Boise State might have the splashy superstar, but UNLV possesses the same task entering the Mountain West title game on Friday.
Just win the contest and punch your ticket into the College Football Playoff field.
The No. 20 Rebels will look to continue their road success when they visit record-setting Ashton Jeanty and the No. 10 Broncos in Boise.
UNLV (10-2) has won a school-record eight consecutive road games as it battles Boise State (11-1), which has won 10 straight games in a season for the first time since 2010 when Kellen Moore was the star.
The Broncos are projected to earn a first-round bye in the playoff field while UNLV is on the outside. Still, the Friday winner will earn the automatic spot, and a loss likely would knock Boise State out of the field.
“We win, we’re in,” Rebels coach Barry Odom said. “… You look at the world of college football right now, I believe there’s more excitement in the latter part of the season than there’s ever been before.”
The two schools met in last season’s Mountain West title game and Boise State rolled to a 44-20 win over the host Rebels.
The teams also met this season, in Las Vegas on Oct. 25, and the Broncos prevailed 29-24.
While Boise State’s sights are on the playoffs, objective No. 2 is improving Jeanty’s positioning in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
Colorado receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter is viewed as the favorite and Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders asserted that the race was over after his team’s 52-0 win over Oklahoma State last week.
Broncos coach Spencer Danielson vehemently disagrees.
“Ashton Jeanty is the best football player in the country,” Danielson said. “For me, if you’re one of the best players in the country, you play in the championship game.”
Colorado didn’t make the Big 12 title game and won’t be part of the playoff field.
Jeanty leads the nation with 2,288 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns, with his yardage total ranking fifth in a season in FBS history. Legendary Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State holds the record of 2,628 yards (bowl game stats didn’t count at the time — Sanders had 222 in the Holiday Bowl for 2,850).
Jeanty, who was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, rushed for 226 yards in Boise State’s 34-18 victory over Oregon State on Friday. It was his fifth 200-yard rushing performance of the season, and he has topped 125 in all 12 games.
Jeanty had 128 yards and one touchdown on 33 carries for a 3.9-yard average in the October meeting against the Rebels. UNLV is the only team to hold Jeanty under 4 yards per carry.
“He’s a tremendous player,” Odom said. “I think he’s the best player in college football, I said it the first time we played them. … He runs so hard, he can outrun you, he finishes going forward. All the great traits you want to see in a running back, unless you’re trying to tackle him.”
The Broncos average 40.6 points per game, but UNLV packs firepower of its own, putting up 38.7 per outing.
Star receiver Ricky White III has 75 receptions for 1,020 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he was selected the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year. White leads the nation with four blocked punts.
Linebacker Jackson Woodard (114 tackles, four interceptions, 17 stops for loss) earned Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The Rebels concern Danielson. UNLV’s two losses came by a total of eight points — the tight contest against Boise State plus a 44-41 overtime loss to Syracuse.
“I think they have some of the best players around — a Top 25 matchup,” said Danielson, the Mountain West Coach of the Year. “Across the board, they’ve got a bunch of talent. They play well together. They’re very motivated and driven to win this game, just like us.”
–Field Level Media
