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Boise State’s 2018 football schedule has been released and it seems to favor the Broncos this year. Last year’s schedule was widely believed to be one of the harder schedules in memory, yet the Broncos answered the bell and secured a Mountain West title. Now, with a veteran squad returning, could the 2018 sched set them up to achieve even bigger goals? Well, as they say “that’s why you play the game”.
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As we’ve known for some time, the Broncos will open their season on September 1st at Troy, last year’s Sun Belt champs and a team that went 10-2 in 2017 (one of those losses was to the Broncos). A week later, the Broncos will host UConn for their home opener before heading to Oklahoma State the next week for their early season resumé builder. Here’s where the scheduling Gods do the Broncos a solid, gifting them their BYE week before conference play starts in Laramie on September 29th. Some say that a Josh Allen-less Cowboy squad could be a breeze, but that’s what many said about last season’s home tilt against UVA, so I guess you never know (unless you’re Nostradamus..in which case—Powerball numbers?). The Broncos home conference opener will happen on October 6th against San Diego State, and Boise State was sure to include some shade in that particular part of the press release, observe:
The Broncos’ first conference game on The Blue – a field filled with mystique – will be played Oct. 6, against San Diego State. The Aztecs, coming off a bye, will be making their first trip to Albertsons Stadium since 2014.
Over the next few weeks, the Broncos will visit Nevada (10/13), host Colorado State (10/19), and travel to Colorado Springs right before Halloween for a spooooky triple-option haunting (10/27). Back-to-back rivalry games against BYU and Fresno State will kick off November with a bang (11/3 and 11/10, respectively) and then the Broncos will get their final triple-option test of the year on the 17th against New Mexico. Finally, the Broncos will host Utah State for senior night on November 24th and hopefully play again on The Blue the next weekend in the Mountain West Championship. Behold the power of positive thinking!
Here’s your scheduling caveat:
Today’s announcement represents the first phase of the MW scheduling process. The league’s national television partners – ESPN and CBS Sports Network – will now initiate a selection procedure, which will include the shifting of particular games to Thursdays and Fridays. That will be followed by the identification of network outlets and kick times.
With virtually their entire defense returning and 14 of 19 all-conference honorees back, the Broncos may well be favored in every game on the schedule...save maybe Oklahoma State, and could definitely make some NY6 hay if they are able to escape the early part of the schedule unscathed. Fresno State, last season’s MWC runner-up also should return a lot of their core and I’d think would be favored to repeat as West champs. The Broncos get both West powerhouses, Fresno and SDSU at home certainly can’t hurt.
BTW, season tickets are on sale now. This defense alone should be worth the price of admission, plus a double-R ranch dog.