UNLV at Boise State: watch, picks, odds for Mountain West Championship Sport

It’s a banner day for the Mountain West Convention, with the winner of Friday’s title recreation assured a playoff spot and presumably even a first-round bye. No. 10 Boise State is a slight favourite over No. 20 UNLV, and the 2 will run again a matchup that beforehand resulted in a Week 9 thriller.

UNLV at No. 10 Boise State

The Rebels are considered one of two groups to convincingly go punch-for-punch with the Broncos, the opposite being No. 1 Oregon. The place the Geese escaped with a win on a last-second discipline aim, UNLV misplaced 29-24 after Heisman contender Ashton Jeanty scored the go-ahead landing within the fourth quarter.

Except you’ve been underground, you recognize Jeanty is having a dashing season for the ages. Even when you have been, you’ve possible heard him thunder overhead as he ran his strategy to 2,288 yards and 28 touchdowns. However whereas UNLV got here up quick within the earlier assembly, its protection got here the closest to containing the Boise again as anybody has all season. Jeanty posted his fewest yards per carry (3.9) and lowest yardage in a full recreation (128). His longest carry towards the Rebels was 16 yards, the shortest on the season by an enormous margin. In each different recreation, his longest carry was a minimum of 35 yards. If that doesn’t appear all that spectacular for a protection, think about Oregon allowed 192 yards and three touchdowns on 25 Jeanty carries, together with a 70-yarder.

UNLV has the Tenth-best run protection within the nation and tamed the storm as soon as already, which implies sophomore Maddux Madsen might be essential in securing the Broncos a playoff spot. He’s not a prolific passer, however Maddux is averaging 213 yards per contest with 21 passing touchdowns on the season with simply three picks in 334 makes an attempt. UNLV isn’t almost nearly as good at defending the move, so Boise State ought to have the ability to transfer the ball without having a Herculean efficiency from their star again.

The Rebs have gained 4 straight since shedding to the Broncos and closed the season ranked seventh nationally in factors (38.7 per recreation) and fourth in dashing (254.1 yards per recreation). Switch Hajj-Malik Williams took over at quarterback after Matthew Sluka left city in Week 3 on account of an NIL dispute. Williams has 768 dashing yards and 9 touchdowns on the bottom. Williams and lead again Jai’Den Thomas will face a troublesome check in Boise State’s Seventeenth-ranked rush protection.

Nevertheless, UNLV’s greatest path to an upset could also be via the air. The Rebels’ 179.9 move yards per recreation definitely doesn’t draw the attention, however hiding in these unremarkable sands is a diamond within the type of Ricky White III. The senior wideout has 1,020 yards and is tied for fifth within the nation with 11 touchdowns. The Broncos are vast open to the move, rating a hundred and twentieth with 258.3 yards allowed per recreation. The Rebels don’t move a lot (21.8 makes an attempt per recreation), however White may have essentially the most lopsided benefit within the matchup.