NCAABy Matt Clapp on

With 10:53 to go in the fourth quarter, Boise State scored a touchdown to take a 31-10 lead over No. 20 Washington State on Saturday night in Pullman, WA. It appeared the Broncos were well on their way to pulling off an upset victory over on the road against a ranked PAC-12 team, especially with Cougars starting quarterback Luke Falk having been removed from the game (reportedly due to a head injury).

But, then things got wild. Wazzu backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski led the Cougars on a touchdown drive with eight minutes to go, and the following drive, the defense made a big play. However, you could say it was more of Boise State quarterback Montell Cozart — also a backup; starting quarterback Brett Rypien left with an injury — basically handing the Cougars the ball.

On second down and leading by 14 with six minutes left, Cozart — a Kansas Jayhawks transfer — was about to take a sack, and decided to try a shovel pass as he was going down. Bad idea. Wazzu linebacker Peyton Pelluer picked off the pass and took it 36 yards to the house.

All of a sudden, it was just a seven-point game. And the Cougars would soon get the ball back, but facing a 4th and 20 on their own side of the field with two timeouts left, had little choice but to punt with three minutes left.

Well, that worked out quite well, somehow. The punt hit a Boise State player in the head, and Wazzu recovered it at the Broncos’ 24-yard line.

The Cougars then took advantage of that incredibly fortunate break and tied the game with 1:44 left.

The game went into overtime, and Boise State hit a field goal to go up three, before Wazzu had a third down at the one-yard line. For some reason, Mike Leach and the Cougars dialed up a fade route, and that didn’t work.

What was perhaps even more confusing, was that Wazzu then chose to kick the field goal to tie the game rather than go for the win at the one-yard line. So, two plays from the one-yard line, and they tried a jumpball, followed by just deciding to kick rather than go for the win.

In the second overtime, both teams actually good things on offense and scored touchdowns!

And in the third overtime, the Cougars finally put an end to the latest weird edition of #PAC12AfterDark with this Tyler Hilinski pass to Jamal Morrow for a 22-yard game-winning touchdown (and what a dive across the goal line by Morrow as well):

What a crazy, awesome, dumb game. And what a blown opportunity for the Boise State Broncos.

[Photo & Video Credit: ESPN]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp