December 7, 2025

Article By Nick Wade

BOISE, Idaho – Boise State walked out of a drenched and wind-whipped Bronco Stadium on Friday night carrying far more than a trophy. The Broncos walked out with a legacy, a statement, and the kind of momentum that programs spend decades trying to bottle. Their 38–21 win over UNLV in the 2025 Mountain West Conference Championship didn’t just secure a third consecutive league title, it closed the book on their Mountain West era with the kind of emphatic flourish that cements eras in bronze and fires a warning shot across the bow of their future home in the PAC-12.  It also sent Coach Spencer Danielson into the record books becoming only the second FBS coach ever to start a career with three consecutive conference titles.  A cold, rain-soaked championship game is not usually the setting for transformation, but Boise State has never needed ideal conditions to show who they really are. And on a night full of sopping rain, doubters silenced, and storylines coming full circle, the Broncos finally looked like the complete version of the team they believed they could be all season.

The irony of the performance was that it arrived at the end of a year defined by uneven results, painful injuries, and an offense that spent the first half of the season coughing and sputtering its way through growing pains under first-year offensive coordinator Nate Potter. The Broncos began the fall with hope but quickly found themselves dropped into the kind of adversity that would have shattered most programs. Four losses—all of which featured the offense scoring just seven points—left outside observers looking at Boise State and seeing a team spiraling. The fanbase wondered what went wrong. The national media wrote them off. And in the middle of it all was quarterback Maddux “Maddog” Madsen, battling turf toe, battling noise, and battling the expectations that have followed him for years. When he went down injured, the season felt like it might crumble with him.

Instead, the opposite happened. Something in the locker room hardened. Something in the moment shifted. And as Madsen slowly returned to health, as Potter continued to reshape the scheme around the roster, Boise State found its identity in the grittiness of the climb back. By the time the Broncos reached November, they were no longer wondering if they could make the Mountain West Championship. They were quietly recalibrating themselves into the most dangerous team in the conference.  A huge thank you to Max Cutforth for standing in there and being relentless behind center.

That danger was on full display on The Iconic Blue as the rain hammered the field and turned every possession into a test of discipline. UNLV entered the game 10–2, with only one conference team capable of consistently beating them. Boise State. And the Broncos did it again, beating them for the second time this season and handing the Rebels their third loss of the year. The final score was decisive, but the story of the game was one of Boise State taking control of every phase exactly when it mattered most.

The Broncos finished with 460 yards of total offense to UNLV’s 409, but the real tone-setter was the 289 passing yards that came off the arm of a fully renewed Madsen. He completed 17 of his 31 attempts for 289 yards, three touchdowns, an outstanding 9.3 yards per attempt, and a QBR of 90.6 in conditions that should have suppressed passing production almost entirely. Each throw was made with a confidence and clarity that reflected not only his recovery, but his rediscovered command of the offense. He added a rushing touchdown as well, scampering past the UNLV edge with the kind of physicality that has always separated him from other Mountain West quarterbacks.

Dylan Riley was the steadying presence on the ground the Broncos needed, rushing 21 times for 75 yards and adding a nine-yard receiving touchdown that swung early momentum. Sire Gaines picked up 64 tough yards on nine carries with a touchdown of his own, hitting holes that barely existed on the slick turf. Chase Penry became a downfield nightmare with three catches for 96 yards, while Cam Bates added three catches for 65 yards and a score. Malik Sherrod delivered one of the game’s flashiest moments with two receptions for 60 yards, including a touchdown that sucked the air out of UNLV. Every skill position group rose to the moment, and every moment seemed to tilt the game further away from the Rebels.

But if Madsen was the architect of Boise State’s offensive resurgence, Buck Benefield was the heartbeat of its defensive soul. The Safety —who has one foot in the present and one foot in the looming decision of whether to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft—played the kind of game that NFL scouts salivate over. Eight tackles, seven of them solo, paired with a massive fumble recovery, created constant disruption in the middle of the field. His instincts were sharp, his closing speed relentless, and his leadership visible between every snap. Benefield earned the Championship Defensive MVP honor for good reason, and while he has yet to officially declare for the draft, I believe he should take the leap. His tape already screams Sunday talent, and performances like this championship outing only increase that projection.

He wasn’t alone in delivering defensive brilliance. Bo Phelps added seven tackles. Marco Notarainni collected six tackles and a sack, bulldozing through UNLV protection with controlled aggression. Jaden Mickey provided five tackles with steady coverage throughout the night. Jayden Virgin-Morgan punched in two tackles and a sack as pressure waves from the Bronco front repeatedly made UNLV’s backfield a hazardous place. Every time the Rebels attempted to mount a response, a blue jersey was waiting to shut it down. UNLV’s 409 yards came in bursts rather than sustained drives, and that inconsistency was a direct result of Boise State’s defensive discipline.

What made the victory even sweeter for the Broncos was how fully it reflected the resilience of their season. For weeks, no one could explain why the offense, stocked with talent, kept stalling. The four losses were suffocating, each defined by the same depressing statistic: seven offensive points. Yet here Boise State was on championship night, putting up 38 in a storm that should have erased offensive rhythm from both teams. That transformation is a testament to patience, to trust, and to the belief—often thin, but never abandoned—that the team still had time to become who it was supposed to be.

And tucked deep within the night’s emotion was something else. Nostalgia. Earlier this season Boise State traveled to South Bend to face Notre Dame, a dream matchup steeped in tradition, history, and the kind of spotlight that programs use as measuring sticks. Even in a year of turbulence, that trip remains a cherished memory for the players, coaches, and fanbase. It symbolized the scope of what the Broncos aspire to be. Not just Mountain West champions, but national contenders who demand the chance to stand on the biggest stages against the most storied opponents. Friday’s championship performance carried the echoes of that ambition. Boise State played like a program preparing to step onto a bigger platform.

And indeed, that platform arrives immediately. By virtue of winning the Mountain West, the Broncos are headed toward a berth in the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium. Boise State will meet the Washington Huskies on Saturday December 13 at 6 p.m. MT on ABC. A matchup like that would be a perfect lead-in to the program’s transition to the PAC-12. It would give the Broncos one more measuring stick as they prepare to elevate themselves to the Power Five level. And it would offer their seniors and potential draft entrants one final chance to cement their legacy.

I would like to see players who are considering transferring or declaring for the NFL Draft stay with the team through the bowl game. Every player in that locker room deserves the chance to close this season together. Every senior deserves the full send-off. And a win over a team like Washington would only elevate the importance of the moment. Momentum is a powerful force in college football, especially for programs making major conference transitions, and Boise State is standing on the edge of carrying a tidal wave of it into their new home.

Two players in particular highlight that crossroads: Kage Casey and Buck Benefield. Both are expected to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft, and both project as players who could rise during the evaluation process. Casey has been an anchor at left tackle, a steadying force who has protected Madsen through the worst moments of physical attrition this season. Benefield, as mentioned earlier, has all the tools and enough production to be one of the Mountain West’s top defensive prospects in years. Their decisions matter deeply, but for now, their legacy in Boise is already secure. They will forever be champions.

Ultimately, Friday night on the Blue was about closure. It was about Boise State ending its Mountain West journey not with a whisper, but with a thunderclap. No team had ever three-peated in this conference. No program had ever dominated its final chapter so thoroughly. Boise State securing 7 titles in 15 years put a bookend on their Mountain West Dynasty.  This 2025 squad finished the regular season 9–4 overall and 7–2 in conference play, a record that felt improbable midway through the year and undeniable by season’s end. They battled injuries, skepticism, offensive confusion, defensive strain, and the weight of expectations. They took every punch the season threw at them. And when the time came to deliver their own, they landed a knockout blow.

This championship means more than another trophy in the case. It is a bridge between eras. A final stamp on Boise State’s time in a conference they grew to define. And perhaps most importantly, a launching pad. The Broncos now charge into the PAC-12 not as hopeful newcomers, but as champions who have proven they can withstand adversity, adapt, and rise again.

In the rain on The Iconic Blue, under a sky split open by the kind of storm that transforms fields into battlegrounds, Boise State proved once more that greatness is forged in discomfort. Their Mountain West story ends with a three-peat, a feat never before accomplished. And it ends carrying the unmistakable promise of what comes next.

Momentum is no longer something the Broncos are chasing. It is something they own. And as they step into a new era of hopes of making it into the Power Five world, they do so with the force of champions determined to dominate their new home just as fiercely as they ruled their old one.