Boise State football downs UNLV to take top spot in Group of Five race

Boise State football has the Mountain West in pole position in the Group of Five battle for a New Year’s Six spot. The Broncos didn’t falter at UNLV.

It was a strange weekend for Group of Five teams around the country. Boise State didn’t slip in the trap, as they took care of business 38-13 against UNLV to remain unbeaten and move to 5-0 on the first weekend of October. The Mountain West front-runner kept their position atop the league standings and consolidated their AP Top 25 position.

By comparison, American Athletic Conference pecking order was shaken up significantly in Week 6 play. UCF dropped far back in the race after collapsing 27-24 on the road at Cincinnati. The Knights are going to struggle to reach their third straight New Year’s Six bowl after the loss, which in turn gave the Bearcats new life in the battle for the AAC East crown and a spot in the conference championship game.

Memphis stayed undefeated in a relatively easy takedown of UL-Monroe in a non-conference road game. SMU barely held on at home to also stay perfect, though they needed a comeback and then three overtimes — and a wild catch in the endzone that was originally called incomplete on the field to end the game — to survive upset-minded Tulsa. The two teams head the AAC West race.

Given the chaos that transpired around the American Athletic Conference, and the misfortune that befell Washington in late-night mayhem at Stanford, it would have been true to form to see Boise State round out the weekend with one last surprise.

The Broncos weren’t about to take that bait, though

Bryan Harsin’s team went to UNLV and handled the Rebels just as you would expect a Top 25 team to deal with a 1-3 Mountain West opponent. Hank Bachmeier continued to build his legend as the next great Boise State quarterback, finishing with 299 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-30 passing. He added nine yards on the ground to top 300 total for the night.

George Holani, John Hightower, and Akilian Butler each ripped off runs of at least 20 yards against an overmatched Rebels defense. Butler punched in a 23-yard touchdown run as the Broncos finished the night with 176 rushing yards and an average of 6.5 yards per carry as a team.

And the Boise State defense came through in just as emphatic a measure. Thanks to eight sacks of UNLV quarterback Kenyon Oblad, the Broncos held the Rebels to just 71 net rushing yards. Oblad was able to complete 23 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, but he also tossed a costly interception to Kekoa Nawahine and needed 50 attempts to compile his stats for the evening.

Thanks to the rest of the swirl around the country, Boise State looks ready to climb into the top 15 of the AP Top 25 this week. They are quickly setting themselves up as a national favorite to represent the Group of Five in a New Year’s Six bowl this season, something the Broncos have not done since beating Arizona in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.

The American Athletic Conference is still going to have a say of its own in the race, but at this point of the season Boise State is unbeaten and putting everything together in all phases of the game for a run at an undefeated campaign.

With a statement win over Florida State in a game that was moved from Jacksonville to the Seminoles’ home stadium in Tallahassee, and now two wins in conference play to take charge of the MWC Mountain, the Broncos are the new team to beat in the Group of Five battle.