Friday night's performance against UNLV will make or break Ashton Jeanty's Heisman campaign

Ashton Jeanty is currently the favorite in the Heisman race this season, but tonight's performance against UNLV will either make or break his campaign. Every week he is getting more eyes on him as his numbers continue to pile up and Friday night he will have the late night slate to himself.

The margin for error is always higher for a non-power four player and even more so for a running back in a world where quarterbacks dominate the Heisman conversation. UNLV has had a stout defense for most of this season and they will be looking to shut down Jeanty by any means necessary.

Ashton has yet to have a game where he rushed under 100 yards and already has two games over 200 yards on the season. At his current pace he is set to break Barry Sander's all time single season rushing record and touchdown record as well. As important as this game is to enhance his Heisman credentials it is equally as big for Boise State who is looking to stay near the top of the non-power 4 race for automatic playoff bid. The Broncos have a good chance of making the playoff if they run the rest of the table considering their lone loss was a close one to the current number one team Oregon Ducks.

Running against this UNLV defense this year has been less than easy, so Jeanty will have his work cut out for him. This Rebel's defense has only let one running back get over the century mark through the first eight weeks of the season.

Barry Odom's team, just like Boise State is very much in the mix for the automatic playoff birth and a win against the Broncos would do wonders for them. These teams last met a year ago in the Mountain West Championship game, but I expect a much closer game this go around. A Friday night game with both Heisman and playoff implications in it is a perfect way to kick off a big week nine weekend.

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