hopes can’t spot anybody 36 straight points in November and expect to live. It did this time. The committee will remember the 46. I’ll remember the 36.
Also late: Washington was down 7-3 at Nebraska with 1:30 left and won 17-10. Demond Williams Jr. hit Chris Lawson for a 25-yard go-ahead touchdown, and 15 seconds later Alex McLaughlin took an interception 48 yards to the house. Lawson finished with 12 catches for 155 yards. Both teams are 5-3.
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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.
