Oregon State Football Opponent Preview: Boise State

With the start of the 2024 season just around the corner, BeaversEdge kicks off the first in an opponent preview series diving into all 12 of Oregon State's opponents in 2024...

Next up on the schedule is a road matchup against the Boise State Broncos...

THE GAME

Date: Friday, November 29th

Time: 9 a.m. PT

Location: Albertsons Stadium - Boise, ID

TV: FOX

Oregon State 2023 record: 8-5 (5-4 Pac-12)

Boise State 2023 record: 8-6 (7-2 Mountain West)

Boise State Head Coach: Spencer Danielson (1st full season, 3-1 overall)

Boise State 2023 Recap

The 2023 campaign was a bit of an odd one for Boise State in the sense that it started ominously, giving way to a late-season coaching change, and then a late rally that saw the Broncos become Mountain West Champions.

Starting at the beginning, the Broncos opened the season 0-2 with a lopsided loss to the Washington Huskies in week one, followed by a week two home loss to UCF. They earned their first win the following week over North Dakota State, but then had a closer-than-expected win over San Diego State by three.

The Broncos then fell the Memphis by three on the road, took down San Jose State, and lost their worst game of the season against lowly Colorado State 31-30 on the road.

They bounced back with a blowout win (one of their best) against Wyoming, before falling to Fresno State the following week. They trounced New Mexico next week, bringing their record to 5-5 overall (4-2 MW) with two regular season games remaining.

Boise's brass decided it wasn't pleased with the direction of the program under Andy Avalos, and dismissed him 10 games into his third campaign, promoting DC Spencer Danielson to HC.

Danielson rallied the Broncos to play some of their best football, defeating Utah State and Air Force to reach the MW Championship, where they held UNLV to their second-lowest point total of the season.

They fell to UCLA 35-22 in the LA Bowl to finish the campaign at 8-5, but the Broncos promoted Danielson to full-time head coach moving forward.

Best Win: vs UNLV (MW Championship 45-20)

Worst Loss: vs Colorado State 31-30

2023 Schedule

Boise State 2024 Outlook

After 2023 starting quarterback Taylen Green elected to transfer following the conference championship game, the Broncos brought in one of the more high-profile transfers in program history in USC's Malachi Nelson to compete with Madsen.

The expectation was that Nelson would be the guy in Boise, but in a surprising late-August twist, it was Madsen who beat out the former five-star quarterback and will run the show for the Broncos under center this season. Madsen threw for 1,191 yards and nine touchdowns against three interceptions in relief of green last season...

Madsen will have one of the better running backs in the country to hand off to as Ashton Jeanty is back for his junior campaign after running for 1,347 yards on 220 carries (6.1 ypc) and tallying 14 scores. He also added nearly 600 receiving yards and five scores a season ago. He'll be behind an offensive line that returns the bulk of it's production, including standout Kage Casey.

The Broncos lost top receiver Eric McAlister to TCU, but added former four-star recruit Chris Marshall, who was previously at A&M & Ole Miss. Prince Strachan is another option after nearly 300 receiving yards and a pair of scores, but the receivers are largely a new crop of first-time starters.

Defensively, the Broncos figure to be one of the more consistent units in the country, returning key pieces across the board. Ahmed Hassanein is back after tallying 16.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks a season ago, while the linebacker corps returns a solid amount of experience and production as well.

The secondary returns several starters, including standout A'Marion McCoy, who led the Broncos with three interceptions a season ago.

Diving into their schedule, it shakes out pretty favorably outside of the matchup with the Oregon Ducks in week two. Getting Washington State and Oregon State both at home is significant, and the Broncos' toughest road games outside of UO are UNLV and Wyoming, both very winnable games.

The playoff chatter around Boise may be a bit premature in my opinion, but having dove into the meat of all Oregon State's 12 opponents, they're one of the more complete teams in the mix, without a real weakness. I expect the Broncos to have a strong season, in the nine to 10 win range...

Season Projection: 10-2 or 9-3

Key Players: QB Maddux Madsen, RB Ashton Jeanty, OL Kage Casey, DL Ahmed Hassanein, DB A’Marion McCoy

Early Prediction

Easily Oregon State's hardest road game when you consider the time of the year, the caliber of the opponent, and the likely weather conditions, winning on the blue will prove tough for the Beavers.

While the Beavers hold the all-time series lead 10-4, Boise holds a 3-1 mark in games at Albertsons Stadium, winning each matchup by an average of 20 points.

Previous seasons are in no way bearing toward this year's matchup, but Boise is a tough place to play in general and this will be the latest in the year the two schools have ever met outside the 2013 Hawaii Bowl.

I see the Beavers giving the Broncos everything they can handle in what could be a bitterly cold, potentially even snowy matchup, but I give Boise the advantage at home in what should be a close contest.

PREDICTION - Boise State 31, Oregon State 24