No. 25 Boise State Hosts Washington State Saturday Night

BOISE, Idaho – Back in action at home with a new title to boot, the 25^th-ranked Broncos (2-1) will welcome another sold out crowd to Albertsons Stadium Saturday night as Washington State (4-0) travels to the City of Trees.

Kickoff Saturday is set for 8 p.m. MT with Dan Hellie (play-by-play) and Petros Papadakis (analyst) calling the action on FS1. On the Bronco Radio Network (Flagship: KBOI 93.1 FM/670 AM) and on SiriusXM Channel 160 or 201 (depending on your radio model), Bronco Nation can tune in to hear Bob Behler (play-by-play) and Pete Cavender (analyst) call the action.

Opening Kickoff

He may wear No. 2 but the No. 1 running back in the country is an indisputable fact at this point. Ashton Jeanty broke records as he has ran all across teams from coast to coast. Through 2 1/2 games the #HEI2MAN hopeful has 586 yards and 9 touchdowns rushing.
Boise State enters this game ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25 poll. The Broncos have a .843 winning percentage (113-21) all-time when ranked by the Associated Press. That is the best winning percentage of any team when ranked by the AP.
Saturday's game is the second of three sellouts (so far) this season at Albertsons Stadium. Last Saturday, 36,972 members of Bronco Nation filled the stands marking the largest crowd to watch a home opener and the fourth-largest crowd ever.
Bronco fans everywhere are excited for the return of football and to see what Ashton Jeanty can do in his junior season. The Heisman candidate wowed the nation with video game numbers in 2023, setting the stage for a HEI2MAN-worthy year in 2024. Find out more about Ashton Jeanty's record-setting performances at HEI2MAN.com.
We saved No. 5 for the appropriate Group of 5 note. The 2024 season marks the first of the expanded College Football Playoff era with a 12-team bracket. The highest-rated conference champion of the Group of 5 will automatically earn a berth into the CFP postseason this year and several national pundits have prognosticated the Broncos could be one of the top teams vying for that spot.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Guess Who's Back? Back Again.
Boise State returned to its familiar home on Sunday, Sept. 22 when the Associated Press listed the Broncos 25th in its Top 25 rankings. This marks the first time Boise State has been ranked since a two-week stay in early November 2020. Boise State went 19 straight seasons making at least one appearance in the AP Top 25, from its first-ever appearance in 2002 to 2020. The Broncos finished the season ranked 13 times during that span.
Best of the Best
Boise State is not only back in the Top 25, but history is on their side. When ranked in the Top 25 by the Associated Press, Boise State is 113-21 (.843) all-time. That's the best record of any team while ranked over the last 40 seasons (min. 50 games as a ranked team).
Go Long!
Beware the big play. Boise State has had seven offensive plays of at least 50 yards this season, the most among FBS teams in 2024. Last season, the Broncos had 14 plays of 50+ yards with only Central Florida (15) having more in FBS.
We're Not a One-Trick Pony
Don't think that this Boise State team only has one playmaker. In the Sept. 21 game against Portland State, the Broncos had six different offensive players score a touchdown, marking the first time six or more players have scored since 2016.
Or Maybe We Are…
Because the Broncos are second in the nation this season in one-play touchdown drives. Currently, Boise State has scored four touchdowns by only using one-play drives, matched with Utah (4) and just one shy of Navy (5).
Batting 1.000
Cameron Bates didn't waste any time to put his name in the box score. On Sept. 21 against Portland State, the freshman was handed off the ball for his first career rushing attempt. The result? A 20-yard touchdown. That made him the first Bronco to score on his first career rushing attempt since Garrett Collingham, who had a 4-yard touchdown run against Colorado State on Oct. 19, 2018.
Block Party
Boise State extended a longstanding streak on Sept. 21 when the Broncos hosted Portland State. With the first of their three blocked kicks, Boise State made this season the 26th consecutive year that the Broncos have blocked a kick of some kind. Overall in the game, Boise State blocked three kicks - two field goals and a punt - to mark the first time the team has blocked three kicks in a game since 2020 against Colorado State.
Packed House
Bronco Nation showed up and showed out for the team's home opener. A crowd of 36,972 filled Albertsons Stadium marking the largest crowd ever to see a home opener in the Treasure Valley and the fourth-largest crowd ever at Albertsons Stadium.

Ashton Jeanty Does More with Less
Ashton Jeanty remains the most dangerous man in the country to hold a football. The Bronco tailback ranks second in the nation in total rushing yards, but the most impressive aspect of that ranking is that he has played four fewer quarters than anyone within 100 yards of him.
National Rushing Leaders

Rank	Rush Yds	Qtrs Played	Name	School
1.	685	14	Kaleb Johnson	Iowa
2.	586	10	Ashton Jeanty	Boise State
3.	555	14	Omarion Hampton	North Carolina
4.	472	14	Ja'Quindon Jackson	Arkansas

HEI2MAN-Worthy Numbers
Ashton Jeanty (9 touchdowns) has scored more touchdowns this season than 19 different teams including Florida State (6), Kent State (5) and Northwestern (7). Those teams have played four games each.
Ashton Jeanty has played three games (and really only 2 1/2 games as he did not play in the second half against Portland State).
Under Pressure
The Broncos have recorded four sacks in each of their first three games of the season, tying them for first in the FBS in sacks per game. The last time Boise State had four or more sacks in three consecutive games in the same season was Oct. 19, 2013, when the Broncos registered 6.0 against Nevada after notching 4.0 against Southern Miss and Utah State. The Blue and Orange went 3-0 in that stretch, outscoring opponents 128-47.
Thirty-Five. Same Age Mozart Died.
Boise State is unbeaten in its last 76 games scoring 35 or more points. The Broncos' last loss when scoring 35+ was to No. 24 TCU on Nov. 12, 2011.

Broncos Wreak Havoc
Have you ever tried to corral an unbridled Bronco? So far this year's opponents are not finding it easy. Through four weeks (and three games), Boise State's defense is tied for the national lead in two categories (sacks, forced fumbles) with two more rankings in the top 25 (tackles for loss, fumbles recovered).
Broncos Wreaking Havoc

Rank	Category	Stat
T-1st	Forced Fumbles per game	2.33
T-1st	Sacks per game	4.00
T-19th	Tackles For Loss per game	7.67
T-20th	Fumbles Recovered	3

Sack It To Me
How fierce is Boise State's defensive front? The Broncos recorded 4 sacks in the Sept. 7 game at No. 7/6 Oregon which was just one sack shy of the total number of sacks the Ducks allowed throughout the entire 2023 season. It's also the most sacks the Ducks have allowed since Utah registered four sacks against Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game on Dec. 3, 2021. The last time Oregon allowed four sacks at home was on Nov. 21, 2020 when UCLA tallied four sacks on the Ducks.

About Washington State

Washington State enters this week with an 4-0 (0-0 Pac-12) record following a thrilling win over San Jose State last weekend in Pullman.
The Cougars have a dynamic offense that ranks 10th nationally in total yards (515.3), 13th in scoring (46.3), 22nd in passing (290.8) and fourth in passing yards per completion (16.86).
However, WSU's total defense ranks 127th nationally, allowing 470.8 yards per game while the rushing defense ranks 83rd in the country, averaging 151.3 yards allowed per game.
That's not to say defense is optional in Pullman. The Cougars rank 13th nationally in defensive touchdowns (1), 15th in turnovers gained (8) and 49th in tackles for loss (6.3).
The offensive outbursts start with highly-touted quarterback John Mateer, who leads the nation in points responsible for (98), is fifth nationally in passing yards per completion (17.49), seventh in passing touchdowns (11) and 15th in passing yards (1,102). Expect an air show at Albertsons Stadium this weekend.
Washington State University was founded as a public land-grant university in 1890 and is one of the oldest land-grant universities in the American West. It was originally named Washington Agricultural College and began accepting students two years later. Presumably the delay was due to construction of campus buildings and not unreasonable admissions standards.
Washington State University is located in eastern Washington, near the border the state shares with the state of Idaho. Connected by Highway 270, it is just seven miles west of that school in Moscow.
The first mascot of WSU was a terrier named "Squirt" as someone brought a pet dog to campus. After ankles everywhere were sufficiently bitten, the mascot was changed to the Indians in the decade spanning 1910-19 as three football coaches came from Carlisle Indian College in Pennsylvania: Frank Shivley, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Gus Welch.
Following the first football game between then-WSC and California in 1919, an Oakland cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce Northwest cougars chasing the defeated Golden Bears. A few days later, on October 28, WSC students officially designated "Cougars" as their team mascot, and then shut out Palouse neighbor Idaho 37–0. We applaud the positive response.
The first school colors were pink and blue, said to be chosen by the first WSU president's wife when she was so in awe of the blue and pink sunsets of the Palouse. A student election in November 1900 changed the school colors to their current Crimson and Gray. Pity.
WSU is known for finding a way to have "Ol' Crimson" - a crimson flag with the Washington State logo in white - fly in the background of every ESPN College Gameday broadcast since 2003 in an effort to get the show to Pullman. That finally worked in 2018 when the show finally broadcast from the WSU campus in October. That broadcast came nearly eight years after Gameday's Sept. 25, 2010 broadcast from Boise State, when the third-ranked Broncos defeated No. 24 Oregon State, 37-24.
With a No. 25 ranking this week, Boise State and Washington State have been ranked in the AP poll for the same number of weeks - 166 - in each program's respective history. WSU's first ranking came back in 1936 while Boise State's first ranking came in 2002.

A Win Would…

Register Boise State's 114th win while playing as a ranked team in the AP Top 25 poll.
Mark Boise State's first win over WSU since 2016.
Register the Broncos' first win over a Pac-12 program since 2017.
Move Spencer Danielson's record to 6-2 as a head coach.
Bring Boise State's all-time record in Albertsons Stadium to 290-63.
Move Boise State's all-time record on The Blue to 207-45.
Be better than a loss.

SINGLE GAME TICKETS

While the first three games are sold out, single-game tickets remain for the final three home games for as low as $25. Fans can purchase single-game tickets online at BroncoSports.com over the phone with the Boise State Athletic Ticket Office at (208) 426-4737, or in person at the Boise State Athletic Ticket Office located at the southwest corner of Albertsons Stadium.

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Led by Spencer Danielson in his first full season, Boise State looks to become the first Mountain West program to win back-to-back championships since San Diego State did so in 2015-16. Achieving such a feat will put Boise State in the discussion for the new, expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff format beginning this fall. Last year, Danielson became the first coach in college football history to win a conference championship with an interim title.

For complete coverage of Boise State Football, download the Bronco Sports App or follow the team on social media on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X.

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