Johnson's 4 TDs help Boise State remain unbeaten

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -- 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.

The Broncos (7-0, 3-0 WAC) earlier Sunday landed at No. 15 in

the first BCS standings of the season. They were solid offensively,

but shaky on defense against the Aggies, who have lost 17 straight

games against Division I-A opponents.

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 touchdown passes from Jared Zabransky in the second half.

New Mexico State (2-4, 0-2) kept it close behind sophomore

quarterback Chase Holbrook, the nation's total offense leader.

Holbrook completed a school-record 49 of 65 passes for 526 yards.

He came up 20 yards short of the single-game NMSU record of 546

yards set by Cody Ledbetter against UNLV in 1995.

Holbrook threw two touchdown passes, including a 65-yarder to

Derek Dubois in the first half. Holbrook scored on a 1-yard run

with 9:19 left in the third quarter that cut Boise State's lead to

27-21 and kept the Broncos' defense guessing -- usually wrong -- most

of the night.

After Holbrook's rushing TD, the Broncos drove to the NMSU 36

and faced a fourth-and-6. Zabransky threw incomplete but Tim

McManigal was called for roughing Zabransky. Four plays later,

Zabransky hit Jeremy Childs with a 22-yard TD pass. Big in that

84-yard drive were a 19-yard pass from Zabransky to Jerard Rabb on

third-and-10 from the Boise 17 and Zabransky's 24-yard pass to

Legedu Naanee to the New Mexico State 40.

The Aggies still had some fight left and Holbrook completed six

passes in a drive that reached the Boise State 13. On fourth down,

Matt Pratt's 30-yard field goal attempt was blocked. The Broncos

took over and needed just six plays to score on a 33-yard pass from

Zabransky to Vinny Perretta for a 40-21 lead with 13:13 left in the

game.

Holbrook completed 11 straight passes in an 82-yard drive in the

second quarter that ended with Jeremiah Williams' 3-yard TD run.

Holbrook's 65-yard pass to Dubois came with 1:27 left in the first

half.

Dubois caught the ball near the Boise State 30 as two Broncos

collided trying to break it up and Dubois scooted away untouched.

The drive began after Zabransky fumbled a pitch at the NMSU 18 and

Aggies safety Derrick Richardson recovered it.

Holbrook ran his streak of completions to 16 straight and had

the Aggies at the Boise 24 in the final minute of the first half.

The scoring threat ended when Marty Tadman intercepted Holbrook's

pass in the end zone on the final play of the half.

The Aggies, whose two wins this season were against Division

I-AA Southeastern Louisiana and Texas Southern, riddled the WAC's

best defense. Receiver Chris Williams had career highs of 13

catches for 191 yards and Dubois caught six passes for 124 yards.

Zabransky was 14-of-21 passing for 215 yards.