BOISE, Idaho — Ashton Jeanty rushed for 209 yards and a touchdown and 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 Conference title.
Boise State (12-1, No. 10 CFP) is all but assured of a first-round bye in the playoff if it maintains its ranking ahead of the Big 12 winner and finishes as one of the four highest-ranked conference champs.
“In January when they were playing tug of war on the field with their shirts off, they talked about what they wanted to do this season,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “They wanted to win a conference championship and make it to the college playoffs, and they worked for that.”
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 passed 1981 Heisman winner Marcus Allen of USC to move into fourth place on the FBS season rushing list and needs 132 more to pass record-holder Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State.
“I think the same thing week after week,” Jeanty said of all the Heisman Trophy hype. “Not only is this one of the best teams in the nation, but they’ve got one of the best players in the nation.”
Danielson was more pointed in touting Jeanty’s case, taking a not-so-subtle dig at Heisman frontrunner and Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, whose team was left out of the Big 12 championship game and won’t make a playoff appearance.
“In regards to the Heisman, I ask all voters to please just watch the film, watch the stats,” Danielson said. “That will show you that he’s the best football player in the country. … If you’re a Heisman candidate, you should play in a championship game. And to see what he did in a championship game for his team also speaks volumes.”
Danielson added of Jeanty: “He showcases week in and week out that he’s the best football player in the country, and I don’t even think it’s close.”
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.
“I have been in championship games before and come up on the wrong end of them,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. “But you continue to learn from them and move your organization forward and find a way to get back to a game like this and win it.”
But Odom didn’t mince words when describing how he felt about Boise State, which handed his team two of its three losses.
“Good luck to anyone who comes here and thinks they’re going to win the game,” Odom said. “I think they’re one of the best teams in college football right now. And I think they’ll do a great job representing this conference. They’re built to make a run.”
The Rebels finally got into the end zone with 9:06 left on a Greg Burrell 31-yard run.
Quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams led UNLV on offense with 110 yards passing and 56 yards rushing.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
