Boise State Football

Ready for some football? Boise State season opener on ABC, finale set for a Friday

Boise State head football coach Andy Avalos reacts to a Broncos touchdown against Fresno State at Albertsons Stadium in October 2022. Boise State will open this season at Washington in a game that will air on ABC.
Boise State head football coach Andy Avalos reacts to a Broncos touchdown against Fresno State at Albertsons Stadium in October 2022. Boise State will open this season at Washington in a game that will air on ABC. doswald@idahostatesman.com

Boise State’s season opener at Washington on Sept. 2 will be broadcast on ABC and kick off at 1:30 p.m. Mountain time.

The Broncos’ tilt against one of the favorites to win the Pac-12 this year was part of the national television packages for college football that were released Wednesday by the Mountain West and Pac-12.

Washington, which went 11-2 last season, is ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s Way-too-early Top 25. The Huskies return seven starters on offense, including quarterback Michael Penix Jr. — a potential Heisman candidate who led the offense to 39.7 points a game last season.

The Broncos are 2-3 all-time against Washington. The teams last met in the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl, which the Huskies won 38-7 in what proved to be coach Chris Petersen’s final game before retirement. He had gone to the Huskies from BSU in 2014.

Boise State has opened the season against the Huskies twice: a 16-13 win at Albertsons Stadium in 2015 and a 38-6 loss at Husky Stadium in Seattle in 2013.

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Boise State’s 2023 TV schedule is almost finalized. The broadcast information for the Broncos’ game at Memphis on Sept. 30 hasn’t been announced, and neither has the kickoff time.

Three other games — home tilts against Wyoming (Oct. 28) and New Mexico (Nov. 11) and a road trip to Colorado State (Oct. 14) — will air on Fox, FS1 or FS2, but the exact channel will be announced at a later date. Those games also still need kickoff times. Those determinations are generally made within a 12-day window, though a six-day window is possible.

Boise State’s game at San Diego State, which was previously announced as moving to Friday, Sept. 22, will kick off at 8:30 p.m. Mountain time on CBSSN.

The Mountain West announced Wednesday that the Broncos’ regular-season finale at Albertsons Stadium against Air Force will slide into a Friday slot on Nov. 24 — the day after Thanksgiving, which has become a regular home for Boise State games — and kick off at 2 p.m. on FS1.

The Broncos also have another super-early kickoff this season: The game against North Dakota on Sept. 16 will start at 10 a.m. Mountain time.

To close the regular season last year, Andy Avalos’ team hosted Utah State at 10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Boise State traveled to San Diego State in 2021 for a morning kickoff on Black Friday.

This season will mark the first time Boise State has played just two non-Saturday games since 2012. The Broncos are 41-12 in regular season games on Fridays.

Boise State enters the 2023 season with a streak of 25 consecutive winning seasons (1998-2022), which is tied with Florida (1988-2012) and Virginia Tech (1993-2017) for No. 11 in FBS history.

Here’s Boise State’s 2023 schedule:

Sept. 2: at Washington, 1:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 9: vs. UCF, 5 p.m., FS1

Sept. 16. vs. North Dakota, 10 a.m., FS1

Sept. 22: at San Diego State, 8:30 p.m., CBSSN

Sept. 30: at Memphis, TBA

Oct. 7: vs. San Jose State, 6 p.m., CBSSN

Oct. 14: at Colorado State, TBA, Fox/FS1/FS2

Oct. 28: vs. Wyoming, TBA, Fox/FS1/FS2

Nov. 4: at Fresno State, 8 p.m., CBSSN

Nov. 11: vs. New Mexico, TBA, Fox/FS1/FS2

Nov. 18: at Utah State, 5 p.m., CBSSN

Nov. 24: vs. Air Force, 2 p.m., FS1

This story was originally published May 31, 2023 at 1:43 PM.

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Ron Counts
Idaho Statesman
Ron Counts is the Boise State football beat writer for the Idaho Statesman. He’s a Virginia native and covered James Madison University and the University of Virginia before joining the Statesman in 2019. Follow him on Twitter: @Ron_BroncoBeat Support my work with a digital subscription
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