BOISE, Idaho — Boise State coach Chris Petersen and quarterback Grant Hedrick said leading up to Saturday’s game against Wyoming that Matt Miller needed the ball more.
Mission accomplished.
Miller, on pace for multiple school records, wasn’t going to be down for long.
In the Broncos’ 48-7 hammering of the Cowboys, he had seven catches, with career-bests of 143 yards and three TDs.
“Every time I threw it up there, he was coming down with it. It was pretty cool,” Hedrick said.
Including the Broncos’ last game, Nov. 2 at Colorado State, Miller has 13 catches for 239 yards and five touchdowns in two November games.
In October, Miller had 12 catches for 116 yards and did not score a touchdown in three games. Only once in his career, in November of his freshman year, did Miller have fewer catches in a three-game span (11).
“I was kind of getting a little frustrated for a while,” Miller said Wednesday.
Hedrick, on the same day, speaking of Miller, said “he needs to get more touches.”
On Saturday, Hedrick found the Helena, Mont., native early and often.
All five of Miller’s first-half catches went for first downs, one on a third-and-7, and another on a fourth-and-6 on a play before he caught a 14-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds to go in the first quarter.
Miller’s second score, the 20th of his career, came on a spectacular play in the second quarter that put the Broncos up 28-7.
As Hedrick cocked back and threw deep downfield, the pass was a bit short. Miller adjusted, and Wyoming cornerback Blair Burns impeded Miller’s path to the ball. The pass, with Miller reaching over Burns’ shoulders, was tipped into the air, and Miller was able to get under it, facing little resistance for the last few yards of a 48-yard TD with 10:14 to go in the first half.
“It was a terrible ball, but he went up and made a great play,” Hedrick said.
Miller now sits in the top 10 in three major receiving categories in Boise State’s record book. His 188 career receptions are fourth, his 21 TD catches are tied for seventh and his 2,191 receiving yards are ninth.