No. 10 Boise State beats No. 20 UNLV for Mountain West title and likely first-round bye in College Football Playoff

Boise State should be getting a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.

The No. 10 Broncos put No. 20 UNLV away in the first half on the way to a 21-7 win in the Mountain West Conference championship game. The win was fittingly sealed at the end of the second quarter with a 75-yard run by Heisman contender Ashton Jeanty.

Jeanty finished the game with 209 rushing yards and had Boise State fans chanting his name in the second half.

Jeanty’s total brings him to 2,499 yards on the season as he passed former USC running back Marcus Allen for the fourth-most rushing yards in a single season.

The 75-yard TD run before halftime was Boise State’s second TD in the final three minutes of the second quarter. Maddux Madsen extended the Boise State lead to 14-0 with 2:40 to go in the second quarter with a fantastic run on a QB draw.

UNLV got four yards on three plays on its ensuing possession before Jeanty broke the game open.

The Rebels’ offense simply couldn’t get anything going. And when it had a scoring chance, it didn’t capitalize. UNLV missed a field goal in the first half, and Kylin James broke off an 86-yard run in the third quarter to set up UNLV for a sure TD. But Seyi Oladipo ran James down from behind to prevent the touchdown and UNLV couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone as a fourth-down pass sailed incomplete.

After finally scoring in the fourth quarter, UNLV had a chance to cut the lead to seven before the 2-minute warning. But the Rebels went backward after getting another goal-to-go situation and again turned the ball over on downs.

The nature of the win virtually guarantees that Boise State will stay ahead of the winner of Saturday’s Big 12 title game in Sunday’s College Football Playoff rankings. That means Boise State should be the No. 4 seed in the playoff bracket and could even be as high as No. 3 if Clemson beats SMU in the ACC championship game.

The playoff format guarantees spots to the top five conference champions in the rankings and the top four seeds are reserved for the top four conference champions. There weren’t many people who would have bet before the season that a non-power conference champion would be getting one of the first-round byes, but it’s hard to argue against Boise State’s worthiness unless you’re affiliated with the Big 12.

Boise State’s only loss of the season came in Week 2 to Oregon, the only undefeated team remaining in college football. The Broncos lost that game 37-34 as the Ducks needed a short field goal as time expired to win the game.

Since then, Boise State won six games by three scores or more and Friday night’s win over UNLV was the Broncos’ second over the Rebels. Boise State won 29-24 in Las Vegas in October.

UNLV, meanwhile, is left to go to a non-playoff bowl despite the team’s second 10-win season in program history and its first since 1984. The Rebels could be headed to the LA Bowl to go to back-to-back bowl games for the first time ever.