Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State dominates Northern Illinois in historic fashion

The Boise State Broncos had a dominant showing in the Poinsettia Bowl win against the Northern Illinois Huskies as Brett Rypien had a career day.

In a game many believed would be close, the Poinsettia Bowl was anything but that as Boise State won their second bowl game in a row in dominating fashion. The 55-7 final was the fifth-largest blowout in bowl history and the Broncos outgained the Huskies 654-33.

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In a game many believed would be close, the Poinsettia Bowl was anything but as Boise State won their second bowl game in a row in dominating fashion. The 55-7 final was the fifth-largest blowout in bowl history and the Broncos outgained the Huskies 654-33.

It was the Jeremy McNichols Show in the first frame as the Broncos scored at the 14:02 mark when McNichols ran 29 yards for a touchdown, capping off a three-play 75-yard drive that lasted 58 seconds. The lead ballooned to 14 when freshman quarterback Brett Rypien hit McNichols on a four-yard touchdown reception.

McNichols got his third score of the night when he ran in from a yard out at the 3:28 mark as Boise State raced out to a 21-0 lead and the game was pretty much over.

Northern Illinois didn’t get on the board until it was 24-0 when junior Aregeros Turner ran back the ensuing kick 96 yards to get on the scoreboard, but that would be the only points for the Huskies on a day their offense couldn’t do anything against the Broncos defense.

Chaz Anderson and sophomore tight end Alec Dhaenens were both on the receiving end of Rypien touchdown passes as the true freshman finished with 377 yards, three touchdowns and one interception on 29 of 40 passing before sitting in the fourth with the score 41-7.

Sophomore quarterback Thomas Stuart added a touchdown run to make it a 52-7 game and lead the Broncos to a place in history as their 48-point win is tied for the fifth-largest margin of victory in bowl game history.

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For Northern Illinois, quarterback Ryan Graham just could not get things in control going 7-21 for 38 yards passing. Joel Bouagnon was silenced on the ground, carrying the ball eight times for 16 yards. Northern Illinois was 1-12 on third down, had minus-3 yards of offense in the second half and minus-5 rushing yards for the game.

The longest play from scrimmage was an 11-yard catch from Tommylee Lewis.