BOISE, Idaho — Computer rankings will determine whether Boise State competes in the Mountain West title game after San Jose State upset UNLV 37-31 on Saturday to create a three-way tie atop the standings.
The Broncos stayed alive in the hunt to reach the championship and eliminated Air Force from title contention with a 27-19 win over the Falcons on Friday. Sophomore Ashton Jeanty led the way with 225 yards from scrimmage in the regular-season finale.
Boise State needed UNLV – who was favored at home – to beat San Jose State to secure a spot in the championship game on Dec. 2. If the Rebels had won Saturday, they would have earned the right to host the title bout against the Broncos at Allegiant Stadium.
The Spartans' victory creates a three-way tie between Boise State, San Jose State and UNLV, which will be settled by a computer algorithm to determine the top-two teams. The Mountain West will announce the championship host and participants Sunday morning at an undetermined time.
Interim head coach Spencer Danielson and the Broncos entered the week in a good spot after a dominant 45-10 victory over Utah State in Logan. The rankings could get interesting if San Jose State makes a significant jump from winning its sixth consecutive game on Saturday.
The Mountain West uses rankings from Jeff Anderson & Chris Hester, Colley’s Bias Free Matrix Rankings, Massey Ratings and Peter R. Wolfe to decide a tiebreaker when other methods are not applicable – such as College Football Playoff ranking and head-to-head records.
The average computer rankings entering Week 12 (prior to wins by Boise State and San Jose State) are shown below:
- UNLV: 34.8
- Boise State: 64.0
- San Jose State: 71.3
Boise State, San Jose State and UNLV each finished the season 6-2 in conference play, but a round-robin tiebreaker between the three squads does not work since the Broncos and Rebels did not play in 2023.
UNLV could host despite being 0-1 against teams in the standings knot, while Boise State (beat SJSU 35-27) and San Jose State could get left out of the Mountain West title game despite having one head-to-head win over a team in the tiebreaker.
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