Boise State has Mountain West title, playoff berth. It is missing a goalpost, though
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Big night on The Blue
Boise State secured a historic 21-7 win over UNLV in the Mountain West championship game to lock up a berth in the College Football Playoff. Read all our coverage here.
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Boise State has Mountain West title, playoff berth. It is missing a goalpost, though
The Gatorade had already been showered upon coach Spencer Danielson, and the fog had long since descended on the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium.
At the end of a historic win for Boise State, the fans got their turn.
In front of record crowd for a Mountain West championship game — 36,663 at Albertsons Stadium— the Broncos bullied their way to a program-defining, playoff-clinching 21-7 win over UNLV, leading the entire student section and hundreds of other supporters to charge onto the field to watch the trophy presentation.
A bunch of cold, happy, strong students — perhaps buoyed by some legal adult beverages — then went to work on the goalpost in the north end zone. They climbed it, perched on it, shook it, rocked it, shoved it and eventually bent the hell out of it, toppling it without ripping it out of the ground.
Then they managed to break off the uprights and carry those out of the stadium, to be baptized in the Boise River.
The football team, meanwhile — the guys who earned the students an apparent right to destroy and dismantle stadium equipment — celebrated a berth in the College Football Playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions,. But Boise State (12-1) also is in position to grab a first-round bye in the postseason as one of the top four seeds, a spot the team occupied in the CFP committee rankings ahead of this weekend’s league title games.
“I don’t know where Boise will end up in the seeding, but good luck to anybody that’s gonna come here and thinks they’re going to win the game,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. ”I think they’re one of the best teams in college football right now. ... They’re built to make a run.”
The No. 10 Broncos (12-1) defeated the No. 19 Rebels (10-3) for the second straight season in the Mountain West title game, giving them back-to-back conference championships for the first time. Danielson was still the interim head coach in last year’s win; he got the job permanently days later, and this season he has guided BSU to rarefied air.
Boise State will find out its official position in the playoff field Sunday at 10 a.m. Mountain time, when the selection show will air on ESPN.
“I do believe moments like tonight can accelerate you forward at a very fast pace, and really have potential to change everything in a positive way,” Danielson said. “ ... I mean, we sit in a beautiful facility that was not built by this team, it was built by decades of winning seasons. ... It’s our job to push it forward to new heights, and that’s a legacy that this group is leaving.”
The opportunity to reach those heights came courtesy of a mostly suffocating defense; a game-changing play from the ultimate game-changer, surefire Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty; and a strong first half from quarterback Maddux Madsen.
Boise State did not score in the second half, punting five straight times, but it didn’t matter. A 21-0 halftime lead was more than enough for the defense.
In that first 30 minutes, the unit led by defensive coordinator Erik Chinander limited the Rebels to 78 total yards and four first downs, and recorded two sacks and six tackles for loss. The Broncos ended the game with six sacks, 11 tackles for loss and a vital goal-line stand midway through the third quarter that kept the score 21-0.
Safety Seyi Oladipo was named the defensive player of the game, after a night that saw him record one of the sacks, two tackles for loss and 10 total tackles, with nine of those solo. He also forced a fumble.
UNLV finally scored with 9:06 left in the game, courtesy of a 31-yard run on fourth down. The defense then came up strong again on the next drive, forcing the Rebels to turn the ball over on downs in Boise State territory.
Madsen led the offense much of the first half, throwing for 107 of his 158 yards and a touchdown, a pretty 22-yard strike to Latrell Caples. He also scrambled for a 14-yard touchdown run to cap a 69-yard drive and make it 14-0.
Jeanty, who had his toughest game of the regular season at UNLV in late October, then provided the play that broke the Rebels’ back. After struggling to break loose much of the half, he took a handoff from Madsen with a little over 30 seconds left, made a subtle cut in the backfield to burst through a hole in the middle of the line, and hit the accelerator for a 75-yard touchdown run.
It led to one of those many moments during games when the fans were chanting his name — very loudly. Unless they were chanting “Heisman, Heisman, Heisman.”
“I definitely hear it. You know, it’s too loud not to hear,” Jeanty said. “ ... It’s amazing. That’s just another testament to this community, to the fans, and you know how they love not only me, but you know, this team. ... It gives me all the confidence and energy just to dominate.”
Jeanty, whose long run had been 18 yards up to the point of his 75-yard TD, finished with yet another 200-yard rushing game, his sixth of the season. He rushed for 209 yards on 32 carries, and in the process added a school record to his resume. He is now Boise State’s all-time leading rusher, with 4,665 yards and counting. Cedric Minter had the previous record: 4,475 yards.
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 5:43 PM.
