Sweet three-peat for Boise State, which defeats UNLV for Mountain West title
Their ninth win of the season made Boise State a perfect 10-for-10 vs. UNLV in the teams’ Mountain West history.
And it gave the Broncos their third straight conference championship and sixth overall on their way out the door to the Pac-12 next year.
Crunch the numbers any way they can be crunched, and the calculation is the same: Boise State simply owns the Mountain West.
Led by the return of quarterback Maddux Madsen from injury, the Broncos (9-4) bullied the Rebels (10-3) in a 38-21 win at Albertsons Stadium on Friday night to earn a likely berth in next weekend’s LA Bowl. The matchup will be announced Sunday afternoon, and possible opponents include Washington and Arizona State.
With BSU switching conferences next summer, these programs won’t play again anytime soon, and that’s probably fine with UNLV, which has lost the past three title games to the Broncos and has never beaten them in Mountain West play.
Madsen, who threw four touchdown passes in a 56-31 regular season win over the Rebels in October, completed 17-of-31 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns to earn offensive MVP honors for the game. He also had a 10-yard TD run in the first quarter, showing his recovery from a lower-leg injury that kept him out for a month was complete.
“Every touchdown was a sense of joy that was almost increased just because of the last four weeks not being able to play with these guys,” Madsen said. “Being able to celebrate my first touch ... all the O-linemen coming up running to me, it gives me goosebumps talking about it.”
Madsen threw for 186 of those yards and all three scores — 9 yards to Dylan Riley, 7 yards to Cameron Bates and 39 yards to Malik Sherrod — in the first half, which ended with a 28-14 BSU lead.
After UNLV hung around and got within 28-21 late in the third quarter, Madsen led a 10-play, 78-yard TD drive that restored a two-touchdown advantage. He connected with Chase Penry on a 46-yard pass play to the 1-yard line that set up the score from Sire Gaines.
Penry also had a 46-yard reception that helped set up a first-half touchdown, and he finished with three catches for 96 yards. Bates had three catches for 65 yards.
Dylan Riley led the rushing attack for Boise State, gaining 75 yards on 21 carries, but Gaines was more effective, with 64 yards on just nine runs.
“When there’s multiple guys touching the ball, multiple guys playing in all these three phases, that creates the team,” said head coach Spencer Danielson, who is now 3-0 in conference title games “You see a Cam Bates, who has to make dirty blocks, hard plays, and has a big-time play tonight. Chase Penry, man, I can’t say enough things about Chase, right?”
The Broncos, who had over 500 yards of offense in their regular season win over UNLV, finished with 449 on Friday night.
Boise State punted on its first possession, after Boen Phelps forced a fumble by receiver Jaden Bradley to end a promising UNLV drive. Ty Benefield recovered. The Broncos’ next three drives covered 51, 67 and 67 yards, and all ended in touchdowns for a 21-0 lead.
When BSU did need to punt again, Oscar Doyle pinned the Rebels at their 5-yard line — and they proceeded to put together their best drive of the game, going 95 yards in nine plays, and scoring with a 5-yard run from QB Anthony Colandrea to make it 21-7.
Boise State responded by going 79 yards in just three plays: runs of 5 and 35 yards from Gaines, and Sherrod’s 39-yard TD after taking a swing pass from Madsen.
“We went up early. Probably could have done a little bit of a better job of staying with it and getting after those guys, but 17 points in the Mountain West conference championship is still a big-time win, and we’re celebrating as champs, and there’s no feeling that I’d rather change for that,” Madsen said.
UNLV came into the game relying on its offense, No. 1 in the Mountain West in yardage and scoring, to make up for its porous defense, which gives up 420 yards and nearly 30 points per game.
The Rebels’ offense tried to do its part, with a 75-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter cutting into BSU’s lead, and a 78-yard drive in the third quarter doing the same. Colandrea threw for 225 yards and rushed for 66, and UNLV had 409 total yards, but Boise State’s defense had plenty of stops as well, forcing six punts and a turnover on downs.
“Tough loss. Great job by Boise, give them a lot of credit,” said Rebels coach Dan Mullen, who went 0-2 vs. the Broncos in his first season in Las Vegas. “ ... They’re a very good football team, very well coached, disciplined football team.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM.
