BOISE STATE FENDS OFF DETERMINED TULSA CHALLENGE

Boise State won their Wednesday night game against Tulsa by the smallest margin of victory they’ve enjoyed in over a year, but at least they won.  The #5 ranked Broncos spotted the Golden Hurricane a 14-8 lead at the end of one quarter, but then scored the next twenty points to take control of the game.  After holding off a late Tulsa rally, Boise would go on to prevail by a final score of 28-21.  The Broncos improved to 6-0 with the victory, while Tulsa slipped to 4-2.

College football betting enthusiasts who backed Tulsa were satisfied with the result, as the Golden Hurricane covered as +9 home underdogs.  It was Boise State’s first non-cover in a lined game this season (4-1 ATS) while Tulsa improved on their own solid record against the money (4-1-1 ATS).  The 49 combined points scored went UNDER the posted total of 56.  Boise State has played UNDER in three of their five lined games this year, while Tulsa has gone UNDER in all five of their posted college football totals.

Broncos’ coach Chris Petersen expressed his pleasure at the victory, but admitted that it might not have been a big enough margin to satisfy the big conference bias of the BCS voters:

"It's usually never good enough for a lot of people, usually including us and our team. Tulsa's a good team, and this was going to be a good test for us. I think we battled hard against some really explosive playmakers. The important thing is that we get a little bit better. Teams don't stay the same, and we won't either. We either need to get better or we're going to get passed by."

Petersen was more enthused about the way his team responded to playing from behind for the first time this season, and particularly on the road:

"There's a lot of momentum going the opposite way when you're playing on the road. We fought hard enough and responded well enough to do what we needed to do."

He concluded by praising the drives put together by Broncos’ QB Kellen Moore:

"Those were good drives. I'll tell you, I don't know if our team even knows we've never been behind. When you say that to me, it's almost news to me. You just keep playing, you keep fighting. We've played in close games. ... You just try not to pay attention to the clock until it's all said and done."

Due to the mid week scheduling of this game, Boise will now enjoy a ten day break before making the long trip to play the University of Hawaii on the road a week from Saturday.  They’ll return to their iconic blue ‘Smurf Turf’ the following weekend to face San Jose State before heading back out on the road to challenge Louisiana Tech on November 6.  Tulsa will play again next Wednesday night, heading to El Paso, Texas for a game against UTEP.  That’ll be followed by two home games, with SMU providing the opposition on October 31st and Houston coming in the following Saturday.