Boise State finished seventh in the BCS standings, but wasn’t invited to one of its big-money bowl games. The Mountain West and Pac 12 conferences each received $1.1 million for the MAACO Bowl.
Arizona State missed on several opportunities to make the game closer, wasting a bowl-record 241-yard receiving effort by Gerell Robinson, who caught a touchdown in the fourth quarter after the Broncos had already scored 49 points.
Moore — the NCAA’s winningest player at the position — played well enough in his last college game to keep his team scoring, despite some missteps. He finished with 293 yards and two touchdowns, plus two interceptions and a fumble in a game that capped his college career with 50 total wins.
“When you’re at a good place with good people, good things happen,” Moore said.
Boise State coach Chris Petersen said it was important to put a stamp on the careers of Moore and his fellow seniors.
“These guys took it up a notch or two,” Petersen said. “It was extremely important to the coaching staff and this team.”
Martin finished with 301 all-purpose yards, breaking a bowl record set in 1997 by Air Force’s Pat Johnson. His touchdown return also set a record for the longest kickoff return in MAACO Bowl history. It was the first time the opening kickoff had been returned for a score in any bowl game since Ted Ginn Jr. did it in the 2007 BCS title game.
Boise State finished with a bowl record in points scored by a single team, and the teams combined for the highest scoring game in the bowl’s 20-year history.
The most costly mistake for Arizona State came in the third quarter, as the Sun Devils tried to capitalize on a fumble by Moore — his third turnover of the game. The Sun Devils drove 49 yards to Boise State’s 1-yard line, but quarterback Brock Osweiler’s fourth-down pass was intercepted by Jamar Taylor, who returned it for a touchdown to make the score 35-10.
Moments before the play, Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson tried to call a timeout as his team was late to the line of scrimmage, but his attempts weren’t acknowledged by the referees.
“I should have just called a timeout,” said Osweiler, who threw for 395 yards with two touchdowns in defeat.
Osweiler said his team had some confusion before the play, with the wrong players on the field and a delay in communicating what they wanted to do.
source:usa today sports
