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SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The early morning wake-up call nearly turned into a nightmare for Boise State.
Jon Helmandollar scored on a one-yard run in the second overtime as the 13th-ranked Broncos avoided an embarrassing upset and extended the nation's longest winning streak to 20 games with a 56-49 victory over San Jose State.
Looking for television exposure, the Western Athletic Conference rivals kicked off at 9 a.m local time in what was expected to be a major mismatch.
But the Broncos (9-0, 5-0 WAC), nearly a five-touchdown favorite, played as if they were asleep for much of the contest against a San Jose State team that had lost its last four games by double digits.
The Spartans (2-7, 1-5) actually looked as if they would pull off the biggest upset of the college football season, but Jeff Carr had a 30-yard field goal blocked with just over a minute left in regulation.
After Lance Martin scored on a 16-yard run on the Spartans' first possession of overtime, the Broncos responded by getting a 12-yard TD run from Lee Marks.
Marks carried 22 times for 140 yards, helping the Broncos pile up 280 of their 480 total yards on the ground.
Helmandollar's third TD run of the contest gave the Broncos a 56-49 lead.
San Jose State drove inside the Boise State 5 on its second overtime possession, but quarterback Adam Tafralis was driven out of bounds by cornerback Gabe Franklin on a 4th-and-goal play.
For much of the contest, the Spartans pulled out all the stops in order to try to pull the upset. Tafralis and Dale Rogers split time at quarterback, the Spartans used a fake-field goal to score one touchdown and blocked a punt to set up another.
Third-string quarterback Beau Pierce's eight-yard run off the fake-field goal early in the third quarter tied the game at 28-28.
Less than five minutes later, Bobby Godinez blocked a punt to set up Rogers' one-yard TD run that gave the Spartans a 35-28 lead.
Antwaun Carter scored on six-yard run and Helmandollar ran three yards for a score over the last 4:45 of the quarter, giving the Broncos a 42-35 lead.
But Martin plowed over from one yard with less than five minutes left in regulation to tie the contest. Martin rushed for 114 yards on 25 attempts.
Boise State's Jared Zabransky went 15-of-24 for 200 yards and an interception.
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