FRESNO, Calif. — Four years of frustration flowed out of every heavy hit and every pinpoint pass when Fresno State finally ended Boise State's domination of the Bulldogs and the entire Western Athletic Conference.
Paul Pinegar passed for 307 yards and hit Paul Williams for two long touchdowns, and the 20th-ranked Bulldogs decisively snapped Boise State's 31-game conference winning streak with a 27-7 victory Thursday night.
Williams scored on a 98-yard play, while Wendell Mathis ran for 121 yards and a score for Fresno State (8-1, 6-0 WAC) in its first victory over the three-time defending league champions since Boise State joined the conference in 2001 and promptly began the longest perfect run in WAC history.
The Bulldogs' blowout win was years in the making: They controlled the ball for more than 40 minutes, racked up 513 yards and shut out Boise State (7-3, 5-1) after Jeff Carpenter's 67-yard TD run in the opening seconds.
Fresno State won for the 14th time in 15 games since losing to the Broncos last season. Bulldog Stadium's sellout crowd, which cheered through a steady rain for the first three quarters, roared when coaches Pat Hill and Dan Hawkins hugged at midfield after a scoreless second half.
Jared Zabransky was 15-of-32 for 190 yards with two interceptions for Boise State, which finally ran out of offensive ingenuity after winning every WAC game since a loss to Louisiana Tech on Nov. 3, 2001.
Boise State lost just two of its first 37 games in league play, but Zabransky's error-prone unit never resembled the sublime offensive teams of past years.
The schools have dominated the WAC since Boise State joined, going a combined 64-12. Though two tough conference games remain, Fresno State finally is in prime position for its first outright WAC title in Hill's tenure.
Hill made no attempt to minimize the meeting's importance, calling it the biggest game at Bulldog Stadium in his nine seasons. Hill has been haunted by Boise State since 2001, when the Broncos beat then-No. 8 Fresno State 35-30 to end the Bulldogs' unbeaten season and Bowl Championship Series aspirations.
"They came in and took something from us, and we've never got it back," Hill said.
That simmering anxiety might have been one reason Carpenter turned a simple trap play into a 67-yard score on the second play from scrimmage, just 47 seconds after the opening kickoff. But Fresno State calmly replied with a 74-yard scoring drive, including a clutch third-down pass by Pinegar and a 15-yard TD run by Mathis.
Pinegar, who became Fresno State's career leader in touchdown passes, decisively outplayed Zabransky. In previous years, the schools' quarterbacks were polar opposites: Pinegar and predecessor David Carr struggled against Boise State, while Zabransky and former star Ryan Dinwiddie carved up Fresno State's defenses.
Not this time. With a smooth 29-yard TD pass to Williams on the first play of the second quarter, Pinegar passed Carr's career record with his 71st scoring pass at Fresno State.
The game turned on Williams' electric 98-yard score midway through the second quarter. He came back to catch an underthrown pass from Pinegar, shaking off a defender who committed pass interference, then stiff-armed and eventually flung safety Marty Tadman to the ground during the long run to his second score.
After two short field goals by backup kicker Kyle Zimmerman, the Bulldogs got a standing ovation when Pinegar led them up the runway to the locker room at halftime with a 20-point lead.
The Broncos had won seven straight since opening the season with non-conference road losses to Georgia and Oregon State. Boise State wore neon-orange uniform pants for just the second time — but just as in their debut between the hedges, the pants didn't deter a bunch of Bulldogs.
Fresno State will make a nothing-to-lose trip to face top-ranked Southern California next weekend, while Boise State still has a good shot at making the MPC Computers Bowl in its home stadium.