A lot is riding on the outcome of the Mountain West Championship game this week as the No. 10 ranked Boise State Broncos (11-1, 7-0 MW) host the No. 20 ranked UNLV Rebels (10-2, 6-1 MW) on Friday night inside Albertson Stadium.
Boise State has been nearly perfect this season, dropping only a close contest against the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks – the FBS’s only undefeated team – that they led in the fourth quarter. Since that game, the Broncos have posted wins in only three games that were less than double-digit winning margins.
UNLV has been just as dominant, dropping on their first encounter with the Broncos (29-24 at home) and an overtime loss to a strong Syracuse squad earlier this season. Otherwise, the Rebels had only two games that were not double-figure winning margins this year.
Will Boise State earn a potential first-round bye in the college football playoffs by defeating UNLV on Friday? We’ll cover that and our three favorite player prop bets for the Mountain West Championship game.
The Broncos have a future NFL star behind their quarterback in junior running back Ashton Jeanty. The 5-foot-9 player has taken the country by storm, rushing for 2,288 yards and 28 touchdowns through 12 games this season.
Outside of a romp against Portland State, Jeanty’s fewest yards in a single game came against the Rebels in October. UNLV limited Jeanty to only 128 yards on 33 carries and one touchdown, a stat line bettors should expect to see repeated due to these teams’ familiarity with each other.
While the Rebels have endured a controversy over the quarterback position this season, the team’s faith in its top receiving option has been intact throughout the 2024 campaign. Senior Ricky White III has caught 75 passes for 1,020 yards and 11 scores thus far.
In his past nine games, White has finished above 55 yards in every contest. His second-lowest outing in that period was against Boise State, and it’s easy to conceive the Broncos will focus their defensive efforts on him during obvious passing situations. Take the under on this bet for Friday night’s championship contest.
The Broncos have an excellent quarterback in sophomore Maddux Madsen under center. The 5-foot-10 signal-caller has completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 2,556 yards, 21 touchdowns, and only three interceptions throughout the season.
While Boise State has not needed him to win games, Madsen is more than capable of producing big outings. With UNLV focusing on stopping Jeanty, expect the Rebels to be vulnerable to the pass, giving bettors confidence in taking Madsen to exceed his player prop totals.
While I expect Boise State will win this game, the 3.5-point spread is perhaps too high for this matchup of the Mountain West’s top teams. Their first game was a five-point spread, and the game’s deciding touchdown was not until midway through the fourth quarter by Jeanty.
This time around, expect the Rebels to keep it close as both teams’ defenses have improved throughout the year. An ending score of 24-21 would not be shocking in this epic Mountain West finale.
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