BOISE, Idaho – Ashton Jeanty ran for 209 yards and a touchdown and No. 10 Boise State secured a spot in the College Football Playoff by defeating No. 19 UNLV 21-7 on Friday night to capture its second Mountain West title secured in a row.

Boise State (12-1, No. 10 CFP) is all but assured of a bye in the first round of the playoffs if it maintains its ranking above the Big 12 winner and finishes as one of the four top-seeded conference champions.

“In January, when they were playing tug-of-war on the field with no jerseys on, they were talking about what they wanted to do this season,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “They wanted to win a conference championship and make the college playoffs, and they worked for that.”

Jeanty, who had the spotlight all alone to make his Heisman case, didn’t disappoint, making an electrifying 75-yard touchdown run. It was his fifth TD run of 70 yards or more this season, tying LaDainian Tomlinson’s FBS single-season record.

Jeanty also surpassed 1981 Heisman winner Marcus Allen of Southern California to move into fourth place on the FBS season rushing list. He still needs 132 to overtake record holder Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State.

Maddux Madsen threw a touchdown pass and rushed for another score for the Broncos.

UNLV (10-3, No. 20 CFP), which entered the game ranked seventh nationally with an attack average of 38.7 points, has not ranked lower than 23 this season.

“I’ve been to championship games and ended up on the wrong end,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. “But you continue to learn from them, move your organization forward and find a way to come back to a game like this and win it.”

However, Odom didn’t mince his words when describing what he thought of Boise State, which handed his team two of its three losses.

“Good luck to whoever comes here and thinks they can win the game,” Odom said. “I think they’re one of the best teams in college football right now. And I think they’re going to do a great job representing this conference. They’re built to run.”

With UNLV filling the box with eight or nine defenders early in the game, Boise State leaned heavily on Madsen in the first quarter. And he delivered, completing six of his first seven passes, including a 22-yard score to Latrell Caples for a 7-0 lead.

Madsen used his legs to give the Broncos a 14-0 lead, battling for a 14-yard TD run with 2:40 left in the first half.

After a short stop, Boise State got the ball back and let Jeanty work his magic. Two plays later, he raced through the teeth of the defense and sprinted into the end zone for a 75-yard TD run, giving the Broncos a 21-0 lead with 29 seconds left in the half.

UNLV had a chance to get back into the game late in the third quarter when Kylin James rushed 86 yards before Seyi Oladipo ran him down at the Boise State 5. But the Rebels lost 4 yards on the next four plays and didn’t score.

The Rebels finally got into the end zone with 9:06 left on a 31-yard run by Greg Burrell.

Hajj-Malik Williams led UNLV offensively with 110 passing yards and 56 rushing yards.

Takeaways

UNLV: Odom, who led the Rebels to their first 10-win season in 40 years, is moving his program in the right direction after UNLV posted just seven wins in the three seasons before his arrival. If he continues to recruit well and build through the transfer portal like he has this season, the Rebels should contend for the Mountain West title.

Boise State: First-year coach Spencer Danielson delivered what the program’s fan base has been hungry for since it made waves in the college football world in 2006 by going undefeated and defeating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. But now this team has a chance to go one step further and defeat one of the sport’s bluebloods in the playoffs.

Next

Boise State awaits Sunday’s selection show to find out who and when will play in the College Football Playoff.

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