Boise State beats Colorado State 42-14

BOISE, Idaho (AP) Boise State scored on its first offensive play Saturday and never looked back in a 42-14 victory over Colorado State.

Senior D.J. Harper went untouched on an 80-yard touchdown run, and the Broncos (9-2, 6-1 Mountain West) scored on five of their six first-half possessions against the Rams (3-8, 2-5) to keep their conference title hopes alive. Boise State entered the day tied with Fresno State and San Diego State in the Mountain West.

Harper, a sixth-year senior playing in the final home game of his career, finished with 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Quarterback Joe Southwick completed 17-of-20 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than one half of action. He connected with Matt Miller (5 yards) and Holden Huff (18 yards) for first-half touchdown passes.

Senior receiver Chris Potter had a 12-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation for the Broncos, which led 35-0 at halftime. It marked the sixth time this season that Boise State held its opponent scoreless in the first half.

Colorado State trailed 42-0 when it finally scored on a career-long 72-yard run by Chris Nwoke with 2:09 in the third quarter. Nwoke finished with a game-high 119 yards on 10 carries. The Rams managed only 229 total yards and committed three turnovers in their last chance to win a road game this season. Colorado State is 0-5 in away games this season.

Colorado State got its final score on a 30-yard pass from Conner Smith to Marquise Law with 4:09 left. It was just the third passing touchdown yielded by Boise State this season.

Backup quarterback Grant Hedrick had a 1-yard touchdown run for the Broncos, which wound up with 503 yards, their most this season since rolling up 599 against Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 15.