Boise State Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2017
By Zach Bigalke
After losing to Washington State two weeks earlier, the Broncos cannot afford another slip-up against Virginia. Even in the College Football Playoff era, a Group of Five team has to show some statement win to factor ahead of other mid-major champions. Two losses to Power Five teams would probably eliminate Bryan Harsin’s team from meriting real consideration should they win the MWC title.
Virginia, though, should pose few problems for the Broncos. The Cavaliers never could really manage to do anything on offense in 2016. Despite a new head coach, former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, the Cavaliers continued to rank among the dozen worst offenses in the country last year.
After decades of middleweight status in the ACC under George Welsh and Al Groh, the Cavaliers bombed at the end of Groh’s career and through the Mike London era. Mendenhall cannot fix everything overnight.
Final: Boise State 38, Virginia 17 (3-1, 1-0 MWC)
Virginia has played on the Smurf Turf once before, losing to Fresno State 37-34 in the 2004 MPC Computers Bowl. The margin of defeat will be greater this time around. When these two teams met in Charlottesville two years ago, Boise State demolished their hosts 56-14. The Broncos probably won’t score that many points against Mendenhall’s veteran defense. But they’ll score more than enough for a comfortable victory to end September at 3-1.