Kellen Moore Tabs 50th Win as Broncos Dominate Sun Devils

Travis Stanaway celebrates his fumble return for a score.
(Sam Morris)

Boise State wasn't happy about being snubbed by the BCS and they seemed to take their frustrations out on Arizona State in the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl. Kellen Moore tallied his impressive 50th win as a college quarter back which has seen the Broncos as a staple in the BCS bowl games. He wasn't the only one making his final appearance at the Maaco Bowl. Dennis Erickson made his final appearance as the Arizona State coach albeit not to the same result as the Boise signal caller.

Boise State wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Doug Martin took the opening kickoff up the sideline for a 100 yard kick return for 6. Martin would tally 151 yards on the ground and garner MVP honors for the game. It was all Broncos from that point on. The squads traded punts and then after a 3 and out by the Sun Devils Kellen Moore started leading the potent Boise offense down the field. Martin opened the drive with an 11 yard run and then the Moore show began. He completed 5 of 6 passes including the capping touch down pass to a wide open Tyler Shoemaker near the sideline.

The Sun Devil offense continued to shoot themselves in the foot through out the first quarter, starting their next drive with back to back false start penalties. ASU would go 3 and out and although the defense would intercept Kellen Moore on the next drive they were unable to capitalize when an errant snap forced the Devils back on third down.

Forced to punt, they would turn the ball back over to the Broncos after a touchback. Kellen Moore connected with Tyler Shoemaker again for a nine yard gain to end the first quarter and Boise was on the move again. Once the second quarter began, the Sun Devils would get a heavy dose of Doug Martin. Martin would account for 51 yards of his total on the drive and Kellen Moore would throw his second touch down pass of the day to Matt Miller from 2 yards out.

After another pair of three and outs from the offenses, ASU had their first quality sustained drive of the night. Brock Osweiler started finding his targets and the 11 play drive was capped off with a short field goal to put Arizona State on the board at 21-3. As they would through the entire game, Boise had an answer. Leading another drive down the field, the Broncos found themselves in the ASU red zone. The Broncos appeared to run a reverse when Matt Miller looked up field to Kyle Efaw who stood alone at the front of the end zone for another touch down with less than a minute in the first half.

The Sun Devils would not go quietly as the took the second half kick off back to provide a spark for the ASU offense. Perhaps feeding off the energy, Colin Parker intercepted Kellen Moore for his second interception on the day and ran it back to the Boise 45 yard line. ASU was unable to capitalize on Moore's second mistake as they turned the ball over on downs. They would get another chance though as they forced a fumble, turning Moore over for an uncharacteristic third time.

The Devils seemed prepared to turn the tide, bringing the ball down to the Boise 1 yard line before an errant Osweiler pass was intercepted and brought back the length of the field for a 100 yard interception return to swing the momentum firmly back in the Boise camp at 35-10.

The third quarter would end with Boise in the red zone once again and the first play of the fourth quarter would put BSU up 42-10 as D.J. Harper punched it in from 4 yards out. In what would be a last gasp drive, Cameron Marshall would  fumble after a short gain and Travis Stanaway would scoop and score to give Boise a commanding 49-10 lead.

Osweiler would get the offense running, but it was too little to late. After the ASU QB found Gerell Robinson for a 21 yard touch down, Doug Martin would answer back with another short touch down run. Coach Petersen had called off the dogs by the time Arizona State scored their final touchdown to give the game it's final tally of 56-24.

The Boise defense stifled the run game through out the entire game only allowing a net -11 yards on the ground. Much of this was factored into the fact that Brock Osweiler's sacks are factored into that total but a combined 27 yards from ASU's running backs. The only semblance of offense the Devils could muster was through the air where Osweiler threw for nearly 400 yards. While Doug Martin was the player of the game, ASU's wide out Gerell Robinson turned in an equally impressive performance snagging 13 passes for 241 yards and a touch down. His 241 yards set a Maaco Bowl record even as ASU was unable to capitalize on it.

It was also a night of records for Boise State as Martin's 301 all purpose yards set a record as well as his 100 yard kickoff return. The two teams combined for the highest scoring total in bowl history with the Broncos setting a record for most points scored by a single team.

Before the press conference even started, coach Petersen commented about his senior quarter back, "I have no idea what to do without Kellen Moore, so don't even ask." He later went on to say about all of his seniors "These guys took it up a notch or two, it was extremely important to the coaching staff and this team."

Maaco Bowl Las Vegas Bowl Preview: #7 Boise State Vs. Arizona State

The way the regular season ended for these two teams could not have been more different. The Sun Devils were flying high early on, their only blemish was a loss on the road against Illinois. They had defeated two Top 25 programs in Missouri and USC and were in control of the Pac-12 South Division. Then it all started to unravel.

A trip to Eugene to face the eventual Pac-12 champion Oregon Ducks started to downward spiral which eventually lead to the firing of embattled coach Dennis Erickson. After losing in front of Gameday 41-27 to the Ducks, ASU would win just one more game against Colorado and would drop 4 straight all to conference opponents. However, the Sun Devils were still in the conversation going into the final week and could have found themselves in the Rose Bowl. Instead, a loss against California and a stunning Utah loss against Colorado had ASU back into the Las Vegas Bowl.

Boise State on the other hand came into the season with BCS expectations. Boise State opened the season with a marquee game against Georgia which saw them fall behind early. When the dust settled though, BSU shined with a dominate 35-21 victory in the partisan Georgia Dome. The Broncos rose as high as #5 and were primed to make a push for the title game when TCU handed BSU a rare home defeat, derailing their championship hopes and pushing them back for another year.

This game promises to be an aerial display, Boise and ASU are 10th and 11th in the country in passing yards respectively and the difference between them is 0.1 yard per game. It's no surprise as each of these teams feature Quarter Backs who will play in the NFL some day.

Boise has a top 25 defense against the pass but showed signs of weakness against TCU, in the only game they lost. There were a few occasions when receivers got by Boise defenders deep for big plays. Normally, the Bronco's defense is stout and allows just over 170 yards per game through the air. Their only loss skews that number some as Casey Pachall torched the D for 473 yards and 5 touch downs. Brock Osweiler and Co are sure to be watching footage of that game as they look for potential weaknesses against a talented squad which has shut down every other team it has faced.

To the contrary, ASU has not been good against the pass. They took hits to their depth early on in the season losing several talented defensive backs. What remained was burned through out the year as they posted bottom 20 passing defense numbers. Their worst performance of the season came on the road against Washington State where Freshman Connor Halliday stepped in part way through the first quarter and connected with Marquess Wilson for 85 of his eventual 494 passing yards on the day. Boise's strength is with the pass and Kellen Moore has to be licking his chops facing this secondary.

The aforementioned Moore is the picture of consistency. Completing nearly 75% of his passes, Moore has thrown for 41 scores on the year and 3507 yards. The senior signal caller will no doubt go down as the best quarter back to play on Boise's blue turf in school history. Moore has spread the ball all over the field but his favorite targets are Senior Tyler Shoemaker and Freshman Matt Miller. The tandem have accounted for 117 receptions and Shoemaker is only 41 yards from eclipsing 1000 yards on the year. He has also been the recipient of 15 TD passes from Moore. The passing game has been complimented nicely by Doug Martin.

The senior running back is a touchdown machine. In 5 of the last 6 games Martin has played in he has gone for over 100 yards and has found the end zone 7 times in that stretch. Martin runs well behind his pads and runs with authority. Martin is tough to tackle and could provide problems for the Sun Devil defense. Backing him up is D.J. Harper. Harper is another senior who filled in nicely in Martin's absence. Against TCU and UNLV he ran for 125 and 109 yards respectively, scoring three times. Martin and Harper are similar in stature and if ASU misses a tackle on either of them, it could go for a long gain.

The Boise State defense is tasked with slowing down Brock Osweiler and the Sun Devils passing attack. As was mentioned before, the Sun Devils and the Broncos have nearly identical passing statistics over the season. The difference is that Boise has thrown the ball to extend leads where as ASU has been behind in a lot of their games and have had to throw to either keep pace or claw their way back into games. Much of the Sun Devil's attack comes through Garrell Robinson who has almost twice as much yardage as the next leading receiver. Robinson simply finds ways to get open and comes down with the ball.

One under rated aspect of the ASU offense is their run game. Almost all of it has come from Cameron Marshall who has over 1100 yards so far. No one in the Pac-12 has rushed for more touch downs than him, either, touching the painted area 18 times on the ground. In an extension of the run game you will find the Devils' utility man in Jamal Miles. Miles hasn't run for many yards but he has caught 60 passes, many of them in the flat to keep the offense moving and the defenses honest.

Arizona State is a big underdog in this game but with their passing offense they stand a punchers chance against the Broncos. BSU showed that they can be susceptible to a passing offense but with extra time for coach Petersen to prepare, expect the Broncos to be ready to go against another Pac-12 foe.

#9 Oregon Vs. #18 Arizona State Preview

ASU and Oregon meet again this Saturday for Gameday

There is much intrigue going into the night cap of a big Saturday night. A potential preview of the inaugural Pac-12 conference championship game, two explosive offenses, flashy uniforms on both sides of the ball and last but certainly not least, the eyes of the country will be on Eugene, Oregon as they wake up for Lee Corso and the whole College Gameday crew.
Last season, Arizona State proved to be one of the tougher tests of the regular season as they held a 24-14 lead over Oregon in the second half. The Ducks responded though, scoring twice on defense and forcing 7 turnovers from the Sun Devils. ASU proved themselves a challenge for the Duck defense though, racking up 597 yards on offense. Steven Threet passed for 3 touch downs but his undoing was the four interceptions he threw and ultimately Oregon's defense is what won this game for Oregon.

Arizona State limited Oregon's run game and LaMichael James, containing him to 98 yards on 28 carries. The bulk of that yardage came early on in the game with a 40 yard sprint up the sideline on which James scored. The Sun Devils forced 11 punts from the Ducks but Jackson Rice was equal to the task, dropping five of them inside the 20 yard line and making ASU gain every yard.

That ASU defense, lead by dynamic Vontaze Burfict looks to stymie Oregon's offense again this Saturday in front of a national audience as the teams face off once again. There are several storylines that litter this game, whether ASU can keep up with Oregon as they did last year, injuries and turnovers.

A lot of what ASU needs to do to keep up with Oregon is to stay on the field offensively. Quarter back Brock Osweiler has been effective, completing 2/3 of his passes for over 1300 yards to this point in the season with 13 touchdowns to 6 interceptions. Where the trouble might come is that the ASU offensive line is giving up an average of 2.3 sacks per game and on the road it's a staggering 4 sack per game average. 6 of those sacks came against Illinois who were able to pressure Osweiler and force him into two interceptions and a pedestrian 25 of 45 passing day. If Oregon can pressure the quarter back like Illinois did, it could be a long day for the Sun Devil offense.

When the Ducks do get the ball they are going up against a defense who has forced 10 interceptions. With star cornerback Omar Bolden out, the ASU secondary looked to be the weakness of the defense when the season started, but so far they have passes with flying colors. They have play makers all over the field but one pleasant surprise for the secondary has been Alden Darby, a sophomore safety who had to be converted to corner. Darby has 3 interceptions in the past two games against Oregon State and Utah. It will be interesting to see how the young corner performs against the top tier of the conference and and experienced quarter back in Darron Thomas. There are two sides to every statistic and while Arizona State's 10 interceptions are impressive. 7 of them came against quarter backs Sean Mannion and Jon Hays, both of whom were making their first collegiate starts. A lot will be shown about this defense this Saturday, whether they are for real or if they have just been feasting on lesser opponents.

Thomas is going to have to step up in this game. Last year against ASU he was a bit wired, throwing the ball harder than he should causing the ball to ricochet off of normally sure handed Jeff Maehl. He started to settle down late in the game hitting a beautiful deep ball to Josh Huff for 54 yards and a score. With LaMichael James listed as day to day, no one really know the status of the shifty speedster so one has to focus on known quantities. Assuming James is out, the load will shift to Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas. Both have performed admirably to this point in the season, but it will be interesting to see how they step up when they are forced to carry the load. Thomas has shown explosiveness but is still a freshman. Getting him in a rhythm and involved early will be key to the Ducks' prolific scoring attack. Darron Thomas is going to have to be accurate, it was noted last week that he has matured as a passer and he is going to need to continue that maturation and get his receivers in the game early and often. If the Ducks can get their play makers into one on one match ups in open space, they have a good shot to move the ball a lot against a ASU defense that is talented but not very deep. Look for the Ducks to attack at home on both sides of the ball where they have the ominous Autzen crowd in their favor. 

ASU Will Win If:                        Oregon Will Win If:
Force turnovers                            Make Osweiler make mistakes
Make Ducks 1 dimensional           Spread the field
Keep Oregon off the field               Win the line of scrimmage