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Las Vegas • Like so many who come to Las Vegas with grand plans and dreams of riches, the Utah Utes had their hopes crushed Wednesday.

In a battle of the two programs best known for their BCS-busting ways, it was Boise State who did a better job of cashing in on its opportunities, defeating the Utes 26-3 in front of 41,923 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The No. 20 Utes (10-3) had their chances early, with No. 10 Boise State (12-1) committing three turnovers in the first half, but they made too many miscues themselves.

Joe Phillips missed a 39-yard field goal, quarterback Terrance Cain fumbled and watched as dropped passes by Shaky Smithson and Jereme Brooks, along with a penalty, all wiped out scoring opportunities.

The Utes led 3-0 after the first quarter, but even Utah, a team that rarely believes it is ever down and out of a game, knew it was in big trouble.

"Playing a team like this, you have to capitalize on every single opportunity," center Zane Taylor said. "We didn't do that tonight and that's what hurts the most. What we did on offense, we were hurting ourselves and that is the hard part, the questions of 'what if?' "

Once it survived the first-quarter mistakes, Boise State came alive and scored 26 unanswered points. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to put the Broncos up 16-3.

"It's a game where going in we had to be opportunistic and make plays and we weren't able to do that," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We had great field position in the first half and to come away with three points, we turned the ball over too many times against a quality team. We had far too many penalties and we weren't very good on third down. When you play a team the caliber of Boise State, you have to be better than we were tonight."

Moore was the game's MVP after finishing 28-of-38 for 339 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.

The Utes wanted to win Wednesday's game to protect their bowl streak, which was two victories away from tying FSU for the all-time streak at 11 set from 1985-96 and enter the Pac-12 as winners with a victory over the incoming MWC team.

Failing at both objectives hurt equally, players said.

"It was a tough game," defensive end Christian Cox said. "We played our hearts out and the defense caused some turnovers and we put in a hard effort in the first quarter but we couldn't get any points on the board. We couldn't get over the hump."

In the end, the sharpest barbs the Utes delivered was all the smack talk leading up to the game, which only added more motivation, the Broncos said.

"We got called out a little bit and we had to step up our game and bring our 'A,' game," safety Jeron Johnson said. "We wanted to go out on top."

The worst moment for Utah's offense outside of the first-quarter problems arguably came at the end of the third quarter when Terrance Cain threw a touchdown strike to Jereme Brooks that could have cut Boise State's lead to 23-10 and give the Utes a bit of hope.

But a holding call on Taylor negated the touchdown. All Cain could do was stare at the yellow flag on the field, a symbol of the struggles the Utes faced all night.

Cain was 10-of-24 for 93 yards and fumbled twice, but the offensive struggles weren't all his fault. Of his best passes, three were dropped and two that would have gone for big gains were erased by penalties.

The uncharacteristic mistakes had Whittingham shaking his head.

"It's tough to explain," he said. "We had a lot of drops. Guys were focused and working hard just like the last nine times but we weren't able to make the plays."

lwodraska@sltrib.comTwitter: @lyawodraska —

Storylines

R In short • The Utes see their NCAA leading nine-game bowl win streak end at the hands of the Broncos, who have outscored them 62-6 in their last two meetings.

Key stat • Boise State's offense outgains the Utes 543-200, including 341 passing yards to Utah's 93.

Key moment • Kellen Moore throws a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Shoemaker with 18 seconds remaining in the first half.