BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State football team faced an abundance of questions entering Friday night's Mountain West Conference opener at New Mexico. While there is still work to do, in a lot of ways, the Broncos got back on track in the 31-14 win.
To start, Hank Bachmeier returned as the starting quarterback and looked much more like the fourth-year starter Bronco Nation expected to see in 2022.
After losing his job early in the second quarter in last week's loss to Oregon State, Bachmeier bounced back with a better performance against a stingy Lobos' defense led by Rocky Long.
The Murrieta, Calif., native finished 16-for-27 with 170 passing yards and three touchdowns. It was Bachmeier's fourth career three-touchdown game.
The veteran signal caller did have a late interception, but the game felt all but put away at that point Friday.
Whether or not "bounce back performance" is the proper phrase to describe Bachmeier's outing, he did show he is a fighter, as told by Boise State wide receiver Latrell Caples:
"This week we just made sure we kept lifting him up and throughout the week, we didn't even know who was gonna come out here and get the start, but whoever it was, we just kept lifting both quarterbacks up," Caples said. "[Bachmeier] came out today, he played better than he did last week and we're just gonna keep improving by the week. He showed that after all of what happened week one, that he can bounce back and he showed his poise and showed -- like I said -- he's a fighter. He keeps doing that throughout the week, we're gonna keep getting better and better."
Caples led the Broncos' offense with two touchdowns against New Mexico. His full post-game interview from Friday can be found at the top of this article.
Boise State's home opener against UT Martin Saturday, Sept. 17, kicks off at 2 p.m. MT on The Blue. The contest will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
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