No. 21 Aztecs rally past Boise State, secure berth in Mountain West championship game

San Diego State was searching for something, anything, to generate a spark after a sluggish start Friday morning against Boise State.

The Aztecs found it in a quarterback who began the season as the starter before dropping not one but two places on the depth chart after an early season injury

SDSU’s Jordon Brookshire was buried on the bench, all but forgotten before being called upon under the most dire of circumstances.

Boise State had a 13-point lead late in the second quarter and the Broncos were looking every bit in control of the game.

That’s when Brookshire replaced starter Lucas Johnson, who had suffered a right knee injury on a previous drive.

The senior from Santa Rosa led the Aztecs to 24 unanswered points and a 27-16 Mountain West win over Boise State before an estimated 4,000 fans (announced attendance was 11,886) at Dignity Health Sports Park.

A national television audience on CBS watched No. 21 SDSU (11-1, 7-1 MW) earn the conference’s West Division title and a berth in next Saturday’s Mountain West championship game.

“It was not easy, but it is kind of the Aztec way right now,” SDSU head coach Brady Hoke said. “It makes my heart go a little bit, but I am really proud of our players.”

The Aztecs will host Utah State — which defeated New Mexico 35-10 Friday — at noon on Dec. 4 (Fox).

“The goal is to win the championship, right?” Hoke said when asked about reaching the title game. “It’s, obviously, important to the guys who play. It’s important to our athletic department. It’s important to our university. We want to put our best foot forward.”

The winner in that game is ticketed for the inaugural Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl against a Pac-12 opponent.

SDSU’s 11 victories ties a school record most recently shared by the 2015-16 Mountain West championship teams that went 11-3.

SDSU trailed 16-3 with three minutes remaining in the first half when Brookshire — listed as No. 3 on the depth chart behind Johnson and freshman Will Haskell — entered the game.

The decision was made, Hoke said, because Johnson “wasn’t himself. He got banged up, and when you’ve got a guy who is struggling a bit, maybe timing is off, who does have an injury, it is not fair to keep him in there.”

Asked why Brookshire was the backup over Haskell, Hoke said, “We just thought Jordon was practicing a little better.”

Right after Johnson was nicked up, Brookshire got a few moments to warm up while the SDSU defense was on the field.

Then it was “Hey, you’re up,” Brookshire said. “And I was ready to go.”

On his first snap, Brookshire threw a ball up along the left sideline that wide receiver Jesse Matthews went up over the defender for a 30-yard catch that moved the ball to midfield.

“That got me into the flow pretty quickly,” Brookshire said.

Two plays later, Brookshire found tight end Daniel Bellinger for a 17-yard completion.

Two plays after that, Brookshire went back to Matthews (9 catches, 133 yards, TD), who made a sideline catch, spun and raced to the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown that made it 16-10 with 90 seconds remaining in the first half.

It was the first TD pass thrown by Brookshire in 2 1/2 months, during a Week 2 win at Arizona.

The Aztecs defense seemed energized by the offensive awakening, getting the ball back for their teammates with 28 seconds left.

It was enough time for Brookshire to complete 16- and 22-yard passes to wide receivers Elijah Kothe and Tyrell Shavers, respectively, positioning Matt Araiza for a 37-yard field goal that made it 16-13 at halftime.

“There’s no quit in us,” said Matthews, who had a team-high nine receptions for 133 yards. “That’s a great thing about this program — the mental toughness. You know adversity is going to strike. It’s about how you respond to it. We did a great job responding.

“I’m so proud of Jordon. All the guys on the offense and defense and special teams, we responded in the right way.”

It was not a speech so much as a few well-chosen words in the locker room that carried the Aztecs back out to the field.

“We started getting it rolling,” SDSU defensive tackle Jonah Tavai said. “Went into halftime and came out saying, ‘Just play. Just play ball.’ ... That’s pretty much it.”

Whatever is was, it worked.

After allowing Boise State to roll up 248 yards in the first half, the Broncos were limited to 71 yards over the final two periods (SDSU led in total offense 408-319).

Meanwhile, the SDSU offense picked up right where it left off.

SDSU got the ball to start the third quarter, and Brookshire moved the team 75 yards over 11 plays before running back Greg Bell (15 carries, 42 yards, TD) scored on a 2-yard run that gave the Aztecs their first lead of the game, 20-16.

Bell’s TD came on a fourth-and-1 play, the second fourth-and-1 conversion on the drive.

The earlier one was even more gutsy, as Brookshire (11-for-15, 192 yards, TD/9 carries, 46 yards rushing) faked a handoff with Boise State defenders loaded at the line and hit a wide open Bellinger down the left side for a 38 yard gain.

SDSU got the ball right back after that when safety Patrick McMorris picked off Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier for the second time in the game. This one came off a tip from teammate Caden McDonald and set SDSU up at the Boise State 43-yard line.

Brookshire immediately went to Matthews, who made an acrobatic 27-yard catch.

Two plays later, Brookshire scored on a 16-yard keeper up the middle in which he carried a couple would-be tacklers with him across the goal line for a 27-16 lead midway through the third quarter.

That seemed like plenty of points for a sufficiently inspired SDSU defense, which kept coming after Bachmeier.

Most notable was a third-down play early in the fourth quarter when avai burst up the middle for one of his game-high three sacks, this one separating the QB from his helmet. Teammate Cameron Thomas added another as the Aztecs got substantially more pressure on Bachmeier the second half of the game.

“Having those defensive linemen get pressure every play gives us time to cover,” McMorris said. “All we have is three seconds, at most, to cover our guy and we know that they are going to get back there.”

It was quite a contrast to what Boise State was able to do in the first half.

Bachmeier (21-for-40, 222 yards, 2 TDs/2 INTs) picked at the Aztecs with short and intermediate passes that moved the Broncos up and down the field.

He had help from running back George Holani, who made significant gains running the ball (and catching it out of the backfield).

A 20-yard touchdown pass from Bachmeier to tight end Kurt Rafdal and a 13-yard TD pass to wide receiver Khalil Shakir provided Boise State with a 13-3 lead four minutes into the second quarter.

It was moments afterwards that SDSU tried some trickery.

A fake field goal worked three weeks ago for a touchdown at Hawaii.

This time?

The Aztecs faked a punt from their own 27-yard line. The ball was snapped to protector Garret Fountain instead of Araiza (6 punts, 47.5-yard average/2-for-4 FGs).

SDSU needed eight yards. Fountain got four, and Boise State was positioned for more points, a 22-yard Jonah Dalmas field goal that boosted the Broncos’ lead to 16-3.

“That speaks to desperation of San Diego State,” CBS broadcaster Aaron Taylor said after the fake.

SDSU did look desperate at that point.

Johnson (9-for-20, 98 yards) hadn’t done much to move the offense. Neither had SDSU’s running game, which produced only 29 yards on 15 first-half rushes. At that point, Bell had nine carries for 24 yards.

But Brookshire was waiting in the wings.