Pac-12 roundup: Boise State keeps rolling as other contenders stumble

Saturday’s Pac-12 action featured two surprising results and a dominant performance by the conference’s top team.

No. 25 Boise State (8-1, 5-0) kicked off the day with a 64-38 road rout of Colorado State (3-6, 1-4) for its eighth straight victory.

Making his first start of the season, backup quarterback Max Cutforth completed 16 of 19 passes for 317 yards with four touchdowns and a rushing score.

Dylan Riley ran for 192 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 88 yards and another TD. He finished the game with 300 all-purpose yards, one yard shy of Doug Martin’s single-game school record of 301 set in the 2011 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas.

After scoring a 31-yard touchdown in the second half, Riley did the Heisman pose in the end zone.

“I mean, everything is on tape, for real,” Riley said of his Heisman candidacy after the game. “There’s nothing too much I can say. You just have to put the film on. At that point, it’s just everybody else’s thing.”

Riley is the nation’s leading rusher with 184 carries for 1,241 yards and 11 touchdowns. The third-year junior also has 17 receptions for 218 yards and two TDs.

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Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said after the game that he expects starting quarterback Maddux Madsen to be back for next week’s game against Oregon State (5-4, 3-2), which is now in a rut following an explosive five-game winning streak.

Coming off last week’s heartbreaking 46-45 loss at Boise State, Texas State (5-4, 3-2) showed no ill effects during an impressive 42-21 road win over Oregon State. The Bobcats rolled up 600 yards of total offense while holding Braden Atkinson, the nation’s leading passer, to 192 yards and no touchdowns with an interception.

“Huge win on the road versus a really quality opponent,” Texas State head coach G.J. Kinne said. “Super proud of the defense. Backs against the wall, they had a great game plan. Defensive staff did an unbelievable job.”

The Pac-12’s four-way tie for second place also includes Utah State (4-5, 3-2), which picked up a 17-10 home victory over Fresno State (5-4, 2-3) on Saturday night.

The Aggies led 14-0 at halftime and went up 17-3 with 4:54 remaining on a Kian Afrookhteh field goal.

“Not many teams are playing team football,” Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Fresno couldn’t score, and that just built the confidence. And as part of the plan, we were hopeful to have Fresno play from behind. So that worked according to plan.”

With two conference games to go, Boise State holds a two-game lead over Oregon State, Texas State, Utah State and San Diego State (4-5, 3-2), which was idle over the weekend.

The Broncos wrap up conference play with home games against Oregon State and San Diego State.

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