Boise State’s aura of invincibility vanished with one play in an otherwise dominant Las Vegas Bowl performance. The Broncos failed to make the Statue Of Liberty play work.
Boise State botches the Statue Of Liberty play they made famous back in 2007
I don’t even know what’s real anymore.
When you think Boise State, you think of the Statue Of Liberty. It’s the play that the Broncos used to vanquish the Oklahoma Sooners in the epic 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
They’ve actually run it a few times since then, notably back in 2014 when they pulled it off twice.
The second time they did it was actually in the Fiesta Bowl. Coach Bryan Harsin said it had to be a part of the game plan.
”First play we put in. Absolutely. We even laughed about it.
”You’re back, and you ran it, and at that point in that season, we’d won our championship, we’re gonna play in the Fiesta Bowl, and it’s exciting. You’re sitting in there, and there’s confidence, and it’s like, ‘We’re running that.’
“In true trick play fashion, we run it, but the running back has to break 85 tackles to make it work. Jay Ajayi goes out there and runs over four guys. So it worked out pretty good!”
But this time, there was a breakdown in the execution of the play. Broncos quarterback Brett Rypien is trying to pull off the blind handoff, but he doesn’t keep the right form, and his hand drifts higher and higher as he waits to feel his running back ready to receive the handoff after the delay.
The timing of the play is thrown off, and the running back is left to basically take the handoff off of his facemask.
That causes a fumble that Oregon took back to the house.
The veneer is popped, and the Broncos can bleed on the trick play they made famous.
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