Boise State Football: 3 takeaways from 2019 MWC title win over Hawaii

2. George Holani led charge on the ground for Boise State

Boise State’s running game has been far short of the dominance produced by previous Broncos backfields. Entering the Mountain West championship game, Bryan Harsin’s crew averaged nearly 177 yards per game. That put the Broncos in the top 50 nationally, a respectable enough ranking but hardly the type of productivity they experienced when guys like Alexander Mattison, Jay Ajayi, Doug Martin, and Ian Johnson were plying their trade in the backfield.

George Holani has stepped up his game in recent weeks. After sharing the duties with Robert Mahone, Holani has picked up his game further after Mahone went down with an injury. Though his partner in the backfield has returned to active status, Holani has seized the chance to take over as the feature back.

With 912 yards on his stat sheet before the Mountain West title game, Holani didn’t quite reach 1000 yards on the season. He finished the day with 67 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, providing balance to go with the rushing production from Jaylon Henderson.

As a team, Boise State finished with 144 total rushing yards as a team. Averaging nearly four yards per carry, the Broncos overpowered a Hawaii defense that simply had no answers against a stronger, bigger offensive line. Pushed around, the Rainbow Warriors were doomed by the offensive balance Boise State brought to the table.