Ahmed Hassanein didn’t want to take his pads off after Boise State’s 34-18 win over Oregon State on Friday afternoon.
He wanted to play the Mountain West Championship Game right then.
“Let’s go. I’m ready to go right now,” Boise State’s senior defensive captain said. “Let’s go play.”
Boise State thankfully gets a week to rest, recover and prepare before hosting the title game at 6 p.m. on Friday on FOX against either UNLV or Colorado State.
But it’s easy to see why Hassanein and the Broncos are so eager to get back out on The Blue after a 10th consecutive win on Friday.
Ashton Jeanty rushed for 226 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 37 carries, Maddux Madsen passed for 195 yards and two touchdowns and the defense had two sacks, six tackles-for-loss and held Oregon State to 18 points in a game that seemed more lopsided than the final score indicated.
For the fourth straight game it wasn’t the prettiest win. But the Broncos did something Tulane couldn’t do Thursday night and many others have struggled to do in recent weeks – win.
And with the win, the Broncos are now just one win shy of achieving their goal and making history – earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
“I’m proud of our guys for finding a way to win,” head coach Spencer Danielson said. “They are resilient. We talk about it all the time but this team is built for this. It doesn’t matter what the score is at the end of the day as long as we find a way to win. If we win by 50, seven, one – just find a way to win.
“We’re not done. We’ve never won back-to-back Mountain West championships and we’ve got a chip on our shoulder to find a way to do it.”
Boise State jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on a 11-yard touchdown pass from Madsen to Austin Bolt and a 7-yard touchdown run from Jeanty.
It looked like the Broncos were going to make it 21-0 but Jeanty fumbled the ball inside the 10 yard line late in the second quarter. Two plays later, Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson scored on a 83-yard run to make it 14-7.
With Oregon State set to get the ball to start the third quarter, Boise State put together maybe one if its bigger drives of the season – going 75 yards in eight plays in just 1:28 to score on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Madsen to Caples with 20 seconds left in the half to put the Broncos up 21-7.
“That was huge,” Madsen said. “That was big-time for sure.”
Boise State moved the ball in the third quarter but had to settle for a pair of Jonah Dalmas field goals. Oregon State scored on a 12-yard pass early in the fourth quarter and got the 2-point conversion to pull within 27-18 with 11:51 left, but the Broncos stopped Oregon State three different times on fourth down and eventually scored on a 3-yard Madsen keeper with 58 seconds left to win 34-18.
“We played some really good football today,” Danielson said. “I’m proud of how we responded. Now you look at the scoreboard and there was a fumble in there, some missed third downs, some field goals we settled for and that’s why the margin wasn’t there, but we played some good football tonight.
“There’s still a lot to clean up and get fixed but we took a step as a program today and we’re going to need to take another big one this week.”
Oregon State went just 3 of 13 on third down and 1 of 5 on fourth down. The Beavers had just 13 first downs and finished with 342 yards of offense.
Boise State, meanwhile, had 27 first downs and finished 8 of 15 on third down and 2 of 3 on fourth down while finishing with 465 yards of offense.
The Broncos, who haven’t lost since the only defeat they took in a 3-point last-second loss at Oregon back in early September, now turn their attention to arguably the biggest game in school history.
A win puts the Broncos into the CFP and likely gives them a bye into the quarterfinals and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. A loss drops them into a lower-tier bowl game and probably signals the end of Jeanty’s Boise State career.
A great season could soon become historic.
“It’s time to go get that ring,” Hassanein said.
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