STATESBORO, GA. – Memo to opposing fans when facing Ashton Jeanty the rest of the season: it might not be the best idea to talk trash to him before the game.
Jeanty, fueled by some pregame talk from the Georgia Southern student section, went out and had literally the best game by a running back in the history of the Boise State Football program.
The junior set school records with 267 receiving yards and six rushing touchdowns to jumpstart his Heisman campaign in a season-opening 56-45 road win at Georgia Southern on Saturday.
“There was a little bit of trash talking going on when we came out,” Jeanty said. “But that just fuels me.”
After eight months of offseason hype and a recent official launch by the school of a Heisman Trophy campaign, Jeanty took his second carry of the season 77 yards for a touchdown.
Ashton Jeanty to the house! It’s a 77-yard TD and Boise State takes a 7-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/hy6MgHzQzv
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) August 31, 2024
He later added a 26-yard touchdown run with several moves you’d probably see on College Football 25 video game and had touchdown runs of 1 yard and 4 yards in the second quarter.
Four rushing touchdowns and 152 rushing yards – in the first half alone.
“It goes without saying but Ashton Jeanty is the best player in the country,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “That was on full display tonight.”
Boise State led 28-9 late in the second quarter before Georgia Southern stormed back with touchdowns on three straight drives to take a 30-28 lead midway through the third quarter.
And that’s when Jeanty put the team on his back and made sure the Broncos weren’t going to fall in the season opener for a fourth straight season.
First came a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Broncos up 37-36 with 1:07 to go in the third quarter.
After Georgia Southern retook the lead early in the fourth quarter, Jeanty then ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run to put the Broncos back in front at 42-37 with 13:30 left in the fourth quarter.
The touchdown was his sixth of the game, which broke the Boise State single-game rushing touchdown record of five – set by three players, most recently Jay Ajayi in 2014.
“It’s crazy but honestly it’s not too much of a surprise to a lot of us here,” Boise State linebacker Andrew Simpson said. “We know what he can do. That’s my roommate. We talk about it every day, what kind of season we want to have and what kind of season he wants to have personally.
“We believe in him and we know he can do great things and he showed it today. Six touchdowns is crazy. It hasn’t happened here (ever). He’s a big-time player, he’s my best friend for sure and I’m proud of him. He’s going to keep leading us.”
Jeanty later added an 18-yard run to give him 267 for the game – breaking the previous record of 261 set by Cedric Minter back inn 1978.
Twenty carries. 267 yards. Six touchdowns.
A debut so good he couldn’t even have drawn it up any better.
“I definitely couldn’t have,” Jeanty said. “But I have to shout out my O-line. They opened up big, wide holes all game. I had the easy part, make some guys miss and go run to the end zone.”
Jeanty was so hyped after his first touchdown run of 77 yards in the first quarter that he struck the Heisman pose in the end zone.
“Yeah,” Jeanty said with a laugh. “I just told myself whenever I made a big play, some type of play that proves I’m that caliber of player, I was going to pull that one out.
“My confidence is extremely high and that doesn’t come from anything anybody says about me. It comes from the work I put in. It comes from the confidence my coaches (and teammates) give me.”
Ashton Jeanty celebrating with fans after a rushing for a school-record 267 rushing yards and six touchdowns in Boise State’s 56-45 win at Georgia Southern: pic.twitter.com/Ivc7izmjNl
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) September 1, 2024
How impressive was Jeanty? Several opposing players from Georgia Southern lined up to shake his hand and congratulate him after the game.
They should have also been giving props to Boise State’s offensive line, which despite some rotating created huge holes for Jeanty and the Broncos to run through all night. On several runs Boise State’s ball carrier wasn’t touched until at least 10 yards downfield.
“There’s a lot of guys around him blocking their tails off that deserve all the credit too,” Danielson said.
Georgia Southern couldn’t even celebrate or breathe easy on the rare occasions Jeanty came off the field. Backup Sire Gaines, a true freshman at just 17 years old, rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown in his first college game.
As a team Boise State rushed for 371 yards en route to accumulating 651 total yards of offense.
Sure the defense has some issues to clean up – the Broncos gave up 461 yards, allowed 12 third-down conversions and were penalized eight times for 90 yards. But the offense appears to be just as good as many predicted it would be – and that’s scary.
Maddux Madsen was 22 of 31 for 280 yards and a touchdown to go along with an interception. Latrell Caples had five catches for 81 yards, while Cam Camper had four catches for 99 yards. Gaines added three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown out of the back field.
Boise State scored three straight fourth-quarter touchdowns after trailing 37-36 – one by Jeanty and two by Gaines.
“I’m proud of our team tonight,” Danielson said. “Good teams find ways to win. It wasn’t pretty tonight but there were some unbelievable performances by our players. I’m proud of our whole team for finding a way to win.
“Our team found a way to win. We haven’t been 1-0 in a few years and it feels good to be 1-0. … When you can find a lot of things to clean up on film and still find a way to win the game, that’s what I’m proud of our team for doing.”
The hype around the Broncos and Jeanty will only grow this week. Jeanty received praise from several national reporters on social media during the game, and he’s likely to receive even more in the coming days.
The bar is now set pretty high. But who’s betting Ashton Jeanty can’t keep it up?
“We could be here all night talking about Ashton Jeanty,” Danielson said. “I mean this young man is a 10 out of 10 in everything he does. How he leads this team, how he motivates this team and how he leads himself on a daily basis – he’s a generational talent type of kid in all facets.
“That’s who Ashton Jeanty is and I’ll scream that from the rooftops.”
Now it gets fun.
Jeanty and the Broncos will face No. 3 Oregon on the road next Saturday.
“We’re fired up to go play Oregon,” Danielson said. “We know how talented they are and how well coached they are and we’re going to work our tail off to have an opportunity to win.”
With Jeanty playing like this? All bets are off.
8 penalties for 90 yards. Bad pass defense. Clean ’em up and maybe we have a chance at a 10-win season.