No. 10 Boise State grabs CFP spot, beating No. 19 UNLV 21-7 in Mountain West championship

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Ashton Jeanty ran for 209 yards and a touchdown as No. 10 Boise State earned a College Football Playoff spot, beating No. 19 UNLV 21-7 on Friday night for its second straight Mountain West title.

Boise State (12-1, No. 10 CFP) is all but assured of a first-round bye in the playoffs if it maintains its ranking ahead of the Big 12 winner and finishes as one of the four highest-ranked conference champs.

Jeanty, who had the spotlight to himself to state his Heisman case, didn’t disappoint, ripping off an electrifying 75-yard touchdown run. It was his fifth TD run of 70 yards or more this season, tying LaDainian Tomlinson’s FBS season record.

Jeanty also surpassed 1981 Heisman winner Marcus Allen of Southern California to move into fourth place on the FBS season rushing list and needs 132 more to pass record-holder Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State.

Maddux Madsen threw a touchdown pass and rushed for another score for the Broncos.

UNLV (10-3, No. 20 CFP), which entered the game seventh nationally in scoring offense averaging 38.7 points, hadn’t been held below 23 this season.

With UNLV loading the box with eight or nine defenders early in the game, Boise State leaned heavily on Madsen in the first quarter. And he delivered, completing six of his first seven passes, including a 22-yard scoring strike to Latrell Caples for a 7-0 lead.

Madsen used his legs to put the Broncos ahead 14-0, scrambling for a 14-yard TD run with 2:40 left in the first half.

After a quick stop, Boise State got the ball back and let Jeanty work his magic. Two plays later, he raced through the teeth of the defense and sprinted to the end zone for a 75-yard TD run, giving the Broncos a 21-0 lead with 29 seconds left in the half.

UNLV had a chance to claw back into it late in the third quarter when Kylin James raced 86 yards before Seyi Oladipo ran him down at the Boise State 5. But the Rebels lost 4 yards on the next four plays and failed to score.

The Rebels finally got into the end zone with 9:06 left on Greg Burrell 31-yard run.

Hajj-Malik Williams led UNLV offensively with 110 yards passing and 56 yards rushing.

Takeaways

UNLV: Odom, who guided the Rebels to their first 10-win season in 40 years, has the program headed in the right direction after UNLV had just seven wins in the three seasons before his arrival. If he continues to recruit well and build through the transfer portal like he did this season, the Rebels should contend for the Mountain West title

Boise State: First-year coach Spencer Danielson delivered what the program’s fan base has been starving for since it made waves in the college football world in 2006 by going undefeated and beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. But now this team has a chance to take it one step further and take down one of the sport’s blue bloods in the playoffs.

Up next

Boise State awaits the selection show Sunday to find out who and when it will play in the College Football Playoff.