Boise State Eyes the Pac-12 Throne With Madsen at the Controls and a Made-Over Cast Around Him
Boise State went 9-5 (6-2 in the Mountain West) in 2025, capturing a third straight league crown before bowing out in the LA Bowl. The bigger story is the address change: the Broncos step into the rebuilt Pac-12 as the preseason favorite and the clear team to beat. Spencer Danielson, 24-8 across two-plus seasons, keeps the program pointed at the College Football Playoff, but he does it without the centerpiece of recent years, as star running back Ashton Jeanty has departed for the NFL.
That exit shifts the weight of the offense squarely onto a veteran quarterback and forces a retooled supporting cast to grow up fast. How quickly the new faces settle in will decide whether Boise State merely wins the conference or makes real noise on the national stage.
Offense
Redshirt senior Maddux Madsen enters his third year as the starter with two-and-a-half seasons of experience under his belt and 50 career touchdown passes against 18 interceptions. His completion rate slid to 58.3 percent a year ago, and Danielson has been open about wanting that number to climb. Much of Madsen's 2024 success came with Jeanty carrying the load, so the coaching staff is counting on him to evolve from a steady game manager into a quarterback who wins games outright. The caveat that shadows him is the level of competition. Madsen has piled up production against Group of Six opponents but has yet to break through against Power Four teams, and the schedule opens with a chance to change that.
This is the roster's biggest question. Boise State lost its top four pass-catchers from 2025, leaving a group thin on proven commodities in a way that could weigh on Madsen's accuracy. Junior Cameron Bates is the projected go-to option, a vertical threat who also brings speed on end-around looks and is expected to take a real step forward. Senior Ben Ford returns after a season-ending leg injury cut his year to seven games and 21 catches, giving the room a familiar face. At tight end, 6-foot-5 Matt Wagner profiles as the No. 1, a sure-handed target across his first 27 games, with freshman Rasean Jones among the young bodies competing to fill out the rotation.
Replacing Jeanty is a tall order, but the cupboard is not bare. The Broncos bring back their top two ball carriers in junior Dylan Riley and redshirt sophomore Sire Gaines, a tandem that combined for 1,977 rushing yards in 2025 and figures to split the workload. Riley broke out for 1,125 yards and 10 scores, topping 100 yards five times and peaking with a 201-yard eruption against UNLV, and he projects as a strong bet for a second straight 1,000-yard campaign. His one flaw was consistency, as he was held under 50 yards on six occasions. Depth back Jambres Dubar rounds out a backfield that will need to keep the ground game humming to take pressure off the passing attack.
The line is remade but not rebuilt from scratch, with three starters back. Jake Steele slides inside to center after playing left guard, while right guard Roger Carreon and right tackle Daylon Metoyer both return to anchor that side. Carson Rasmussen is penciled in at left guard. The pivotal addition is transfer Tyler Ethridge, brought in to man left tackle after Kage Casey left as an NFL fourth-round pick. Ethridge arrives from the Division II ranks with 29 career starts, turned heads in the spring, and is expected to hold up as a fixture up front.
Defense
Team sacks cratered from 55 in 2024 to just 27 in 2025, a dip the staff expects to reverse. The centerpiece of the rebound is edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan, who led Boise State in tackles for loss (13) and sacks (six) last year and has amassed 28.5 stops behind the line with 16 sacks over the past two seasons, earning first-team all-conference honors in 2024 and second-team in 2025. Max Stege is back as a starter, and David Latu steps into a full-time interior role after six starts and a promising close to the year. The soft spot is the interior of the line, which needs to firm up before Oregon can test it.
The linebacker corps is another area in transition. Redshirt junior Boen Phelps is the headliner, bringing rare speed and coverage ability after starting nine games and posting 66 tackles, though tackling reliability is a concern across the group after missed stops at both levels proved costly a year ago. Jake Ripp returns following six starts and 43 tackles, and Ty Tanner, back in the program after a church mission for the first time since 2022, showed enough in the spring to work his way into the mix.
Boise State must rebuild nearly its entire secondary, and it is the unit with the most question marks. The lone returning starter is Jaden Mickey, a former Notre Dame transfer entering his second year with the program who is slated to lead the way at corner and nickel within a 3-3-5 alignment. Sherrod Smith is expected to lock down one of the outside corner spots, while South Dakota transfer Roman Tillmon looked the part of a starting safety in the spring, arriving off a 94-tackle FCS season. Derek Ganter Jr. adds another body at safety. Plugging these holes is priority one before the opener.
A sore spot in 2025 should be a strength this fall thanks to continuity. Placekicker Colton Boomer is back after connecting on 11 of 15 field goals, and while he was just 1-for-5 from 40 to 49 yards, he drilled all three of his attempts from beyond 50 and has talked up his accuracy gains. Punter Oscar Doyle also returns, having averaged 43.6 yards with only 13 of his boots returned. The one lingering flaw is a return game that lacked explosiveness, with Bates, Quinton Brown and Terrious Favors among the candidates to inject some juice.
Overview and Prediction
The preseason consensus installs Boise State as the favorite to win the reborn Pac-12 in its inaugural season, a natural extension of three consecutive Mountain West titles. The season is framed almost entirely around one date: the Week 1 trip to Oregon. The Broncos have long been giant-killers, but they carry a lengthy losing streak against Power Four opposition into that opener, and the outcome will shape how the Playoff committee views them all year.
Our verdict tracks the national read that this is a top-25 team with a genuine playoff path if the makeover holds. Break the Power Four hex against Oregon, get consistent enough at receiver to unlock Madsen, and lean on Riley and Gaines to control the ground, and a Pac-12 crown plus a Playoff berth are firmly in reach. Fall short up front on either side of the ball, and the ceiling drops to another very good Group of Five resume. The opener is the make-or-break.