Your view of college football is entirely wrong.
Yeah, I said it. I’m not even sure how you feel about the sport. But it’s wrong.
Am I doing this right? Not even listening to people while claiming they are utterly off base sure seems to be the most enjoyable thing to do on social media right now.
You know what I enjoy? Watching college football. Not arguing about it – OK, maybe occasionally arguing about it – but actually sitting down and watching it.
And I’ve watched Alabama. I’ve watched Penn State. And I’ve watched Boise State.
And I’ll argue one thing with you, since it’s so popular right now: Boise State belongs in the College Football Playoff.
Group of Five. Mountain West. I don’t care. The Broncos have earned the right to play in the CFP and deserve to be facing Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
I asked Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson about why his team should be in this position. And of course he wasn’t going to argue against being the third-highest seed in the CFP. But I do think he provided a prudent response, which you don’t see on social media a lot.
“I’m asked about a lot of questions that I don’t control. I’m asked about transfer portal. I’m asked about NIL. I’m asked about the College Football Playoff format. Those are not things that I decide,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said in response to a question by HERO Sports. “When the College Football Playoff came out and how the format was gonna happen, that’s what we went on to attack. And looking at it from our team in the offseason, we knew that each game was a playoff game, and what that would mean at the end of the season was up to us handling week to week.
At the end of the season, at 12-1, winning our Mountain West Conference Championship game, fully believing we deserve the right to get a first-round bye. If that didn’t happen, if all of a sudden they put us at a different seed, we would be fired up to play the game, because those are things we don’t control. I’m not on the College Football Playoff Committee. They are not calling me to ask me how I should change it. It’s not something that I think about a lot. I do believe our team has earned the right, through 13 games, to get a first-round bye and play in the Fiesta Bowl. I believe that.
“Watch the film. Everybody knew going into this season what the playoff format was, and it was our job to handle every single week through the regular season to win a championship to put ourselves in this situation. But in regard to the future and the format, it’s not something that I control. I don’t put a lot of thought into it. But I do love the College Football Playoff as an expansion, because it gives everybody a shot. What’s gonna happen at the end of the year? Who will win the national championship? Nobody knows. But across all FBS teams, when you start the season, everybody is at a level playing field. Everybody has got a shot, and then you gotta go earn the right to win the game that you can get in.”
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Why Is Boise State In The College Football Playoff?
Boise State deserves a spot in the CFP for one reason above all others: The Broncos have won.
They entered the season with high preseason expectations. And when so many teams fell short of what they were supposed to do in 2024, Boise State lived up to it all.
The Broncos lost one game all year. One. And that was against Oregon. The No. 1 team in the country, and the only one in the FBS that’s undefeated.
Not only that, but Boise State lost by just three points, and only three of the Ducks’ regular season games were decided by single digits.
Side note: I’ve heard too many people claim that was a different Oregon team, that the Ducks are much better now, and so that game shouldn’t be viewed as a valuable data point. But if a top-ranked team loses to a G5 program at any point, it changes how the CFP is seeded. Of course a team’s entire resume should be taken into consideration.
Anyway. Despite the pressure and high expectations, Boise State (12-1) cruised to a Mountain West Championship. The Broncos beat Oregon State and Washington State – which should be automatically better than anyone in the G5 because they were from the Pac-12, right? – by a combined score of 79-42. They also beat UNLV, which was in the CFP rankings at the end of the season, not once but twice.
Flat out, the Broncos played like a high-caliber program from the beginning of the year all the way through to their conference championship victory when a CFP berth was on the line.
“That’s our mentality here. Not just for this game playing in the Fiesta Bowl, but that’s what Boise State has been built on,” Danielson said. “We have to earn our right to play against one of the top football teams in the country. I believe in our team. That’s why we talk about, please count us out. People do, media or (otherwise), count us out. I know how we are going to work, and I know we are going to work to play our absolute best on the 31st. If nobody gives us a chance, if the point spread continues to grow, whatever. And I tell people, too, ‘Hey, use this as motivation.’ This team doesn’t need any more motivation. We have been in playoff football since September.
“Please count us out. That’s what Boise State football is built on, is people thinking we can’t do anything and we work our tails off to find a way to prove people wrong. I believe in our team. And we use the phrase, ‘put the ball down.’ Doesn’t matter the stadium or what fans are there – on the 31st, put the ball down. We’re gonna be ready.”
We should also probably discuss Boise State’s talent. And it begins with the team’s Heisman Trophy finalist.
Ashton Jeanty is just 131 rushing yards away from breaking the FBS single-season record set by Barry Sanders in 1988. The Broncos running back is first in the country with 2,497 rushing yards and is tied for first with 29 rushing touchdowns while averaging 7.3 yards per rush. He has 1,889 rushing yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus, and averages 5.48 yards after contact per attempt.
Jeanty won the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the best running back in the nation, as well as the Maxwell Award, which recognizes college football’s best overall player.
“It’s nothing new. Nobody had us picked to come to the playoffs,” Jeanty said. “They had us picked to win the conference like they do every year. But in terms of going against what you call the Power Four or the more elite teams, per se, nobody ever has us picked to win. … We already proved people wrong, but we’ve still got to do that. We still got that chip on our shoulder. We’re still fully aware that people are counting us out.”
Let’s not forget that Boise State’s Maddux Madsen is the only quarterback in the country with at least 2,700 yards and 22 touchdowns passing as well as three or fewer interceptions. Or that Boise State is second in the nation with 51 sacks despite no one on the team having more than 10.
Boise State runs the ball well, has a quarterback who doesn’t make crucial mistakes, and pressures opposing passers. Usually, that’s a pretty solid recipe for postseason success, especially for an underdog.
“I think this is going to be a heavyweight fight,” Boise State defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said. “We’re going to get punched, and we’re going to have to punch back. This game is going to be a little bit back and forth, because I think that there’s two really good football teams playing right now. This is December. It’s tough guys only in December and January.”
Why Did Boise State Get A Bye In The College Football Playoff?
The four highest-ranked conference champions in the FBS earn a first-round bye in the current format of the College Football Playoff. Boise State was one of those teams.
And not only that, the Broncos were the No. 3 seed in the CFP’s 12-team field. And that’s totally fair considering their resume.
“I think college football has a lot of problems right now, but the best thing they’ve got going is this playoff. I think that’s huge,” Boise State offensive coordinator and former NFL head coach Dirk Koetter said. “They’re going to change the way they seed the teams and maybe how they pick the teams and all that. But the fact that it’s a tournament right now and somebody is going to come out proving it on the field as the national champion. The 13th, 14th, 15th teams, they can argue all they want. But whoever wins this thing by winning three or four in a row to get there, that is big-time. I think it’s awesome for the sport.”
The top argument against Boise State being in this position is, “Well, Boise plays in the Mountain West!” I hear talking heads bring this up constantly.
Surprisingly for the guy who covers Group of Five football for a living, I’m not going to immediately discount that argument.
I’ve held the viewpoint that G5 football is fun and should be celebrated, but there’s a divide between the teams which play in those conferences and those in the Power Four based on many significant metrics.
But there’s also exceptions to that. And Boise State is one of them. The Broncos deserve to be recognized as a team in the top tier in the country.
Also, Group of Five teams are 4-1 in bowl games thus far. So maybe I’m wrong about the divide between G5 and P4 anyway.
“A lot of people like to count Group of Five out,” Madsen said. “To me, we’re a different level of Group of Five. Our only loss is to a No. 1-ranked team in the country that’s undefeated. I know, and everybody in this building knows, what we can bring to a football game and the level of football that we play at.”
Boise State Is The Classic Underdog
Boise State is a 10.5-point underdog in the Fiesta Bowl and CFP quarterfinals against Penn State. That’s despite the Broncos having the first-round bye after Penn State defeated SMU in the first round of the playoffs.
The average social media troll will look at Boise State and think, “That’s a small school. Of course Boise doesn’t belong on this stage.”
But the thing is, Boise State has been on this stage. And has won.
The Broncos are 3-0 in Fiesta Bowls, all during this century, and all against teams ranked in the top 12 at the time.
The Fiesta Bowl might be the only reason a common college football fan remembers who Boise State even is.
“It’s what Boise State has essentially been built on,” Madsen said. “Yeah, (Penn State is) good. They’re really good. But also, I know the Boise State Broncos are really good. The competition level is going to be extremely high with what’s at stake. I have a lot of trust in the guys in this building.”
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I’m not sure Boise State will end up beating Penn State. And I’m also not convinced the Broncos will make it close.
But I don’t think there’s any argument against Boise State being a perfect underdog in the first year of the 12-team CFP. A comparatively smaller school that earned a place in the playoff with results on the field going up against one of the biggest programs in the country is perfect for postseason college football.
One of the many reasons people love college sports is David vs. Goliath storylines, like mid-major basketball teams pulling off upsets in the NCAA Tournament.
Well, you can’t have David vs. Goliath without even inviting David to the fight. That’s why Boise State should be in the CFP. And that’s why G5 teams should always have a seat at this table.
“Go put the ball down,” Danielson said. “If it’s on grass, in the parking lot, it doesn’t matter. I know we will have 11 versus their 11. Let’s go.”
