Boise State, powered by Ashton Jeanty, has inside track to a College Football Playoff berth

Clinging to a five-point lead with 8:09 remaining in a huge game on the road, Boise State got the ball at its own 14.

It doesn’t matter the opponent. In that situation, with perhaps one of the five best running backs this sport has seen during the College Football Playoff era, the Broncos are nearly impossible to beat. The plan was simple: work the clock, play keep-away, and win. It was time for Ashton Jeanty to shine. 

With the game on the line, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson didn’t even have to think. He kept feeding his Heisman Trophy-hopeful. Though UNLV had done a better job than anyone containing Jeanty throughout the game, the Broncos leaned on him. On a 14-play drive that killed the entire clock, Jeanty touched the ball eight times. Three of those plays were kneel-downs.

Boise State 29, UNLV 24. Final.

In the old days, this would have been a Friday night game reserved for only college football sickos. Two undefeated teams in the Mountain West would have been an interesting game for those interested in conference championships. But this game, in the 12-team College Football Playoff era? These were two teams who had their eyes on more.

Now Boise State is the clear favorite from the Group of 5 to advance to the Playoff. Given what happened with the Broncos in the 2006 season, who could be a more appropriate representative for the Group of 5 in the first year this sport will actually be settled on the field?

Before we get more into that, there’s still work to be done. The Broncos future could include yet another game against these Rebels, who have now lost two games, both Friday-night heartbreakers with penalties that’ll keep their fans up at night. But when it came to who the better team was on this Friday night, there is no question it was the Broncos.

Heading into the game, Jeanty had rushed for 1,120 yards and 16 touchdowns. In Boise State’s first six games, Jeanty rushed for 185 yards or more five times. In a last-second loss to Oregon — now the nation’s No. 1 team — in week two, Jeanty rushed the ball 25 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns. 

Against the Rebels, Jeanty had 33 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown. In a year where Jeanty is challenging Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, a great game for others feels like a bad game for him. UNLV would have all but certainly taken that stat-line if offered it before the game.

But being an elite-level player is about more than 80-yard touchdown runs. It’s about coming up big when your team needs you the most. That’s what Jeanty does.

On that final drive, he consistently fought for extra yardage. He rarely went down at first contact. And after playing an entire game where it seemed like it took every ounce of UNLV’s energy to bring him to the ground, asking the Rebels to stop him on that final drive was just too much. There won’t be an ESPN SportsCenter Top-10 play, but the body of work in this game — arguably the biggest of the season for the Broncos — was Heisman worthy. With Boise State down by a point, he had a tough 5-yard run from the UNLV six that put the Broncos up to the edge of the goal line that most running backs wouldn’t have been able to make. That set up his only touchdown run, which ended up being the game-winner. Jeanty showed up. Again. And again. And again.

You have to ask yourself this question: Which running backs would you take over Jeanty since the 2014 season? Christian McCaffery? Saquon Barkley? Derrick Henry? Ezekiel Elliott? Travis Etienne? Najee Harris? Nick Chubb? Jonathan Taylor? Bijan Robinson? Am I forgetting someone?

Some of the aforementioned players’ NFL careers make that call even tougher. But Jeanty, without question, belongs in that conversation.

Which makes this Boise State team really dangerous. Not just in the Mountain West race, but in one of those College Football Playoff games coming up in December.

The job is not done for Boise State. Going undefeated in conference play and winning the conference title game isn’t going to be easy. But with five games remaining in the season against San Diego State, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming and Oregon State, there isn’t a speed bump on that schedule that, on paper, represents a bigger challenge than the one UNLV posed Friday night. 

There are still teams in the Group of 5 that will challenge for Boise State. Army and Navy are both still undefeated. We’re going to find out Saturday how real Navy is when it faces Notre Dame. And, heck, if UNLV runs the table with two losses and beats Boise State — in Boise — in the Mountain West title game, the Rebels may have an argument in December. Remember, the Mountain West Championship Game is hosted by the team with the highest winning percentage in conference play, which, presumably, is going to be Boise State.

But if Boise State makes it? How appropriate would that be?

These Broncos have been the class of the Group of 5 during most of the modern era of college football.

In 2006, these Broncos went 13-0. They capped off their season with one of the most thrilling games in college football history, beating Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. You know, the famous game featuring the iconic Hook-and-Ladder and Statue of Liberty plays that you’ve seen highlights for a million times in the almost 20 years since.

At the end of that season, Boise State wasn’t able to compete for a national title on the field. That season, one-loss Florida won it all, beating Ohio State 41-14 in the BCS National Championship Game. Funny enough, the national title game was played in Phoenix, the same city in which the Broncos dazzled the the world against Oklahoma.

This season is different. Boise State will get to decide its fate on the field.

With Jeanty on this team, who knows what could happen.