How to watch Boise State vs. UNLV: Broncos host Rebels for Mountain West Football Championship

Winner advances to College Football Playoff

Boise State Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty. / Brian Losness-Imagn Images

A College Football Playoff bid will be on the line Friday night when No. 10 Boise State (11-1) hosts No. 20 UNLV (10-2) for the Mountain West Football Championship. 

Fox is going all-out for the de facto CFP play-in game with a Big Noon Kickoff pregame show airing live from Albertsons Stadium at 5 p.m. Mountain time. The Fox game telecast will begin at 6 p.m.

Boise State and UNLV also met in last year’s Mountain West Football Championship with the Broncos earning a 44-20 victory at Allegiant Stadium. Boise State has never won back-to-back MWC titles. 

“I told our team ‘Guys, this is why you come to Boise State. You came here because you want to earn the right to play in and win championship games,’” Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson said. “And it’s not because of what I have done. It’s because of the years and years of success that has built this place. 

“It’s awesome. Big Noon Kickoff, Friday night, championship game. Everything on the line, all chips on the table, let’s go!”

The Broncos, who are on a 10-game winning streak, defeated UNLV 29-24 on the road in late October. The Rebels held Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty to 33 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown in the narrow loss. 

Jeanty averaged a season-low 3.9 yards per carry against UNLV with a longest run of 16 yards. It was his only game this year without at least one carry of 35 or more yards. 

“He’s a really good player, and we’re going to have to be at our best to stop him again,” senior linebacker and MWC Defensive Player of the Year Jackson Woodard said of Jeanty. “A lot of it was just containing him, doing our job, being in the spot. Everybody up front being gap-sound, and then the safeties coming in and filling and making a tackle, wrapping up and getting him on the ground.”

Jeanty, the nation’s leader in rushing yards (2,228) and rushing touchdowns (28), already ranks fifth on the FBS all-time single-season rushing list. On Tuesday, he was named MWC Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. 

Boise State can likely clinch a College Football Playoff first-round bye with a victory. If the Rebels pull off the upset, they would almost certainly get a CFP spot and knock the Broncos out of the 12-team tournament. 

The five highest-ranked conference champions receive an automatic bid to the CFP with the top four champions earning first-round byes.

HOW TO WATCH BOISE STATE VS. UNLV

Who: No. 11 Boise State (11-1, 7-0 Mountain West) hosts No. 22 UNLV (10-2, 6-1) in the Mountain West Football Championship 

When: 6 p.m. Mountain time | Friday, Dec. 6

Where: Albertsons Stadium | Boise, Idaho

TV: Fox

Our prediction: Boise State 28, UNLV 27

Betting line: Boise State -4

Live updates, highlights: Follow the game on Boise State On SI for live updates and big-play highlights throughout Friday’s matchup