Boise State wins the Mountain West championship as the first expanded CFP bracket begins to take shape
Boise State is headed to the College Football Playoff.
The Broncos captured the Mountain West Conference title Friday night and earned their spot in the first 12-team playoff with a 21-7 victory over UNLV in the Mountain West championship game.
Star running back Ashton Jeanty ran for 209 yards and a touchdown in his sixth 200-plus-yard game of the season.
With 2,497 rushing yards this season, Jeanty is now fourth on the FBS single-season rushing list behind only Barry Sanders (2,628 yards in 1988), Melvin Gordon (2,587 in 2014) and UCF’s Kevin Smith (2,567 in 2007). Jeanty also finished the regular season with 29 rushing touchdowns.
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Running back Ashton Jeanty of the Boise State Broncos runs through the line during the first half of the Mountain West Championship game against the UNLV Rebels at Albertsons Stadium on December 06, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Loren Orr/Getty Images)
Jeanty gave Boise State a tone-setting game with a 75-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, his 12th carry of 50 yards or more this season.
Boise State will hold on to or improve on its No. 10 ranking in the final College Football Playoff rankings coming out Sunday. That would put the Broncos no worse than the conference’s fourth-best seed and in line for a first-round bye.
Saturday’s Big 12 title game pits No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State.
The winner is in pain. But the only logical way left for either team to get a bye (and the extra $4 million that comes with it) would be to combine that win — preferably a convincing one — with a loss to Atlantic Coast Conference leader, No. 8 SMU. , playing for No. 17 Clemson.
IOWA STATE, SMU ADADS HAVE A WAR OF WORDS AFTER RECENT CFP SCENES: ‘STAY IN MY ARMY!’
Offensive lineman Mathyus Su’a of the UNLV Rebels and linebacker Jayden Virgin-Morgan #5 of the Boise State Broncos battle during the first half of the Mountain West Championship at Albertsons Stadium on December 06, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Loren Orr/Getty Images)
The commissioner of the Big 12 and the director of athletics at Iowa State are among those who have complained. It will say that when the championship games are over and the brackets are revealed, it will not be the same.
Now the country will focus on other conference games as the first playoff picture of the extended playoff season will be in motion.
Oregon, the top-ranked and only undefeated team in the country, is also there. But Saturday’s game against No. 3 Penn State for the Big Ten title and a first-round bye.
If Penn State wins, then there is an argument that the Nittany Lions could end up with that top seed.
In the SEC, it is the No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia. Sadly, Bevo will not be in the building. The winner gets a bye and the championship. The loser still has to be in, but if that loser is Georgia, the Dawgs could be on the road in the first round.
Depending on how the brackets stand, these teams could face each other three times this season.
Barring something completely unexpected, it will take either a loss to SMU, a change of heart on the selection committee or both to knock Alabama out of the bracket. If the Tide makes it, the Southeastern Conference will have four teams in the playoffs.
With the selection committee ranking the Crimson Tide at No. 11 last week, one spot ahead of Miami, it looks like the Tide will stay ahead of the Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The way last week’s rankings moved, that meant Alabama was in and Miami was out.
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Ashton Jeanty #2 of the Boise State Broncos excites the crowd before the start of the Mountain West Championship between the Boise State Broncos and the UNLV Rebels at Albertsons Stadium on December 06, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. (Loren Orr/Getty Images)
A number of teams are not playing this weekend and there is nothing to worry about. No. 4 Notre Dame should get a home game.
No. 9 Indiana, one of four Big Ten teams targeted for the playoff, will likely be on the road.
In between, there is the story of No. 6 Ohio State and 7 Tennessee. Last week’s proposed bracket paired 10-2 teams with a first-round game to be played at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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