Boise State Opens 2025 Season with Road Trip to South Florida

Thursday, August 28

Tampa, Fla.

3:30 p.m. MT

Boise State

South Florida

Boise State Opens 2025 Season with Road Trip to South Florida

8/26/2025 3:30:00 PM | Football

Broncos, Bulls Face Off on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. MT on ESPN

OPENING KICKOFF

After winning back-to-back Mountain West championships for the first time and reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time, Boise State's 2024 season came to a close with a 12-2 record, 7-0 conference record and 7-0 home record. It was head coach Spencer Danielson's first full season as a head coach.
The Broncos extended two important streaks with their historic season: consecutive winning seasons (27) and consecutive seasons qualifying for a bowl game (27). The 27-straight seasons of a winning record is the longest active streak in FBS and the fourth-longest in FBS history. The 27-consecutive seasons qualifying for a bowl game is the second-longest active streak (Georgia, 28 seasons).
Boise State cracked the 2024 national rankings for the first time in week five and never looked back as it ended the year ranked in 13 straight weeks. The Broncos were in all six CFP weekly rankings, reaching as high as No. 8 in the final poll for the best CFP ranking in program history. The 2024 season marked the ninth time the Broncos have been in the AP Top 25 poll for six consecutive weeks or more. Boise State was tabbed 25th in the 2025 preseason AP and Coaches polls.
Spencer Danielson joined an exclusive list when he led Boise State to the College Football Playoff in his first year as a full-time head coach. The only coaches to achieve this feat previously were Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma, 2017) and Ryan Day (Ohio State, 2019).
Only 11 of 136 FBS programs retained their entire full-time coaching staff from 2024 to 2025. Boise State is one of the 11 and had the best 2024 record of any team to keep every full-time assistant coach on staff. The Broncos' only change was Dirk Koetter moving from offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach to senior analyst. Tight ends coach Nate Potter was promoted to offensive coordinator and Zak Hill, who was Boise State's offensive coordinator from 2017-19, was hired as pass game coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Broncos In NFL (Stadiums)
Boise State has played 15 games in NFL stadiums, tallying a 9-6 record (.600). This will be the Broncos' fifth true road game in a NFL venue, with the team entering at 3-1 (.750). This marks Boise State's first game in an NFL stadium located in Florida and seventh time playing a regular season game in an NFL venue. In the first six contests, the Broncos went 4-2 (.667), including season-opening wins over No. 7 Virginia Tech (33-30 on Sept. 6, 2010) and No. 19 Georgia (35-21 on Sept. 3, 2011).

Opening Early
Thursday's showdown will match the 2014 opener against No. 18 Ole Miss for the earliest game in program history. The Broncos have played 11 games in August, compiling a 7-4 record. Four of the last five August tilts have been on the road, with the exception being the neutral-site battle against Ole Miss, held in the Georgia Dome as the Chick Fil-A Kickoff Game.

Thursday Night Football
Since it became a four-year institution in 1968, Boise State has played 16 games on Thursdays, compiling a 12-4 record. This includes a 1-2 mark on the road and 2-2 clip in season openers. The Broncos won at BYU, 50-12, on Oct. 30, 2003, and defeated Sacramento State (Aug. 31, 2006) and No. 16 Oregon (Sept. 3, 2009) in season-opening contests.

Built Different vs. Built To Rise
Thursday's contest marks Boise State's fifth game against an American Conference opponent and fourth as the visiting team. Two of those games have been the road opener, including the 2021 game at UCF. The 2014 Boise State squad played its first road game at Connecticut, winning 38-21. The Broncos and Huskies faced off on The Blue in 2018, with No. 20/19 Boise State totaling a school-record 818 yards of offense in 62-7 trouncing. In 2023, the Broncos were edged at Memphis, 35-32. In that game, Maddux Madsen completed 11-of-14 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, Matt Lauter gained 76 yards on three receptions and Marco Notarainni had a team-high eight tackles.

Flying Back To Florida
The Broncos will make their third trip to the Sunshine State, entering with a 1-1 record in Florida. Both games were season-openers that were affected by weather. In 2019, Boise State was slated to play Florida State at TIAA Bank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Hurricane Dorian forced the contest back to the Seminoles' home stadium in Tallahassee. Kickoff time was also moved from 7 p.m. to Noon ET. The Broncos trailed by 18 near the end of the first half, but scored 23 unanswered points to earn a 36-31 victory, the program's largest comeback win over a Power 5 opponent. In 2021, Boise State opened at UCF, but kickoff was delayed nearly three hours due to lightning. The Broncos fell to the Knights, 31-36, despite Tyric LeBeafu recording a school single-game record 127 interception return yards.

Florida Connections
This week's game serves as a homecoming for three Broncos. Colton Boomer (Lake Mary), Samuel Brooks (Duval County) and Matt Lauter (Gainesville) are all natives of Florida. Boomer spent the previous three seasons with UCF, playing at South Florida in 2022. The kicker made a 27-yard field goal and five PAT in the Knights' 46-39 win.

Opening In The Polls
For the first time since 2018, Boise State enters a season ranked in the Associated Press and Coaches preseason polls. The Broncos were voted 25th in both polls, their 14th straight week in the AP Poll, the program's longest streak since 2019, which featured a 16-week run. The program-record for most consecutive weeks ranked is 62, accomplished from 2008-12. This marks Boise State's 10th season since 1996 entering a campaign ranked in both polls.

Depth In The Trenches
Boise State's offensive line returns 11 players with experience, including nine who started at one point last season. Of the nine, seven started multiple games, including Kage Casey, who has made 28 consecutive starts at left tackle. All five positions return multiple players with experience and three players (Kyle Cox, Tyler Keinath and Carson Rasmussen) played two positions last year.

Protect The Quarterback
Thanks to a dominant offensive line, Boise State opponents found it difficult to reach quarterback Maddux Madsen. In 2024, Boise State ranked 12th in the nation in sacks allowed (1.07 per game) and 14th in tackles for loss allowed (4.14 per game).

Efficiency From Maddux
Maddux Madsen led the Mountain West in passing yards (3,018) and passing touchdowns (23) in 2024. He also ranked second in the MW in passing efficiency (143.6). In MW games, Madsen recorded 12 touchdowns and one interception, making him the only player in the country with 12+ touchdowns and one interception in conference play. His career record as a starting quarterback is 13-2.

Limiting Turnovers
Maddux Madsen had nine games last season with zero interceptions on 25+ attempts. Since 2019, the only other FBS quarterbacks to have that many such games in a single season ended up as NFL First Round picks – Bo Nix (11 in 2023), Drake Maye (nine in 2022) and Joe Burrow (nine in 2019). Madsen is one of 22 returning FBS quarterbacks who threw 23 or more touchdowns last season. Of that group, only James Madison's Alonza Barnett III threw fewer interceptions (4).

Lauter Continues To Produce
Matt Lauter ended the 2024 season with 47 catches, a program record for Bronco tight ends. He ranks second in Boise State tight end history with 619 receiving yards. Last season, he was one of two players to catch at least one pass in all 14 games.

Broncos in the Backfield
Boise State wreaked havoc in opponents' backfields, leading the nation with 55 sacks in 2024. The 55 total sacks are the most in the Broncos' FBS era, which began in 1996. Jayden Virgin-Morgan led the attack for the Broncos with 10 sacks, good for 14th in the country. The Broncos also averaged 7.9 tackles for loss per game, ranking fifth in the nation. Virgin-Morgan totaled 15.5 on the season, tying for 17th in the country.

Get The Ball Out
Boise State recovered nine fumbles in 2024, including two or more in three different games. The Broncos finished first in the conference and 19th in the country with 13 fumbles forced.

When Opportunity Knocks
Boise State scored 63 points off 16 takeaways in 2024, including 35 points off turnovers in the last seven games. The Broncos scored double-digits off turnovers in two of the six five games – after only scoring 10+ points off turnovers in the first seven games of the season. While Boise State compiled 63 points off turnovers, it held its opponents to only 23 points off 12 turnovers.

All Over The Field
Ty Benefield earned All-Mountain West honorable mention and played a team-high 899 defensive snaps and 1,070 total snaps. He led Boise State in solo tackles (59), total tackles (82) and interceptions (2). In 27 career games, the safety has compiled 128 tackles, 9.5 TFLs, 3.0 sacks, three interceptions, 11 passes defended and two fumbles recovered. Benefield, a 2024 Cornish Trophy Finalist, is featured on the Thorpe Award Watch List.

Lockdown Corner
According to PFF, A'Marion McCoy led the nation with 19 forced incompletions in 2024. He tied for second in the FBS with 11 passes broken up. McCoy was targeted 101 times, allowing just 51 completions and notching a team-high 83.6 PFF coverage grade. He limited opposing quarterbacks to a completion percentage of 50.0 or less in seven games, including a 30.0 percent completion rate (3/10) in the 2024 Mountain West Championship. McCoy's pick-six against San Diego State was Boise State's first since 2022. He is on the Thorpe Award Watch List for the second straight season.

Success In The Red Zone
Boise State finished the 2024 campaign with 56 red zone scores, tied for fourth in the nation. This included 47 touchdowns and nine field goals.

Maybe It's The Coach D Effect
Spencer Danielson was named interim head coach on Nov. 12, 2023. Since then, the Broncos are 70-of-79 on red zone opportunities, scoring 55 touchdowns and connecting on 15 field goals.

Money Down Dominance
In 2024, Boise State ranked fifth in the nation in 3rd down conversion percentage at .495 (91-for-184). The success rate jumps to a .583 mark (28-for-48) when attempting to convert in the fourth quarter. The third down success is nothing new. Since 2012, only once (2022) has Boise State finished the season outside of the top 50 in 3rd downs with six times in those 12 years the Broncos finished in the top 20. The .495 success rate Boise State experienced in 2024 is the highest since 2018, when Broncos had a .525 conversion rate.