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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, October 16, 2006

Boise State holds off next UH foe, NMSU

By Pete Herrera
Associated Press

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Ian Johnson scored four first-half touchdowns and ran for 192 yards and No. 18 Boise State toasted its debut in the BCS standings with a 40-28 win over New Mexico State last night.

The Broncos (7-0, 3-0 in Western Athletic Conference) earlier in the day landed at No. 15 in the season's first BCS standings.

"It means nothing to me. I have no reaction to that because if one game we don't take care of business, we're not even having this conversation," said Boise State coach Chris Petersen when asked about his team's BCS standing.

Johnson scored on touchdown runs of 7, 1, 3 and 17 yards and the Broncos finally put away the pesky, pass-happy Aggies with a pair of second-half touchdown passes from Jared Zabransky.

New Mexico State (2-4, 0-2) kept it close behind sophomore quarterback Chase Holbrook, the nation's total offense leader. Holbrook completed 49 of 65 passes for 526 yards (20 yards short of the school record).

On Saturday, Holbrook and the Aggies will host Hawai'i and its quarterback Colt Brennan, who ranks No. 2 in the nation.

Holbrook, who completed 16 consecutive passes during one stretch, threw two touchdown passes, and also scored on a 1-yard run as the Aggies rallied from deficits of 21-0 and 27-7.