Boise State Hosts UCF in First Home Game of Season

BOISE, Idaho – Boise State looks to even its record early in the 2023 season as the Broncos will host UCF in a highly-anticipated non-conference matchup for both teams Saturday evening.

Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET on FS1 with Eric Collins (play-by-play) and Devin Gardner (analyst) calling the action. Meanwhile, the Bronco Radio Network will have Bob Behler (play-by-play) and Pete Cavender (analyst) on the air as well as being simulcast on SiriusXM Channel 390 and online.

Opening Kickoff

Boise State welcomes a Big 12 Conference team to The Blue for just the third time ever and only the second time in regular season play when UCF visits Albertsons Stadium for the Broncos' 2023 home opener. Previously, Oklahoma State traveled to Boise in 2021 for a regular season game and the Broncos beat Iowa State on The Blue in the 2002 Humanitarian Bowl.
For the second consecutive week the Broncos will be facing an offense that leads the nation in a major statistical category. Last week it was Michael Penix Jr and Washington's top-rated pass attack from last season. Now UCF will bring the country's top-rated rushing attack and second-best total offensive unit following a drubbing of Kent State in Week One as the Knights ran for 389 yards while tallying 723 yards overall.
One of the nation's best defenses a year ago returns plenty of production and will be put to the test early as the Broncos - led by sixth-year linebacker DJ Schramm - will face a Knights team that is one of the most prolific offenses in the country, churning out 723 offensive yards in their 2023 season debut a week ago.
Boise State has five players that call the State of Florida home, led by sixth-year tight end Riley Smith (St. Augustine). Other Floridians that have come to the Treasure Valley include Ethan Carde (Tampa), Jackson Grier (Fort Lauderdale), Ashton Jeanty (Jacksonville), and Wyatt Milkovic (Fort Myers). Should any of those players post any career highs on Saturday, should we headline the story as "Florida Man Sets Record" just for the clickbait?
There's no rest for the weary. For the first time since 2005, Boise State will open the season in back-to-back weeks against Autonomous 5 opponents. The Broncos started the year at No. 10/11 Washington before returning home to host Big 12 member Central Florida on The Blue.

What You Need to Know

Defend the Blue
There's not many places that are tougher environments to play on than the infamous blue turf in Boise. Entering this week's contest, the Broncos have an .897 winning percentage on The Blue (130-15) since 2000. That marks the second-best home winning percentage of any team in the nation trailing only Oklahoma (.908, 128-13).
Not So Fast, My Friend!
Visiting Boise generally has opponents feeling (and seeing) blue. The less-than-hospitable reception often leads to confusion for opponents, causing a national-best 3.15 false starts per game by opponents since 2018. That's well more than North Carolina State's 2.59 opponent false starts per game, which is the second-best mark in the country.
Cheers to Home, Sweet, Home
Boise State's home opening win streak can legally buy it's own Horseshoe Golden Ale. The Broncos have won 21-straight home openers with the last loss coming to Washington State, 41-20, on Sept. 8, 2001. The streak includes two conference victories, four wins over Autonomous Five opponents and nine wins against other FBS schools.
Road Warriors
Boise State is one of four schools nationally to post a winning record on the road each of the last nine seasons. The other are college football royalty in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. The Broncos are 18-1 in their last 19 Mountain West road games.
Winning Ways
If you've read to this point, perhaps you're seeing a trend. Boise State knows a thing or two about football. In fact, the Broncos currently rank fifth in the nation in all-time winning percentage at the FBS level with a .727 mark. Wake up the Echoes because that is just two percentage points behind Notre Dame (.729) and four points behind the alleged Champions of the West, Michigan (.731). Ohio State (.733) has the best all-time winning percentage while Alabama is close behind at .732. .
Run, Run, As Fast As You Can…
Can't catch him, he's the Jeanty-man! Ashton Jeanty was dynamic in the season opener at Washington, recording a game-high 153 all-purpose yards. That included 44 yards and a score on the ground to complement his career-high 109 receiving yards and the first touchdown reception of his career.
Block Like an Egyptian
Known for setting records, Boise State has achieved another first. Defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein, who was raised in Cairo, Egypt, is the first player from Egypt to ever play Division I football. Even more remarkable, he did not even speak English until five years ago. Anyone who speaks to the bilingual Hassanein would be surprised to learn that fact as he is nearly fluent in English.

But how rare is that recruiting area? In all of Division I sports (not just football), there were only 53 Egyptians participating in intercollegiate athletics during the 2021-22 academic calendar year (the last year of data publicly available).

Say What?
If Boise State opponents think a little noise is going to throw off the Broncos defensive line, they might want to rethink that strategy. The unit led by Erik Chinander has learned to communicate regardless of the decibel level and that was the easy part. Across the line, Chinander's unit speaks a total of eight different languages including: English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Samoan, Greek and ASL. Each game, the unit affectionally named the "United Nations" looks to unite themselves with opposing quarterbacks. Ready, Set, Hutt! jahizi, jahizi, hut! Auf die Plätze, fertig, Hutt! Listo, listo, Hutt! À vos marques, prêts, Hutt! Sauni, Seti, Hutt! Έτοιμος, Σετ, Χατ!

Scouting UCF

UCF enters this week's game coming off a dominating 56-6 win over Kent State, a team that only has four returning starters.
The Knights are in their first season as a member of the Big 12 Conference. We understand that it is confusing what conference include what now so let us help: The Big 12 Conference, which followed the Big 8 Conference, started with 12 members. Then they dropped to 10 members but kept the name Big 12 as the Big Ten, which hadn't had 10 members since 1990, never changed their name. So the 10-member Big 12 Conference had 10 members for a while then have added three more, including UCF, this year to move to 14 members and soon will lose two but add some more to become an 18-member Big 12 Conference. Got it? Good.
UCF's nickname is the Knights, although they used to go by the moniker "Golden Knights." There's no truth to the rumor that they dropped the "Golden" part after hearing the old saying "All that glitters is not gold."
Saturday's game marks just the 10th time in program history that UCF will play a game west of the Continental Divide. The Knights are 1-8 in those games with the only win being a 52-42 victory over No. 6/5 Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.
UCF is just 2-4 all-time against current Mountain West teams and has never won against a Mountain West team on the road.
The Knights enter this game leading the nation in six different categories, including fourth down conversions and rushing offense. UCF passed and ran for over 300 yards in their win over Kent State last week.
The program prefers to go by the name "UCF" and not "Central Florida". We assume this is so a standout performance won't result in the headline "(Central) Florida Man......"
John Rhys Plumlee leads the UCF attack as the quarterback. He tallied 371 yards of total offense last week, a mark that ranks him fifth in the nation. Plumlee also ranks in the top 30 nationally in completion percentage, passing yards per game and points responsible for.
That doesn't mean you can ignore UCF's defense. Ricky Barber and Malachi Lawrence both rank 30th nationally in sacks while DeJordan Mask ranks eighth nationally in interceptions.
The Knights football program began in 1979, just two years before Boise State won the Division I-AA National Championship, which is actually an officially sanctioned national championship.
UCF was recently named third in a list of "up-and-coming" universities. The report was by U.S. News & World Report and not US Weekly, as some have postulated.
UCF's mascot is named Knightro. It is not true that he was named in a last-second lack-of-caffeine-induced haze while waiting in line at Starbucks as a marketing GA was waiting on their Nitro Cold Brew, only to see the barista misspell "Nitro" as "Knightro".

A Bronco Win Would…

Move Boise State to 54-17 in home openers all-time.
Advance Boise State's all-time record against current Big 12 members to 13-11.
Bring Boise State's all-time record against UCF even at 1-1.
Push the Broncos' all-time record on FS1 to 11-5.
Mark the 22nd consecutive win in a home opener for Boise State.
Be better than a loss.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ethan Carde

Jackson Grier

Ahmed Hassanein

Ashton Jeanty

Wyatt Milkovic

DJ Schramm

Riley Smith