• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Boise State preps for Hawaii with rout of Idaho

Nov 18, 2007 - 1:19 AM BOISE, Idaho (Ticker) -- Next stop, Hawaii.Tyler Tharp passed for 282 yards and four touchdowns as 17th-ranked Boise State routed Idaho, 58-14, on Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference.

The win set the stage for next weekend's showdown at Hawaii that will decide the WAC title and a possible BCS berth.

Hawaii, which rallied to beat Nevada on Friday to remain unbeaten, is trying to end Boise State's run of five consecutive WAC crowns.

"It is the game that we circled at the beginning of the year as one that we knew was going to be a tough one," Tharp said. "It comes down to our deal and not worrying about Hawaii."

Boise State (10-1, 7-0 WAC) posted its 17th straight victory in conference play and has reeled off nine straight wins since a 24-10 loss at Washington on September 8.

"Everything kind of just comes together and it's been coming together for a few weeks, so we just have to keep on that path and I think we will be fine," Tharp added.

Averaging nearly 50 points during the winning streak, the Broncos pulled away in the second half against the Vandals (1-10, 0-7), who kept it close for most of the first half.

"We keep getting told by coach (Chris) Pete (Peterson) and everybody that we have to be a second-half team," Tharp said. "No matter what, we have to come out of the locker room, play like the score is 0-0 and be a second-half team. We did that tonight."

Idaho closed within 17-14 on Eddie Williams' three-yard touchdown run with 3:10 remaining in the half.

But Boise State answered on Tharp's 10-yard TD pass to Austin Pettis with 35 seconds left in the second quarter.

Leading 24-14 at the intermission, Boise State broke it open with 21 straight points in the third quarter, then tacked on 13 more in the final period.

"To those (Boise State) kids' credit, they came out and played harder than they did in the first half and that was pleasing to see," said Peterson, who is 23-1 in his two years at Boise State.

In the third quarter, Tharp, who completed 22-of-31 passes, tossed TD strikes of five yards to Pettis and 58 yards to Titus Young. Ian Johnson added a 15-yard run with 2:12 left in the period to make it 45-14.

Johnson rushed for 109 yards and two scores on 21 carries, while Pettis had eight receptions for 139 yards and three TDs.

Backup Bush Hamdan threw two TDs in the fourth quarter for Boise State, including a 17-yard scoring strike to Pettis.

Boise State gained 556 total yards en route to its ninth straight win over Idaho.

"We didn't want to be the senior class that lets everybody down," Boise State safety Marty Tadman said. "We wanted to keep the tradition going, especially against Idaho, so it was a very important game for our seniors."

Nathan Enderle completed just 8-of-23 passes for 182 yards for the Vandals.