Boise State captured its fifth Mountain West Conference championship in program history Saturday, downing UNLV 44-20 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the process, Boise State’s Spencer Danielson became the first interim coach in FBS history to lead his team to a conference title.
Clay Helton led USC to the 2015 Pac-12 Championship Game as an interim, but the Trojans ultimately lost to Stanford. USC ultimately removed the interim tag and made Helton its full-time coach; Danielson has certainly given Boise State plenty of reason to follow suit
On both scrimmage lines, the Broncos dominated. Boise State averaged 5.9 yards per carry and had 301 yards of rushes to UNLV’s 83. With 157 yards and one touchdown, star running back Ashton Jeanty led all rushers and broke the 100-yard barrier for the sixth time this year. On defense, Boise State had seven stops for a loss and held opponents to fewer than 14 yards of total offense
After Andy Avalos was fired on November 12 in the midst of the team’s 5-5 start to the season, Danielson was named interim coach. Danielson’s Broncos defeated Utah State 45-10 in his first game in charge, easily earning their largest margin of victory of the year.
Then, in the regular-season finale, Boise State defeated an 8-3 Air Force squad that had previously been ranked in the AP Top 25 by eight points to secure a trip to the Mountain West title game. Danielson was in his third year as Boise State’s inside linebackers coach and defensive coordinator prior to moving up to his current role. Having joined Boise State’s staff as a graduate assistant in 2017, he has spent seven seasons overall with the program, serving in a variety of defensive roles.
