It was a tale of two halves at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho on Friday night as the 23rd ranked Boise State Broncos hosted the Washington Huskies. What looked like a blowout in the making at halftime turned into an entertaining contest towards the end. In the end, Boise State would emerge victorious 16-13 after Washington kicker Cameron van Winkle just pushed his game-tying field goal attempt to the right with less than a minute remaining.

Boise would get on the board first during their second drive of the game which was impressive to say the least. It was a 16 play, 92 yard drive which took 6:14 off the clock before Jeremy McNichols finished from seven yards out on first and goal. McNichols and quarterback Ryan Finley paced the drive which saw every play but two earn positive yardage for the home team. The extra point attempt would be blocked by Washington.

As predicted, Washington started true freshman quarterback Jake Browning on the road. Browning did not look comfortable in the first half in the pocket. It did not help that the run game did not show up at all for the Huskies. Dwayne Washington and Levon Coleman were complete non-factor on the offense. To give you an idea of how poor Washington’s offense was the first portion of the game, it took them eight possessions to equal the number of yards that Boise earned on their first scoring drive.

Boise extended their lead to 13-0 after their third drive of the game which was not as impressive as the second. This was only 13 plays for 80 yards while only taking 5:19 off the clock.

The Dawgs could not find any sort of positive as they struggled on both sides of the ball. They could not move the ball when they had it and they could not stop the ball when they didn’t have it. It was a recipe for disaster.

Defensive back Kevin King made the first big play of the game for the Men in Purple. He made an interception on a key third and nine from the Washington 35 to keep the score at 13-0 Boise at that point. Despite the turnover, Washington was once again unable to do anything with the football as they were forced into a three-and-out leading to a Boise field goal to send the game to halftime at 16-0 in favor of the home side.

The special teams would come to the rescue for Washington in the second half (before ultimately being the team’s demise at the end). Cameron van Winkle connected with two field goals along with a Dante Pettis punt return for a touchdown would be the only scoring offense seen by the Huskies.

Though they were not able to come away with a victory, we did see some improvement from Washington as the game wore on. Jake Browning looked to gain some more confidence in himself as it became more apparent that the running game would not be very supportive.

It was also great to see the defense tighten up during the second half after being manhandled by the Boise offense. Washington held the Broncos to only 62 yards of offense in the final two quarters including a whopping two yards in the fourth quarter alone.

Washington returns to Seattle next weekend as they will host the Sacramento State Hornets of the Big Sky Conference. Boise State hits the road to take on the BYU Cougars in a critical game as they look to head to a New Year’s Six Bowl in 2015.