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Tharp helps Boise State crush Utah State

Nov 11, 2007 - 3:50 AM LOGAN, Utah (Ticker) -- Taylor Tharp kept Boise State on pace for its Western Athletic Conference showdown with Hawaii.

Tharp passed for 283 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as No. 19 Boise State routed hapless Utah State, 52-0, in a WAC contest.

Ian Johnson rushed for 110 yards and a score and Tharp completed 26-of-29 attempts with no interceptions for the Broncos (9-1, 6-0 WAC), who are riding an eight-game winning streak and are one victory away from meeting undefeated Hawaii for the conference title November 23.

Boise State, which has won five straight conference championships, plays Idaho (1-9) next week before traveling to Honolulu to take on the 14th-ranked Warriors.

Tharp had a completion percentage that was second only to Jared Zabransky's school record of 91 percent, set last year when he completed 21-of-23 against Utah State.

"Taylor's an accurate thrower, and this is a guy we've known about for a long time," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "It's awesome to see him in such a great groove."

The senior signal-caller missed on just two passes in the first half, as the Broncos, who posted their first road shutout since a 36-0 blanking at Idaho State in 1976, put this one to bed early.

On Boise State's first possession, Tharp engineered a 10-play, 72-yard drive that was capped by an eight-yard TD run by Titus Young. Tharp completed all five of his passes on the drive.

It was the first of two rushing touchdowns for Young, who had a nine-yard score early in the third quarter and also caught a 38-yard bomb from Tharp with 53 seconds remaining in the third to make it 45-0.

"Titus can do some things so it's always nice to get that guy the ball in his hands with a little space," Petersen said.

The Broncos' special teams took over next, blocking a punt by quarterback Leon Jackson which was returned 16 yards by linebacker Ellis Powers to give Boise State a 14-0 lead.

On their next possession, the Broncos drove 53 yards in nine plays to set up Kyle Brotzman's 22-yard field goal to make it 17-0 with 1:40 left in the first quarter.

Tharp, who started the contest 7-of-7, threw a four-yard TD to tight end Richie Brockel with 6:30 left in the second period to up the lead to 24-0 before Johnson broke off a 15-yard scoring burst with 1:20 left to give Boise State a commanding 31-0 halftime lead.

"Even if you do figure out everything we run, to run it at the pace and the tempo we run it at, it's just amazing," Johnson said. "You can't reproduce that. It's one of the reasons we are so successful and we can score so many points."

Johnson, who had a total of 19 carries, finished with 92 yards in the half while Tharp completed 19-of-21 passes before the break.

Jackson went 7-of-15 for 95 yards for Utah State (0-10, 0-6) which was outgained, 479-233, and has dropped seven straight to the Broncos by a combined score of 338-150.

"We tried to run, and they would stop our run," Utah State wide receiver Kevin Robinson said. "We'd try to pass and they'd stop our pass. We tried to stay with them, but it just didn't work out our way."

Utah State suffered its first shutout since being blanked a year ago to the day, 42-0, to Nevada.