Western Athletic Conference News and Notes

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - BOISE STATE: The Broncos got four rushing touchdowns out of Doug Martin and another pair from Jeremy Avery as the team dismantled Utah State on Friday night by a score of 52-21 in Logan. BSU charged up and down the field for 323 yards on the ground, while quarterback Kellen Moore continued his dominant season by converting 15-of-29 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown. The Broncos rolled up 572 yards of total offense, making it easier to offset their nine penalties for 83 yards on the night. The big showdown against the high- powered Nevada offense shows up on the schedule for this coming week. The Broncos, who remain sixth in the AP rankings this week, have won 23 of the previous 35 meetings with the Wolf Pack, including a 41-34 final last season in Reno as BSU ran the table in the conference and the regular season.

FRESNO STATE: A pair of field goals in the fourth quarter by Kevin Goessling, measuring 23 and 35 yards, proved to be the difference as the Fresno State Bulldogs took a bite out of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, 30-28, on Saturday. Goessling, who knocked through three kicks in the second half, nailed the 35- yard effort at the buzzer to put FSU into the win column again. Fresno played without Ryan Mathews, the nation's leading rusher, and instead leaned on Ryan Colburn who converted 17-of-42 passes for 182 yards and a score. The Bulldogs have completed their WAC slate for the year, but they still have one more regular-season bout remaining against Illinois on December 5th in Champaign following this week's bye.

HAWAII: Leon Wright-Jackson's five-yard touchdown run in overtime is exactly what the Warriors needed as they picked up the 17-10 win against San Jose State on Saturday night. Now with three straight wins and still alive for a possible postseason invite, the Warriors gained 106 yards on the ground as quarterback Shane Austin was credited with a rushing score of his own in the first quarter. Austin converted 28-of-46 passes for 299 yards and survived three sacks, while Greg Salas caught eight passes for 52 yards in the close call. With a regular season that stretches into December, the next opponent on the Hawaii schedule this weekend is Navy, with Wisconsin to follow a week later in Honolulu.

IDAHO: The Vandals took a break from the action last week following their 63-25 blowout loss against in-state rival and WAC foe Boise State on November 14th. Despite losing two in a row and three of the last four, Idaho is still eligible for a bowl berth, but losing out at this point would not earn the Vandals many style points. The last game on UI's regular-season schedule comes against Utah State at home this weekend. USU won last year's battle by a score of 42-17, giving the Aggies a 17-16-2 lead in the all-time series.

LOUISIANA TECH: The Bulldogs scored touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, a pair in the opening period in fact, but when it came to the all- important fourth frame LaTech came up empty and because of that bowed to Fresno State in a 30-28 final on the road. Quarterback Ross Jenkins had one of the best games of his career as he completed 14-of-22 passes for 206 yards and four touchdowns, more importantly, he wasn't intercepted or sacked, which is why the Bulldogs were never really out of contention. Daniel Porter responded with 137 yards on the ground and Dennis Morris caught seven balls for 131 yards and three scores in the setback. The Bulldogs catch a break this week as they get some extra time to prepare for their season finale against San Jose State the first week of December. LaTech has won two straight and three of the last four against the Spartans, evening the all-time series at four games apiece.

NEVADA: History was made by the Wolf Pack on Saturday night as running back Luke Lippincott became the third player on the team to reach 1,000 rushing yards on the season in the team's 63-20 blowout of New Mexico State in Las Cruces. Lippincott, with his game-high 162 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, joined Vai Taua and Colin Kaepernick to form the only trio of 1,000- yard rushers on the same team, in the same year in NCAA history. Aside from the two TD passes thrown by Kaepernick in an effort just to switch up the Nevada offense, the team again turned to the run game to produce a whopping 574 yards and seven touchdowns on 61 attempts. The top running team in the country with 373.2 ypg, the Pack is back after losing three straight games to start the 2009 campaign and is now riding a school-record eight-game win streak. The Wolf Pack tries to finish the regular season on a high note as it faces off against an undefeated Boise State squad this week. Nevada has dropped nine in a row versus the Broncos, the most recent of which was last year in a 41-34 final.

NEW MEXICO STATE: After 20 straight quarters the New Mexico State offense finally scored a touchdown on Saturday night, two in fact by Marcus Allen who caught a pair of scoring strikes from Jeff Fleming. However, in the final analysis, those two scores did little to change the outcome of the 63-20 final versus Nevada in front of a sparse Las Cruces crowd that has seen their Aggies drop to 3-8 on the campaign because of this current five-game slide. Fleming converted 8-of-19 passes for 77 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked one time by a Nevada defense that was out on the field quite a bit following countless quick scores by the Wolf Pack offense. The next opponent on the NMSU radar is San Jose State, a league foe that has won 14 of the 16 meetings between the two schools. Last season, the Aggies bowed in a 31-14 final to the Spartans, the fifth straight loss in the series for New Mexico State.

SAN JOSE STATE: With the news of head coach Dick Tomey leaving at the end of this season still fresh in their minds, the Spartans went out and played a tough defensive battle with Hawaii on Saturday, only to come out with the 17-10 overtime loss at home. Kyle Reed, who ran for the team's only TD, converted 14-of-22 passes for 131 yards and an interception. Jordan La Secla completed more passes to the opposition (two) than he did the Spartans (one), which was just one of the many reasons why SJSU dropped into the loss column for the sixth straight time. Next up for the Spartans is New Mexico State this coming week. Against the Aggies in a series that dates back to 1984, SJSU has won all but two of the 16 encounters, including a 31-14 triumph last season to give the Spartans five in a row over NMSU.

UTAH STATE: Michael Smith had two rushing scores and Robert Turbin another, but by no means was that enough to even compete with Boise State in what turned into a 52-21 decision at Romney Stadium on Friday night. Turbin tallied 61 yards on the ground and Smith another 44, while Diondre Borel tried to make himself a factor passing the ball for 201 yards, but he was intercepted once and sacked four times in the setback. The final game of the 2009 regular season for the Aggies takes place this weekend as the team goes up against Idaho in Moscow. Last season, USU posted a 42-17 win against the Vandals, giving USU a narrow 17-16-2 lead in the all-time series.