UNLV football not looking up at Boise State in Mountain West title game

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 | 2 a.m.

From an historic perspective, the Boise State and UNLV football programs could not be any further apart.

Boise State has a trophy case full of Mountain West championships, a highlight reel of bowl-game memories and a long list of successful coaches who have kept the machine humming for decades. UNLV has a metal pineapple, a lonely loss in the Heart of Dallas Bowl and the Marcus Arroyo years.

And yet, when the two teams meet on Saturday for the MWC championship, they will be on equal footing.

This may be UNLV’s first trip to the Mountain West title game, but even after nine straight losing seasons, head coach Barry Odom is determined to get his team to play like they’ve been there before.

Odom convened his players on Monday morning to deliver that message.

“The historical significance of how many [championship games] we have or have not played in should have no bearing on how we prepare and play on Saturday,” Odom said. “It’s exciting for us to be the first one. We’re going to embrace that.”

The two opponents took different routes to get to the final weekend. Boise State was picked in first place in the preseason Mountain West media poll, while UNLV came in ninth. Once the games began, UNLV sprinted out to a surprising 3-0 start in conference play while Boise State floundered. Three weeks ago, after the Broncos fell to 4-2 and seemingly out of the championship race, Boise fired head coach Andy Avalos.

Six days after Avalos was dismissed, UNLV locked up its spot in the title game with a stirring comeback win at Air Force on Nov. 18.

Boise State turned things around under interim coach Spencer Danielson, winning its final two contests and forcing a three-way tie for first place with UNLV and San Jose State.

The Mountain West used computer rankings as its tiebreaker, and UNLV and Boise State emerged as the unlikely top two.

Both teams had their doubters along the way, but UNLV skeptics were legion. And that’s fine with Odom, as he believes his players perform better when they’ve got something to prove.

“We are a good football team when we have a chip on our shoulder,” Odom said. “Whatever that chip is, it needs to be large.”

Now that they’re matched against Boise State and that program’s four Mountain West championships, the Scarlet and Gray are back in their element as the underdogs; Boise State opened as a 2.5-point favorite despite the game being played on UNLV’s home turf.

One area where UNLV doesn’t have to look up at anyone is the running game. Under first-year offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, the Scarlet and Gray have a top-tier ground attack that leads the nation in rushing touchdowns (36) and ranks 24^th in rushing yards (2,253). Even against Boise State’s respectable run defense (4.2 yards per carry allowed), UNLV should have the edge.

Senior running back Donavyn Lester has served as the battering ram this season, powering his way to 449 yards and five touchdowns as part of the team’s stable of ballcarriers. In his view, the championship will be determined by which team is best equipped to withstand an afternoon of physical football — not by which program has more banners hanging in their practice facility.

“This is a heavyweight matchup,” Lester said. “The team with the least mistakes is going to win the game, so we’re just trying to have a perfect game and play four quarters of our best football.”

This will be the first meeting between UNLV and Boise State since 2019 (a 39-13 victory for the Broncos). For the Scarlet and Gray, that beating was two coaches and one stadium ago. Only three current players were on that team.

Junior cornerback Cameron Oliver was still in high school the last time Boise State put UNLV in its place, and that makes it all but meaningless.

According to Oliver, there will be no David vs. Goliath storyline when they do battle on Saturday.

“They’re a regular football team, just like us,” he said. “I feel like we’re evenly matched on both sides of the ball.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.