The nation’s leading rusher and leading receiver collide Saturday when No. 13 Boise State travels to San Jose State.
Boise State (8-1) projects as the final team in the 12-team College Football Playoff but the Broncos have no margin for error.
Boise State remains atop the Mountain West standings and its only loss was to No. 1 Oregon. The Broncos would be the 12th seed as an automatic qualifier and the fifth-best conference champ based on the second iteration of rankings revealed Tuesday.
While there’s no celebrating in Idaho yet, BSU has plenty of reason to plan a party.
Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty is a Heisman front-runner with 1,734 yards and 23 touchdowns. He is 895 yards away from Barry Sanders’ single-season college record set in 1988 with three regular-season games left.
The Spartans’ defense ranks 75th in the nation against the run but is only allowing 3.65 yards per carry (Jeanty averages 7.7). Last year, Jeanty ran for 162 yards in a 35-27 win for Boise State.
While the spotlight this year has been on Jeanty, the nation’s leading receiver is a Spartan. Senior Nick Nash leads the nation in receptions (86), receiving yards (1,156) and touchdown catches (13).
“He’s big-time,” said Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. “He’s strong. He will go up and make catches. I remember when he was their backup running quarterback. He’s a matchup nightmare for defenses and I see him as being one of the heartbeats of their team.”
Boise State sophomore quarterback Maddux Madsen has thrown for 18 touchdowns, but he only completed 9 of 20 passes against Nevada for 119 yards and an interception. Quarterback play going forward could be the key to how far the Broncos go if and when they reach the playoffs.
“Just like anything else, there will be fundamentals and reads that he needs to get fixed and he will,” said Danielson. “There are a lot of things on film that I am proud of and there are a lot of things on film that I know he needs to improve on. No one is going to want to do it more than Maddux.”
The Spartans (6-3) have used two quarterbacks this season: Emmett Brown and Walker Eget. Brown has thrown for 1,621 yards and 16 touchdowns, while Eget has thrown for 1,312 yards, but six interceptions.
“Both of them run the offense very efficiently,” said Danielson. “I can respect offenses who know what they are, but will attack you. They are going to run their stuff. They know how to adjust to coverages so there will always be open receivers. They run their run plays and pass concepts trying to attack the defense.”
Defensively, San Jose State is led by linebacker Jordan Pollard, who has recorded 82 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss.
Spartans coach Ken Niumatalolo was reprimanded by the conference for his remarks about the officiating after his team’s win over Oregon State. Niumatalolo was dismayed over defensive penalties on a late drive by the Beavers.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and that was tough because we felt like we were playing more than 11 people out there,” Niumatalolo said after the win. “Some of the calls at the end, I don’t have any words for them.”
