Game Facts
- Date: Today, Friday December 5th (My sister’s birthday) @6PM MST
- Location: The Blue (Ranked #2 on the Athletic’s G6 stadium rankings—a good reason to disband the army)
- Weather at kickoff: 44° with 55% Chance of Rain (Bring your ponchos !!)
- Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous (99%)
- Odds: Boise State by 5.5
- TV: (BIG) Fox
- Radio: 670 KBOI/Here or Stream
- Commentators: Jason Benetti (Play-by-play), Robert “RG3” Griffin III (Analyst), Alexa Landestoy (Sideline)
Other facts
1. 3-PEAT?
Poe Dameron voice: “Somehow, Boise State has returned”.
2. Injury Report (And link to depth chart article)
Really good news all things considered. As clean an injury report as we’ve had in a fair few weeks now.
3. THREADZ
The only acceptable choice for this weekend.
4. Hype vid anyone?
4. Hall of fame press release
ONE MORE TIME FOR BLITZ
5. Throwback to the maybe the best game ever on The Blue
Don’t think I’ll ever forget this one. Louder than I’ve ever heard Albertson’s stadium. Absolutely surreal experience.
Streaks
Boise State – Won 2
UNLV – Won 4
Best Name On Their Roster
Blesyng Alualu-Tuiolemotu, LB
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! For good championship vibes, I’m running our best name and picture back for a second time. First up is the best spelling of the word blessing that I’ve ever seen.
Best Picture On Their Roster
Daniel Hernandez, OL
Speaking of blesyngs, today we’ll be blessed to get to play yet again against a civil war general.
Players To Watch
Anthony Colandrea, QB
The Mountain West’s reigning offensive player of the the year probably wasn’t thrilled with his performance last time out in Boise. I expect he’ll have a better run his second time around, but he’ll to be much better to give his Rebels a shot. Y’all think he can find Boise on a map??
Marsel McDuffie, LB
UNLV run defense will be a key factor in this one, so I went with UNLV’s leading tackler, Marsel McDuffie. He a 2nd team all-MW nod and boasts 94 total tackles on the year to go with 3 PBUs and 2 picks.
Matchup(s) to Watch
Evergreen shoutout to cfb-graphs.com for these!
Offense
It’s pretty simple. UNLV fields one of the worst run defenses in college football. RUN THE DA(RN) BALL.
Defense
Last week I noted the points/quality drive would be a key factor and the Broncos answered the call. A redzone 4th down stop and another forced field goal did just enough for the Broncos. This week against UNLV, that remains the challenge. If the Broncos can force stops on long UNLV drives, this one will be a wrap pretty quickly.
Keys to Victory
Settle Madsen in Early
Month off aside, Madsen has needed a bit of warming up this season, often putting up excellent 2nd half numbers after rocky first halfs. Today I am asking for him to shake the rust off early (and the wide receivers to catch said passes). The good news is that playing UNLV unlocks some higher plane version of Madsen, so I think this is a fair ask.
Un-Quality Drives
UNLV offense will look to generate explosive plays as they’ve done all year. Ideally we prevent this from happening, but the next best thing is to bend but not break. Make them earn every yard in the cold and rain.
Score Prediction
I expect a bit more defense in this one from both sides, but ultimately the same result: good guys win. Expect Riley to have another field day and Madsen to continue his domination of the Rebels.
Boise State 35, UNLV 24
I’m hoping for some rain. UNLV doesn’t do well against the run, and we have a good stable of RB’s with which to accommodate their weakness. I’m not looking for much in the passing game and, unfortunately, expecting a rusty Madsen to throw a couple picks.
35-31 BSU
I am always over-optimistic. So I’m keeping my big fat mouth shut. Or should I say, my little fingers idle.
Power is out, so it looks like I won’t be able to watch the game. It’s not supposed to be back on until 12:30 a.m.