The Broncos say there’s no ‘magic pixie dust’ on The Blue. Foes might disagree
Boise State football coach Spencer Danielson claims there’s no “magic pixie dust” on the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium, but a lot of opponents probably would argue otherwise.
The Broncos rolled past previously undefeated UNLV 56-31 on Saturday afternoon to win their 16th straight home game, which is tied for the longest active home winning streak in the nation with Alabama.
“Playing at home, it matters playing in front of Bronco Nation,” said Danielson, who is 12-0 on The Blue. “It matters to our team. It matters that we protect this place, and it matters when people come and pay money to sit in Albertsons Stadium that what they watch is worth it.
“And how we do it matters, too. So it’s something we put a premium on.”
Heading into Saturday’s Mountain West matchup on The Blue, Boise State (5-2, 3-0) was averaging 41.3 points and 477.9 yards per game during its current home winning streak. And those averages will only tick up after they totaled eight touchdowns and 558 yards of offense against the Rebels (6-1, 2-1).
Boise State also is a perfect 8-0 against UNLV at home in that series. Danielson improved to 20-5 as the Broncos’ head coach, becoming the fifth coach in program history to win at least 20 of his first 25 games, joining Lyle Smith, Tony Knap, Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen.
“This is everything for us. I mean, just being here, just knowing the culture, just everything about Boise is just we have to protect The Blue,” said Boise State fifth-year senior cornerback A’Marion McCoy, who returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown against the Rebels. “At the end of day, this is the most important thing to us. This is our home.
“So I feel like whenever somebody comes in here, you never want somebody to take your stuff at your house. That’s what we live by. We’re gonna keep living by that. We’re gonna keep growing as a team.”
Redshirt junior quarterback Maddux Madsen has helped spearhead the Broncos’ current home streak. In 11 starts the past two seasons at Albertsons Stadium, Boise State has scored more than 40 points eight times.
Madsen finished 14-for-23 passing for 253 yards and four touchdowns against UNLV, and sophomore running back Dylan Riley racked up 201 yards and a score on 15 carries. Riley’s 13.4-yards-per-carry average stands as the fourth-highest total in program history.
“We were having fun. We went out there with the best mindset we could,” Riley said. “We just went out there and competed and did our thing like it was nothing new.
“I expected our team to go out there and dominate. It’s The Blue. We protect The Blue, and we do what we’re supposed to do.”
Boise State has home games remaining against Fresno State (Nov. 1) and Colorado State (Nov. 22), and could potentially host the Mountain West championship game again (Dec. 5) if the winning ways continue.
Kickoff times for those final two homes games are not yet set.
“When I talked to our team on Friday with my team meeting, (I said) what matters most to you, you protect. If it doesn’t matter to you, you don’t protect it. That’s just life in general,” Danielson said. “What matters most, you protect. And when we go on that field, yes, it’s a blue field, we don’t protect that field. We protect this community. That matters to us.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 8:45 PM.
