Boise State Broncos vs New Mexico Lobos Football Preview

There won’t be a lot of drama in the air this weekend at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. There will be many tears and a sense of regret over two and a half minutes in a season of overall excellence.

The New Mexico Lobos won’t remotely threaten the Boise State Broncos in the final week of regular-season competition. Boise State will finish second in the Mountain West Conference and lock up an 11-1 record, enabling the program to compile a 49-3 record over the last four seasons and aim for a 50-3 mark by winning its upcoming bowl game. This contest simply isn’t going to be competitive, no matter how hard some people might try to even-handedly spin the matter.

What will exist in abundance this weekend – in addition to Boise State touchdowns – is a sense of sadness residing in the heart of every Bronco fan. This sadness will emerge for a number of reasons, all of them powerful and piercing.

First and foremost, the BSU family will have to confront the fact that this will be the last home game for quarterback Kellen Moore. The crafty southpaw will merely leave the stage with the most wins of any Football Bowl Subdivision quarterback. He will compile a 49-3 record heading into his bowl game, stamping himself as the main source of his program’s prosperity since he came aboard in 2008. Boise State fans will ache beyond all telling when their beloved field general is gone. That will make this day a hard one to digest for those who wear the orange and blue of Boise.

Attached to the Broncos’ sadness about Moore’s impending departure from the scene is the fact that Boise State’s at-large BCS bowl hopes are slim to none. The Broncos need Southern Mississippi to beat Houston just to have an outside shot at a BCS game, but if Houston does take a tumble, it’s more likely that TCU – as the Mountain West Conference champion – would slide into the Sugar Bowl slot and keep Boise State outside the candy store. Boise State took a risk by playing Georgia in Atlanta on the first weekend of the season, but the Broncos won’t be rewarded for putting themselves on the line. They will wind up with only one BCS bowl appearance despite only three losses in four regular seasons, never more than one loss in any single season. This part of the reality of Boise State football is something that will make this season finale that much harder to take. If Boise State had simply been able to hold onto the ball – and the game – in the final two and a half minutes of regulation time against TCU, the Broncos – this Saturday – might have been playing for a spot in the BCS National Championship Game against LSU. Instead, they’ll play for pride and little else.

That’s how cruel college football can be. That’s why this Senior Day will be a sad one in Boise, despite the certain prospect of a Bronco blowout of New Mexico.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer