Boise State is 6-1, ranked No. 20, and tied atop the new Pac-12 after six straight wins. Texas State visits The Blue on Halloween night, with Oregon State looming on Nov. 14.
Photo: Tommy Wolf / LIT Media Productions
Seven games into its first season in the rebuilt Pac-12, Boise State is the team the rest of the league has to chase. The Broncos are 6-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play, ranked No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 22 by the coaches, riding a six-game win streak, and already bowl eligible for the 29th consecutive season, the second-longest active streak in the nation behind Georgia. On Saturday night, Halloween, they welcome Texas State to Albertsons Stadium with first place in the Pac-12 on the line.
It did not start this way. Boise State opened the season at Oregon and lost 34-27, a game that was there in the fourth quarter before it slipped away. At the time it looked like the kind of loss that could define a season for a team picked to carry the flag for the new-look Pac-12. Instead, it has been the last loss the Broncos have taken. Head coach Spencer Danielson's team has not just won since then, it has separated, scoring more than 30 points in all six wins, the first time a Boise State team has done that since 2014.
The streak
The response started at home. Memphis came to The Blue on Sept. 12 and left with a 38-20 loss. South Dakota followed a week later, 38-24. The Broncos then went on the road and delivered their most complete performance of the first month, a 32-7 win at Western Michigan where the defense gave up a single touchdown. Back home on Oct. 3, Utah State was handled 37-18 in the conference home opener.
Then came the shootout. At Fresno State on Oct. 10, in front of 43,086 fans, the Bulldogs jumped out 7-0 and the game turned into a track meet. Dylan Riley answered Fresno State's opening score with a 72-yard touchdown run, and the Broncos needed every bit of their ground game the rest of the night: Riley carried 19 times for 150 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 64 more, including a 44-yard score. Sire Gaines, back from injury, added 20 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown. Boise State held the ball for 39 minutes, punted once, converted all four of its fourth downs, and still only won 38-31. It was the night the Broncos learned they could win a game that turned into a fight.
The Pullman breakthrough
If Fresno was a fight, Washington State was a trap. Boise State had never won at Martin Stadium, and Pullman has haunted this program before: the Broncos once let a 31-10 fourth-quarter lead get away in that stadium. For three quarters last Saturday it looked possible again. Washington State, playing to keep its bowl hopes alive, used a 16-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that ate 6:44 of the second quarter, tied the game 10-10 on a 47-yard field goal late in the third, and held Riley to 18 rushing yards in the first half.
The fourth quarter flipped everything. Maddux Madsen finished a 15-play, 70-yard march with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Cam Bates for a 17-10 lead. Linebacker Boen Phelps intercepted WSU quarterback Owen Eshelman on the next drive and returned it to the Cougars' 33. Riley scored from 33 yards out two plays later. After another defensive stop, Riley broke free up the right side for 72 yards and the touchdown that ended it, 31-10. His first 10 carries of the game produced 22 yards. His last three produced 105 yards and two touchdowns. Boise State outscored Washington State 21-0 in the fourth quarter, held the Cougars to 244 total yards and 53 rushing yards, and left Pullman with a win there for the first time in program history.
The nation's leading rusher
Riley's season has become a weekly argument that he is the best running back in the country playing outside the power conferences. He leads the nation in rushing and sits 37 yards away from his second straight 1,000-yard season with five games to play. The 72-yard score at Washington State was his fourth touchdown run of more than 70 yards this season, and he had a 72-yard touchdown at Fresno State two weeks earlier. Washington State bottled him up for three quarters and it still did not matter in the end. "I knew eventually it was going to pop," Riley said after the game. "I wasn't frustrated. I just knew it was a matter of time, and it came when we really needed it." Gaines gives the Broncos a second back who can carry a drive, which is why this run game travels: 258 rushing yards on 37 carries at Washington State, on a night when the passing game managed 149 yards.
Clean quarterback, stubborn defense
Madsen's season is quietly one of the most efficient in the country. Through seven games he has thrown 14 touchdown passes and zero interceptions, the only quarterback in the nation with at least 10 touchdown passes and no picks. He does not have to be spectacular for this team to win, and most weeks he is not asked to be. The defense completes the formula. Boise State is allowing 20.6 points per game, and Washington State's longest play last Saturday went for 26 yards. The Broncos score 34.4 points a game, control the ball, and do not beat themselves. It is a hard team to play in November.
The race and what is next
Boise State shares the top of the Pac-12 with Oregon State, both 3-0 in league play, and the Beavers (5-2) visit Albertsons Stadium on Nov. 14 in the game that should settle the conference's top seed ahead of the Pac-12 Championship on Dec. 4. First comes Texas State on Saturday at 8 p.m. Mountain. The Bobcats are 4-3 and 2-1 in the Pac-12, and they can score with anyone, 37.1 points per game, so the Broncos' defense gets its stiffest test since Oregon. Halftime brings a program moment: Boise State will unveil its statue of Kellen Moore, the winningest quarterback in school history, one week after beating the Washington State team coached by his brother Kirby. After Texas State, the Broncos travel to Colorado State on Nov. 7, host Oregon State on Nov. 14 and San Diego State on Nov. 21, and close the regular season Nov. 28.
The College Football Playoff's Group of Five path runs through Boise right now. Boise State controls it, and the Broncos are playing their best football of the season at exactly the right time.
By the numbers
6-1, 3-0: Boise State's record, tied with Oregon State atop the Pac-12
241-144: points scored vs. allowed through seven games
6: straight games over 30 points, the program's first such streak since 2014
4: touchdown runs of 70-plus yards this season by Dylan Riley, who is 37 yards from 1,000
14 and 0: Maddux Madsen's touchdown passes and interceptions, a combination no other quarterback in the country has matched
29: consecutive bowl-eligible seasons, second only to Georgia among active streaks
There is a bigger picture here, too. This is year one of the rebuilt Pac-12, a league Boise State helped anchor into existence, and the Broncos have treated the new conference like a statement opportunity. The league slate so far has taken them to Fresno State and Washington State and brought Utah State to The Blue, with Colorado State, Oregon State, San Diego State and a Dec. 4 championship game still ahead. A program that spent two decades as the outsider crashing the party is now the favorite in its own power-adjacent league, and it is playing like it.
Sources
2026 Boise State Broncos Schedule and Results, Sports-Reference
WSU drops fifth straight, falls 31-10 to Boise State, Associated Press via Q13 Fox
3 instant takeaways from Boise State's win over Washington State, Sports Illustrated
BSU escapes Pullman with a win after a dominant final quarter, The Arbiter