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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
BOISE, Idaho — The locals call it an “inversion” when warm air above traps the cooler air in the valley here.
So it was cool and clammy with a touch of fog around Boise, giving a haunted look inside the stadium with the royal blue turf on the edge of the Boise State campus.
The UNLV football team had enjoyed a wonderful regular season, winning ten of 12 games entering this Mountain West Conference championship with a bid to the new 12-team college football playoff tournament on the line at Albertsons Stadium Friday night.
But the Rebels sputtered all night on offense against a very battle-tested Boise State football team and rendered a back-breaking 75-yard run to Heisman trophy hopeful Ashton Jeanty at the end of the first half.
It was a Cinderella-ending 21-0 deficit for UNLV entering the halftime intermission and the Rebels found themselves frozen out of the inaugural championship tourney with a 21-7 loss to Boise State.
There will be a nice consolation prize, a bowl game as UNLV leaves Idaho with a record of ten wins and three losses. It was the Rebs’ second loss to Boise State this year after a 29-24 defeat in October and a second straight conference championship game loss to the Broncos.
Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen had nothing but respect for a UNLV football team that has changed the narrative of the Rebels having a losing football program.
“They have a lot of dudes who can make plays,” Madsen said at the Boise State postgame presser.
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With a little more than nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, running back Greg Burrell slithered through some tackles on a fourth-and-one and scampered 31 yards for the Rebels’ first score.
It was Boise State 21 UNLV 7.
It was at this time when the stadium announcer proclaimed attendance was 36,663.
UNLV’s quarterback, Hajj-Malik Williams was under duress, as they say, most of the game. The Rebels’ gifted receiver/special teams punt-blocking extraordinaire Ricky White III did not catch a TD pass or block a punt. And UNLV runner Jai’Den Thomas could not bust loose on a long run.
Against all odds, the Rebs desperately mounted a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.
With 2:09 left in the final quarter, Williams’ pass for White sailed above his head near the goal line. White’s made a hand gesture above his right shoulder believing the official should have thrown a penalty flag for pass interference.
But there was no yellow flag.
The Broncos kept their 21-7 lead before Jeanty ran for 11 yards to hit 196 yards at the two-minute warning.
He ran up the middle for four yards and realized the 200-yard mark on his 30th carry.
At 10:20 PM, it was over.
The students rushed the blue turf.
And Boise State was off to the 12-team tournament.
The Rebels had lost, 21-7.
After the game, UNLV head coach Barry Odom called Boise State “one of the best teams” in the country and “they’ll make some noise.” He noted Boise State was “built to make a run.”
At the postgame, Odom added that the players “changed the narrative” of a football program known for losing games.
Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson praised Odom during his postgame presser, noting that he would “love to pick his brain.”
“What he walked into,” Danielson said at the presser, “Barry Odom is one of the best coaches” in college football.
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Even running for a monster distance of 86 yards could not deliver a touchdown for UNLV in the third quarter.
The Rebels trailed, 21-0, to Boise State when running back Kylin James took a handoff deep in his own territory and emerged into Boise State secondary unscathed, sprinting untouched toward a touchdown.
But a Boise St. defender caught up with the rumbling runner only a few yards shy of a TD.
UNLV had four chances to score, but it was futile. The Rebels could not dent the end zone.
End of three quarters: Boise State 21 UNLV 0
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UNLV’s vaunted GoGo offense sputtered badly in the first half, failing to achieve a rhythm.
The Rebs mustered not a single point as Boise State registered a touchdown in each of the first and second quarters.
Boise State’s quarterback Maddux Madsen threw a 22-yard TD strike to receiver Latrell Caples in the first quarter and then ran 14 yards for a second score.
The UNLV rushing offense struggled, netting zero yards on eight rushes and amassed 14 total yards in the first quarter.
Then Boise State’s biggest name — runner Ashton Jeanty — went yard. He sprinted 75 yards and UNLV’s Cinderella season appeared to strike midnight with 29 seconds left in the first half.
After 30 minutes, UNLV had 78 total yards and four first downs.
The numbers added up to a Boise State 21-0 lead over UNLV at the half.
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UNLV football season tickets for the 2025 season are selling at a quicker pace than last year at this time, with the UNLV football brand also improving thanks to tonight’s MWC championship game, UNLV Athletics Director Erick Harper said.
For our complete interview before tonight’s game, take a look:
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Harper said 160 UNLV fans each paid $750 to fly a chartered flight to and from tonight’s game. The price included ground transportation, plus a game ticket.
Boise State fans take their garb seriously for these games.
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It was cold at 25 degrees inside the college football stadium at the edge of the Boise State campus and a UNLV equipment worker was running a communications cable behind the UNLV football bench Friday afternoon.
A visitor told the equipment employee a good four hours before the start of the UNLV vs Boise State Mountain West Conference championship game that the Rebels can make history by winning and securing a much-coveted spot in college football’s inaugural 12-team championship playoff tournament.
“It’s not we can make history. We will make history,” the UNLV worker said.
Indeed, not only would UNLV’s much-maligned football program make football history by clinching a spot along side the glamour teams of Ohio State, Texas and Georgia, it would simply shock the world.
After all, leave it to UNLV’s throwback, blunt-talking head coach, former Missouri linebacker Barry Odom, to put the Rebels’ losing legacy into perspective when he said after last week’s decisive over in-state rival Nevada, Reno that he knew he was taking over a football team two years ago that averaged a mere three wins a season for many years.
But for a second year in a row, the intense Odom led a UNLV squad of football players onto a field against powerful Boise State in the Mountain West’s championship football game.
This year, however, so much more was at stake on the blue turf first installed at Albertsons Stadium in 1986.
A crack at competing for a national championship. It sounds insane. But it’s true.
The story will be updated throughout the day and the UNLV-Boise State game.