Boise State, San Jose State ride streaks into title game. Broncos expect reinforcements
The Boise State football team is scheduled to play in its fourth straight Mountain West championship game against No. 25 San Jose State on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, and if the Broncos win, their five titles will be the most in conference history.
As impressive as those statistics are, they pale in comparison to Boise State’s Mountain West winning streak.
The Broncos’ win last Saturday at Wyoming marked their 19th consecutive regular-season victory against a conference opponent, the second-longest streak in Mountain West history. TCU won 24 straight between 2008 and 2011.
Boise State (5-1, 5-0 MW) has won 14 straight games against Mountain West opponents, which is the second-longest streak in the country, behind Ohio State’s 20 straight wins in the Big Ten. The last time the Broncos lost to a conference foe was in the 2018 Mountain West title game, a 19-16 setback in overtime against Fresno State.
“The consistency piece from the players and how they work and prepare, that’s not something that you have just happen every year. You have to put in the work every week,” BSU coach Bryan Harsin told reporters during Monday’s Mountain West media call. “You have to go 1-0 every week. When the season is over, it’s coming back and starting over and preparing yourself for another season and not assuming anything.”
San Jose State is in the Mountain West championship game for the first time in program history. The Spartans haven’t been 6-0 since 1939, and it’s the first time they’ve gone undefeated in league play since joining the conference.
“I think everybody remembers their first time doing anything. It’s always pretty special,” San Jose State coach Brent Brennan said. “It’s going to be a great venue. It’s going to be a great day.”
The Spartans are one of eight undefeated teams left in this truncated, COVID-19-affected season, joining Alabama, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Coastal Carolina, USC and Buffalo. The Spartans will finish with a winning record for the first time since 2012.
San Jose State’s breakout season has been highlighted by a stingy defense, which ranks No. 2 in the conference, giving up just 17.5 points a game.
The Spartans also got a boost from the arrival of well-traveled quarterback Nick Starkel, who had stints at Texas A&M and Arkansas before joining the team as a graduate transfer. He pilots the Mountain West’s No. 3 scoring offense (30.3 ppg) and a passing attack that ranks No. 3 in the conference at 276 yards a game.
Starkel is completing 66.3% of his passes, which ranks No. 2 in the conference, and he’s thrown for 1,453 yards and 13 touchdowns. He’s also throwing to two of the Mountain West’s top receivers in Bailey Gaithers (36 catches, 627 yards, 4 touchdowns) and Tre Walker (31 catches, 409 yards, 3 touchdowns).
Starkel replaced the 2019 Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, Josh Love, who threw for 3,923 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.
“He’s been around a lot of football, so he knows how it works,” Brennan said of Starkel. “He’s been really great with our team because he’s really calm, and he has a big smile on his face and just likes ripping the ball around the yard.”
Holani, QBs to return?
Harsin said Monday that he expects the Broncos’ depth in the backfield to be much more ideal than last week at Wyoming, when Hank Bachmeier and Chase Cord were the only quarterbacks active.
USC transfer Jack Sears and freshmen Cade Fennegan and Andy Peters were all out for undisclosed reasons. Sears hasn’t played since suffering an apparent head injury Nov. 6 in the Broncos’ loss to BYU, but offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau said he was expected to return heading into the UNLV game, which was canceled because of the coronavirus.
Harsin said the Broncos’ depth at quarterback will be improved this week. He didn’t specifically say which of the quarterbacks would return and offered a caveat of having to “overcome this week’s hurdles.” He was referring to the three rounds of COVID-19 testing Boise State has to undergo before Saturday’s game.
“We’ll have those guys back, so we’ll have more depth,” Harsin said. “I don’t know if we’ll be full strength necessarily, but we’ll be in a better position than we’ve been, and that’s crucial for us to be able to practice the way we’d like to.”
Harsin also said he expects running back George Holani to be back on the field Saturday. Holani missed three games after suffering an apparent knee injury on Oct. 31 at Air Force. Boise State coaches were vague about his return before the regular-season San Jose State and UNLV games were canceled.
He made his return last week at Wyoming, but it was short-lived. Holani never looked fully healthy, and he left the game early in the third quarter after taking a hit on a routine pass play. Trainers were seen looking at his left knee, and he did not return.
Andrew Van Buren carried the load and finished with 79 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.
Harsin said Monday that Holani was held out for precautionary reasons. The Broncos’ coach said putting him back in the game was too risky, given the snowy, cold conditions, and said Van Buren was running well, so there was no need to push it.
“He obviously wasn’t feeling great,” Harsin said of Holani. “And at that point, we were rolling with Andrew and we felt like what we had was the right combination to finish the game.”
If canceled, title game won’t be rescheduled
If either Boise State or San Jose State can’t play Saturday, the game will be declared a no contest and the teams will be co-champions, a conference spokesperson confirmed Monday morning.
The Broncos and Spartans have both had games canceled this season because of COVID-19, including their head-to-head matchup that was scheduled for Nov. 28 at Albertsons Stadium. The game was called off less than five hours before kickoff.
Saturday’s game is scheduled for San Jose State’s temporary home, Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. The Spartans’ final home game of the regular season, against Nevada, and this game had to be moved because of a public health order in Santa Clara County, California, prohibiting contact sports until at least Dec. 21.
Both programs are to undergo three rounds of testing before the championship game. The Broncos’ first round was Sunday morning, and their second and third rounds are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, before they leave for Las Vegas on Friday.
The Mountain West has established a set of thresholds teams must meet to compete in a game, including having at least 53 players available and dressing a minimum of seven offensive lineman, four interior defensive linemen and one quarterback.
MW in search of fourth bowl bid
The Mountain West announced Sunday that Nevada will face Tulane in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise on Dec. 22 and Hawaii will take on Houston on Christmas Eve in the New Mexico Bowl, which was moved to Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
In its statement, the conference also said it will place both Boise State and San Jose State in bowl games, meaning league leaders expect to find an additional bowl opening.
After the cancellations of the Hawaii and LA bowls, and an ESPN-operated bowl in Texas that the Mountain West was expecting to send a team to, the conference was left with just three options: Arizona Bowl, Potato Bowl and New Mexico Bowl.
A conference spokesperson said Monday that a fourth bowl game hasn’t been identified yet, but Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson was working to find one.
The Arizona Bowl announced on Twitter Monday afternoon that it will host the conference champion, leaving the runner-up in the yet-to-be-named bowl game.
Bowl bids for Boise State and San Jose State are expected to be announced on Sunday.
Broncos name AD search committee
Boise State has named a committee and entered into an agreement with an executive search firm in its quest to find a new athletic director, the university announced on Monday.
Former Athletic Director Curt Apsey stepped down in October to focus on university fundraising. Associate athletic director Bob Carney has been filling the role on an interim basis.
Boise State expects to have a new athletic director in place by March 2021, according to a press release from the school.
The search committee is chaired by Randy Hales, who is the vice president of Boise State’s Foundation Board. Other members are Matthew Ewing, VP of University Advancement; Lida Uribe-Florez, chair of educational technology and faculty representative; Linda Clark, who is a Boise State alum and a State Board of Education member; Gordy Presnell, women’s basketball head coach; Jay Larsen, CEO of the Idaho Technology Council; Nic Hunt, a Boise State graduate student in kinesiology; and Malia Pivec, an undergraduate student, cross country runner and leader of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Boise State also announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Collegiate Sports Associates to coordinate the search. CSA has conducted more than 120 searches throughout college athletics.
“We will identify a dynamic leader to complement our talented coaches, staff and student-athletes and work collaboratively to elevate all we do academically and athletically,” Boise State President Marlene Tromp said Monday in a statement. “Bronco Athletics embodies the characteristics that define our institution: creativity, innovation, grit, character, and our famous blue-collar work ethic. We are proud that Bronco Athletics represents our institution, our community and the state of Idaho, and we’re excited to move forward with this search.”
BOISE STATE VS. SAN JOSE STATE
When: 2:15 p.m. MT Saturday
Where: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Fox (Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman).
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 5-1, 5-0 Mountain West; San Jose State 6-0, 6-0
Series: Boise State leads 14-0 (last meeting: Boise State won 52-42 last season in San Jose, California)
Vegas line: Boise State by 6.5
Weather: High of 57 degrees, sunny, 4 mph winds
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 4:11 PM.
