Broncos clear hurdle in Southern Miss

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Ian Johnson and his buddies on No. 15 Boise State's dynamic offense usually get all the attention.

Saturday night it was the Broncos' overlooked defenders who muscled into the action, stifling Southern Miss in a 24-7 win that gave Boise State its 14th victory in its last 15 regular-season games.

"I really think it's awesome the way the defense stepped up and made plays," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said.

If the Broncos are going to stay undefeated and reach the BCS for the second time in three seasons out of the Western Athletic Conference, they'll need to play more D like this.

Southern Miss (2-4) came in as the nation's No. 17 offense, averaging 457 yards a game. Boise State (5-0) stymied first-year coach Larry Fedora's no-huddle spread offense, holding the Golden Eagles to 278 total yards and coming up with a handful of stops that helped an offense that only scored in a furious second quarter.

The biggest stop came on fourth-and-1 at midfield with about 11 minutes left in the second quarter and the Broncos up 7-0. Austin Davis tried a quarterback sneak, but Boise State stuffed it and went up 14-0 on one of Kellen Moore's three touchdown passes.

The Broncos also stopped the Golden Eagles on fourth down twice in Boise State territory in the fourth quarter to halt potential rallies. George Iloka batted down one pass to end a drive and Jeron Johnson ended another with an interception.

"We came out there with the mind-set of not taking them for granted," Iloka said. "Fourth down, that's our down. We are making sure we aren't giving nothing away. The one they got, we gave that to them."

Petersen was disappointed with the way his offense started and finished, but its second quarter was something to behold.

NEW MEXICO STATE 48, NEVADA 45: At Reno, Nev., Chase Holbrook passed for 409 yards and 3 touchdowns to help New Mexico State win a shootout over Nevada 48-45 on Saturday.

Holbrook also rushed for a touchdown for the Aggies (3-2 overall, 1-0 WAC), who controlled the ball for the final 3:51 to run out the clock in a game that saw the two teams combine for more than 1,000 yards in total offense.

New Mexico State had 513 yards in total offense, while the Wolf Pack (3-3, 1-1 WAC) had 507 yards in a seesaw game that had nine lead changes and three ties.

New Mexico State responded with a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass from Holbrook to Marcus Anderson to go ahead 45-38 with 13:38 left in the game.

After Nevada was forced to punt, Kyle Hughes kicked an 18-yard field goal to put the Aggies up 48-38.

Nevada scored on a 19-yard pass from Kaepernick to Chris Wellington with 3:51 left to pull to within 3 points, but the Wolf Pack could never get the ball back as the Aggies ran out the clock.

Holbrook completed 28 of 47 passes and had one interception. Kaepernick was 15 of 26 for 194 yards and three touchdowns and one interception.