SAN DIEGO – The last time the Boise State football team played in San Diego, Leighton Vander Esch was at linebacker, Andy Avalos was defensive coordinator and the game was played at the no-longer-standing Qualcomm Stadium.
It was 2017 – and also one of just two years in the past eight in which the Broncos finished the year with a Mountain West Championship.
Boise State has long been considered the ‘gold standard’ of the Mountain West Conference – the team with the biggest brand and the most success over the past two-plus decades.
But that hasn’t equated to titles, at least as of late.
Boise State has won the Mountain West Championship just two times in the past eight years, and only three times in the past 10 years (since the league added the title game in 2013).
The Broncos haven’t won the Mountain West since 2019 and have just one title in the past five years. Only 13 players on Boise State’s roster have a championship ring.
Simply put: the Broncos haven’t won the Mountain West as much as they probably should have of late. And as frustrating as it’s been for fans and supporters, it’s no doubt even harder to take for those inside the program.
Boise State starts its quest to end the title drought Friday night at 8:30 p.m. MT when it opens Mountain West play at San Diego State at SnapDragon Stadium on CBS Sports Network.
“It’s a big deal to us,” Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty said. “Going into conference play, the mentality is a little bit different because we can’t lose any games. … One loss and you may not be able to play in our final end goal, the championship game, so every game from here on, we’re taking it super serious, everything we do in practice, having a great approach to everything.”
Boise State been to the title game in five of the past six years but is just 2-3 – losing on The Blue to Fresno State in both 2018 and 2022 and to San Jose State in Las Vegas in 2020.
In case you were curious, here are the 13 players still around from the 2019 title team: Riley Smith, Markel Reed, Billy Bowens, George Holani, Shea Whiting, Tyler Crowe, Demitri Washington, Alexander Teubner, DJ Schramm, Ben Dooley, Garrett Curran, Stefan Cobbs, and Michael Callahan.
That leaves roughly 90 percent of Boise State’s roster without a Mountain West Championship.
“It’s huge – it’s 100 percent not just words on the board,” defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said. “It’s talked about and it’s not just talked about, it’s trained. We’re in January and when our guys are doing 4th quarter drills out in the cold and grinding, we’re talking about the run we’re going to have to take to climb the mountain to win the championship game.”
Five different Mountain West teams have won the championship game in the past eight years: San Diego State (twice), Fresno State (twice), Boise State (twice), Utah State and San Jose State.
Sure, parity is nice and it shows how competitive the league has become – and maybe how underrated it is nationally. Just take this year for example: Wyoming beat Texas Tech, Fresno State won at Purdue, UNLV beat Vanderbilt and Colorado State nearly beat Colorado in double overtime – and the list goes on.
But for a team and program that prides itself on being the best in the Mountain West, it’s been too long since the Broncos raised the championship trophy above their heads.
They are out to change that starting Friday.
“It’s everything,” Danielson said. “You come to Boise State to win championships. That’s why coaches come here, that’s why players come here. Everything we do is built for that.”
Added Washington, a San Diego native, sixth-year senior and one of the few with a ring: “It means a lot. You want to climb that mountain and you have to be able to go 1-0 each time you play a conference opponent. This game is one of those, it’s going to test you, a tough opponent, and you have to be at your best.”
The BNN Lithia Ford of Boise Pregame Show will be live at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. MT to get you ready. Make sure to subscribe to BNN on YouTube and join us on Friday night for the latest news, injury updates and more from San Diego.