For the first time since 2014, the Broncos are Mountain West football champions. On Saturday, December 2, Boise State beat Fresno State 17 to 14 at Albertsons Stadium.
The back to back match up of the Broncos and Bulldogs two weeks in a row is something of a college football rarity – it hasn’t happened since 1935.
Dave Southorn, the man on the Idaho Statesman’s Bronco beat, says Saturday’s game started out like the first match up between the schools, but then, he says, things changed.
“In the last couple of minutes, they kind of put it all together and were able to make the right plays down the stretch, which they had done in a couple games this year,” Southorn says. “So it was kind of representative of how the season went and they ended up on top.”
After a rough start to the season, the team found their momentum winning seven in a row before losing the first meetup against Fresno State. Southorn says the conference win is a big deal for Boise State. The quality of competitors is rising and clinching victories is harder than in years past.
As Mountain West champs, the Broncos are heading to Nevada for the December 16 Las Vegas Bowl. They’ll be facing off against the Oregon Ducks.
When asked to gaze into the future and read the tea leaves, Southorn has reserved optimism about the Broncos.
“If Justin Herbert, [Oregon’s] quarterback, is healthy and they have Willie Taggart, their head coach there, it’ll be tough for Boise State to beat them because Oregon can be really, really potent on offense,” he says. “But if there’s some twist and turns there for Oregon, I think Boise State might have the advantage, and they might be the more motivated team.”
ESPN will broadcast the Las Vegas Bowl. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time.
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