Ashton Jeanty leads the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, but the Boise State star needs a huge performance Saturday night to assure his Heisman Trophy hopes don’t get derailed.
Jeanty will look to load up on yardage and create highlight-reel plays when the No. 12 Broncos host Nevada in Mountain West play at Boise, Idaho.
Boise State (7-1, 4-0 MW) needs to keep winning after being unveiled as the last team in the field per the initial rankings for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. The Broncos have an eye at landing a first-round bye. To do so, they have to be ranked higher than the lowest-ranked conference champion of the big four conferences, probably the Big 12.
Momentum is on the side of the Broncos, who are riding a six-game winning streak. Boise State’s lone blemish was a last-second 37-34 loss to Oregon on Sept. 7.
As for Jeanty, he moved into the favorite’s role for the Heisman after topping 200 rushing yards in three of his first six games. He also had 192 against then-No. 7 Oregon and 186 against Utah State.
However, things were tougher the past two weeks as both UNLV and San Diego State flooded the box with eight and nine defenders.
Jeanty averaged just 3.9 yards while gaining 128 yards on 33 carries in a 29-24 win at UNLV. Last weekend, he broke loose for 112 yards in the third quarter to end up with 149 yards on 31 carries in a 56-24 whipping of visiting San Diego State.
“Ashton is the best player in the country, so everybody’s whole game plan is to stop Ashton,” Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen said.
Jeanty is still averaging 8.0 yards per carries to go with 1,525 yards and 20 rushing scores. But he needs to approach his early-season output, when he averaged at least 10 yards per carry in four of the first five games.
Nevada (3-7, 0-4) ranks 80th in rushing defense at 156.4 yards allowed per game. Wolf Pack coach Jeff Choate didn’t reveal if his squad would stack the box with extra defenders, but he is mighty impressed with Jeanty.
“People bounce off of him. He’s a five-tool runner,” said Choate, a Boise State assistant from 2006-11. “This guy runs for power, he has good speed, he can blow the top off, he can make you miss, he’s a good blocker, and he’s a threat out of the backfield.
“This guy does it all. It’s rare you see a guy with this combination of skills. That’s what separates him and makes him a special player.”
Loading up the box to stop Jeanty backfired for San Diego State as Madsen established career highs of 307 yards and four touchdowns.
“That’s who he is,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said of Madsen. “‘Mad Dog’ is an elite competitor.”
Madsen has been efficient all season with 17 touchdown passes against two interceptions. He has completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,789 yards.
The Wolfpack have dropped three straight games after falling 38-21 to visiting Colorado State last week.
Quarterback Brendon Lewis stood out in defeat, passing for 252 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 109 yards and two scores.
Overall, Lewis has thrown 11 touchdown passes against five interceptions.
Nevada has averaged 18.3 points during its three-game slide, which would seem to make it tough to threaten a Boise State squad that ranks third nationally in scoring offense at 45.8 points per game and leads the nation with 4.75 sacks per game.
Choate can’t find many negatives with the Broncos.
“They are playing with a lot of confidence and should be in the (playoff) conversation,” Choate said.
The Broncos have won 17 of the past 19 meetings, but the Wolf Pack prevailed in their last visit to Boise, winning 41-31 on Oct. 2, 2021.
–Field Level Media
