Through the opening half at Albertsons Stadium, San Diego State dedicated their defense to stopping No. 15 Boise State’s Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty, holding the running back to a season low of 37 yards on 15 carries.
It did little to slow down the Mountain West Conference leaders, as the Aztecs (3-5, 2-1 Mountain West) got carved up by Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen for 261 of his 307 passing yards and all four touchdowns in the first half as Boise State (7-1, 4-0) ultimately won going away 56-24.
“I’ve got to do a better job leading the team through the prep and making sure that we got a good plan in place so our kids can go execute with confidence and get off to a fast start,” said head coach Sean Lewis on the postgame radio show.
“Obviously any time that you spot a really good football team, those kinds of points early, you're putting yourself in a pretty significant hole — it's going to be very hard to overcome.”
The first-year coach has often said that the Aztecs will own everything on the game tape to learn from their losses.
After the first time all season where SDSU looked truly outclassed, there is much to take about what will be required for the program to get to the level where they’re competing for a College Football Playoffs berth like this Boise State team is.
It was the first game where the defense was unable to come up with a key stop to get off the field.
The Broncos had a 541-256 advantage in total yards, converted nine of their 13 third downs (SDSU made good on just two of 14), scored touchdowns all seven times they got in the red zone and rode an 80-56 differential in total plays to a 39:22-20:28 time of possession edge.
“They're a very complete team that have a lot of offensive weapons that stress you out in a lot of ways,” Lewis said.
On the other side of the ball quarterback Danny O’Neil was made to look like a true freshman for one of the few times this season.
He completed just nine of 17 in the first half and threw a pair of interceptions; one was a stop route that cornerback A’Marion McCoy jumped and returned 35 yards for a touchdown, the other was a fly route into double-coverage which safety Alexander Teubner rotated over on to pick off.
Boise State led 21-0 after the first quarter and did not allow the Aztecs closer than 28-10 as they converted their final drive before halftime on Madsen’s third touchdown pass to wide receiver Latrell Caples to take a 35-10 lead to the break.
Jeanty, of course, would not be denied for the entirety of the game as he finished with 149 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 31 carries despite wearing a brace on his left arm.
On the flip side, SDSU ran running back Marquez Cooper just twice in their 14 first quarter plays and on seven of their 27 in the first half. He finished with 94 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown.
O’Neil finished 14 of 30 passing for 155 yards as he tossed a pair of 30-yard touchdowns in the fourth quarter, connecting with wide receivers Jordan Napier and Mekhi Shaw for scores. Napier led the Aztecs with eight catches for 79 yards.
Defensively, the battle of two of the top pass rushes in the nation saw the Broncos net three sacks with SDSU getting to Madsen once.
“We'll clean it up, we'll learn from, obviously, the hard lessons that we felt tonight,” Lewis said. “There'll be some individual victories and moments that we can take confidence from…
(We’ll) be able to take those lessons, take those moments where we learn and where we grow and move forward and get ready to play another dangerous team Friday.”
Competing for a CFP berth was never going to happen in the first year under Lewis, but seeing where the Aztecs stack up against arguably the best Group of 5 team in the country gives good context to keep in mind moving forward.
With four regular season games remaining, the Scarlet and Black’s focus is on trying to get to bowl eligibility. New Mexico is up next, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, Nov. 8.