National rushing leader Ashton Jeanty is back in the race for the Heisman Trophy as No. 15 Boise State aims for a spot in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. They will host the San Diego State Aztecs on Friday night in a game featuring teams that are both undefeated in Mountain West play.
The Broncos (6-1, 3-0) can secure their place at the top of the Mountain West standings as November begins. San Diego State (3-4, 2-0) is still working on establishing its identity in Sean Lewis’ first season as coach. Colorado State is the only other team unbeaten in Mountain West play, also at 3-0.
Coach Spencer Danielson mentioned there is still a lot of room for the Broncos to learn and improve. Although they defeated San Diego State in Boise in 2022, they remember every home loss, including the 19-13 defeat to the Aztecs on their blue turf in 2018.
“We know it’s going to be a huge test Friday night on the Blue. Undefeated in conference. Monster game,” Danielson said. “We’ve had battles here on the Blue against San Diego State.
I’ll never forget losing on the Blue to San Diego State in 2018. You don’t forget those moments.
Those are the things we’re excited to face, especially considering who they are and what they’re going to bring. We’ve got to be ready to play, and we will be.”
Lewis described BSU as “a really complete team that’s playing high-level ball” and mentioned that Jeanty is “a physical runner with home run speed.”
Lewis also expressed disappointment over SDSU blowing a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter last Saturday and losing 29-26 at home to Washington State.
While he is happy with the Aztecs’ progress, he said he’s “still sick to my stomach about the results, but we’ll grow from it and learn from it, the progress that we continue to make. Unfortunately, a part of progress is pain that comes along with it — and we felt some of that on Saturday night — but we focus on the process and not just the results.”
