Jeremy McNichols ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for a third score in the first quarter of Boise State’s 55-7 rout of Northern Illinois Wednesday in the 11th annual Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Broncos outgained the Huskies, 654 yards to 33, led 35-7 in first downs and 43:13-16:47 in time of possession.
“I thought our team was fast tonight and that was a credit to our strength staff with out conditioning going into this game because that’s one area that really gets… devalued when it comes to bowl games and it showed up tonight,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said.
Huskies center Andrew Ness called the Broncos “a great team.”
“Defense was rock solid, but we also hurt ourselves,” Ness said. “We played our worst game when we needed to play our best.”
Northern Illinois (8-6) lost three fumbles in the first half, which Boise State converted into two touchdowns and a field goal.
Broncos freshman quarterback Brett Rypien was selected as the game’s offensive MVP after he completed 29 of 40 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns, with one pass intercepted.
Defensive lineman Kamalei Correa made two of Boise State’s five quarterback sacks and forced a fumble and was chosen as the defensive MVP.
McNichols opened the scoring 58 seconds into the game, running 29 yards for a touchdown, one play after Rypien completed his longest pass of the game, a 39-yarder to McNichols.
McNichols caught a four-yard pass from Rypien for the second score, and ran one yard for the third score.
The Broncos (9-4) increased their lead to 24-0 9:44 before halftime on Tyler Rausa’s 20-yard second-quarter field goal.
Aregero Turner returned Rausa’s ensuing kickoff 96 yards for the lone touchdown for the Huskies.
Rypien, a nephew of former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chaz Anderson with 1:51 left in the first half to give Boise State a 31-7 lead.
Rausa kicked a 27-yard field goal and Rypien threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Alec Dhaenens in the third quarter.
Kelsey Young ran 24 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Backup quarterback Thomas Stewart ran one yard for the final touchdown.
The victory was the Broncos’ sixth in their last seven bowl games. Northern Illinois lost its fourth consecutive bowl game and seventh of its last nine.
The announced attendance of 21,501 was the lowest in Poinsettia Bowl history. The previous low of 23,408 came for the 2013 game between Northern Illinois and Utah State.
This was the Poinsettia Bowl’s first afternoon game. Its 1:30 p.m. start was the earliest for a bowl game in San Diego and was made to accommodate a postgame fireworks dubbed “Stadium Spectacular,” according to Mark Neville, the executive director of San Diego Bowl Game Association, which operates the Poinsettia Bowl and the other bowl game played at Qualcomm Stadium, the Holiday Bowl.
The fireworks show was the result of brainstorming with the game’s staff, Neville said.
“We noticed that there are events, like a Padres game, that attract a lot more people when there’s a postgame fireworks show,” Neville told City News Service before the game.
— City News Service
