RUSTON, La. — The Boise State Broncos showed they could push back when pushed against the wall, but also cornered themselves into it Friday night.

Playing in Joe Aillet Stadium, a venue rarely friendly to the Broncos, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs forced Boise State into a deficit for only the second time this season and trailed 30-28 in the fourth quarter.

However, the Broncos responded with two scores in the final 8 minutes, leaving the Pelican State with a 45-35 Western Athletic Conference victory.

"Ironically, we talked a lot about that this week — if it takes four quarters, it takes four quarters, but we can't sit on our heels when we get into a dogfight, we need to embrace the competition and go for it," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "They rose up when they needed to."

After Louisiana Tech (3-6, 2-4) held a 7-3 lead with 8:14 to go in the first quarter, the No. 5 Broncos (9-0, 4-0) rattled off 24 straight points for a 27-7 halftime lead and seemingly a third straight rout.

All it took was a rare Kellen Moore mistake to turn the tide.

Boise State's sophomore quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate tried to throw toward the sideline facing some pressure, but the pass hung in the air too long and was too short — cornerback Josh Victorian picked it off and ran it back 75 yards for the touchdown 1:08 into the second half.

"I was trying to get the ball out of bounds, but obviously didn't get it there," Moore said. "The guy made a play and it was a stupid thing that shouldn't have happened."

The Bulldogs scored 14 of the next 17 points to cut the lead to 30-28 with 14:07 to go on a 5-yard pass from Ross Jenkins to tight end Dennis Morris.

"You aren't judged by how you play the first 30 minutes," Jenkins said. "We knew we played as bad as we could've in the first half ... we needed to calm down."

Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman missed a 31-yard field goal on the Broncos' next drive, but Louisiana Tech went three-and-out when it got the ball.

Moore hit Kyle Efaw for 40 yards on the Broncos' second play of the ensuing drive to get to the Bulldogs' 15. Three plays later, Moore threw it nice and high for the 6-foot-3 Austin Pettis in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown. The Broncos converted the two-point conversion and led 38-28 with 7:41 remaining.

"Austin's a basketball player down there, you give him a high ball and let him go get it," said Moore, who completed 28-of-41 passes for 354 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

Pettis said the Broncos scored on the same play against Miami (Ohio), Tulsa and Hawaii — but the key difference was that Moore threw the pass low on the others. Defenses have adjusted, and the Broncos did, too.

"Their corner dropped outside of me and I broke in, the linebacker dropped back and (Moore) threw it up over his head," Pettis said.

Jeremy Avery tacked on a 44-yard touchdown run with 4:52 to go that gave the Broncos enough breathing room. Avery finished with 146 yards rushing on 25 attempts, though the rest of the team had only seven yards on nine carries, including just 29 yards in the first half. Boise State twice was stopped on third-and-1 runs at midfield and settled for four field goal attempts in their seven red zone visits.

"When you don't run the ball like you need to, it's going to show up down there," Petersen said.

Boise State outgained Louisiana Tech 507-250, but more often than not couldn't capitalize when in the red zone — the Broncos have 27 touchdowns on 51 red zone visits this season.

"We just got stuck down there, weren't able to run the ball in short-yardage situations, which is a killer and something we've got to be able to do," Moore said.