Boise State to open football season on East Coast, wrap up at home against Oregon State
The Boise State football team will end the 2024 regular season with a home game against one of the two former Pac-12 teams left behind in the ever-changing college football landscape.
The Broncos, who would potentially play in the Mountain West championship game the following week for the seventh time since 2017, will host Oregon State on Nov. 30, according to Thursday’s schedule release from the school and Mountain West Conference.
Boise State also will host Washington State on Sept. 28. The Beavers and Cougars are playing members of the Mountain West this year because of a scheduling agreement reached by the conferences after the rest of the Pac-12 teams bolted for the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC.
Boise State is 4-6 all-time against Oregon State and 1-5 against Washington State. The Broncos went on the road and fell to the Beavers 34-17 in the 2022 season opener. They last faced the Cougars in a 47-44 triple-overtime loss in Pullman, Washington, in 2017. Games against Oregon State and Washington State do not count toward the Broncos’ conference schedule.
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The Broncos’ home opener this year is scheduled for Sept. 21 against Portland State. The rest of their home schedule includes Utah State (Oct. 5), San Diego State (Nov. 2) and Nevada (Nov. 9).
The Broncos will be road warriors early on. Their season opener is set for Aug. 31 at Georgia Southern in Statesboro, and they head to Eugene to face what will be a highly ranked Oregon team on Sept. 7.
Boise State is 3-0 against the Ducks, including a 19-8 win at Albertsons Stadium in 2009 and a 38-28 win in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl.
The rest of the Broncos’ road schedule includes trips to Hawaii (Oct. 12), UNLV (Oct. 26), San Jose State (Nov. 16) and Wyoming (Nov. 23). Kickoff times and TV broadcast info will be released at a later date, and because of that, some of the games could get shifted to different days.
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The Broncos have two bye weeks this year: Sept. 14 and Oct. 19. They were originally scheduled to face Oregon on Sept. 14, but the game was rescheduled to make room for the Ducks to fit Oregon State on their schedule.
Boise State was 4-5 last November, but the Broncos ended the regular season with three straight wins and then scored a 44-20 victory over UNLV in the conference championship game — their first title since 2019. They finished the season 8-6 after a loss to UCLA in the LA Bowl.
The Broncos likely will be the favorites to repeat as conference champions. They will have the services of Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year Ashton Jeanty, who ranked No. 1 in the conference with 1,347 rushing yards and No. 2 with 19 total touchdowns.
Boise State also turned to the transfer portal and added former USC quarterback Malachi Nelson and Kilgore College wide receiver Chris Marshall, among others. Nelson and Marshall were both five-star recruits coming out of high school. Marshall is the No. 1 junior college recruit in the country this year, according to 247Sports.
Broncos’ 2024 schedule
Aug. 31: at Georgia Southern
Sept. 7: at Oregon
Sept. 14: Bye
Sept. 21: vs. Portland State
Sept. 28: vs. Washington State
Oct. 5: vs. Utah State
Oct. 12: at Hawaii
Oct. 19: Bye
Oct. 26: at UNLV
Nov. 2: vs San Diego State
Nov. 9: vs Nevada
Nov. 16: at San Jose State
Nov. 23: at Wyoming
Nov. 30: vs Oregon State
