There needed to be no less than some expectation that the Boise State Broncos have been going to take a small step backwards in 2025. They most likely simply didn’t count on it to occur so quickly within the season, and so emphatically.
The No. 25 ranked Broncos have been completely humiliated on Thursday night time, dropping 34-7 to an unranked South Florida crew that was simply 7-6 a yr in the past.
It was a impolite awakening for what is likely to be forward for Boise State following the departure of Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty’s historic season helped carry the Broncos to an 12-1 common season, with the one common season loss being a three-point defeat to Oregon early within the season. They ended up within the Faculty Soccer Playoff the place they misplaced their first sport to Penn State.
However with Jeanty on to the NFL (a first-round decide by the Las Vegas Raiders) there was at all times going to be an enormous gap for them to exchange. Not solely when it comes to manufacturing and ability, but additionally of their identification.
That they had none of that power-running identification on Thursday.
Not solely did they permit 34 consecutive factors to South Florida, however the Broncos additionally managed to hurry for less than 122 yards on 38 carries, popping out to only 3.2 yards per try. They averaged 6.1 yards per carry in 2024, tied for the second-highest mark in faculty soccer.
On one hand, dropping an early season sport is not the tip of the world, particularly within the period of expanded playoffs. Boise State might nonetheless run the desk the remainder of the way in which with a really manageable schedule and play its method again into playoff rivalry.
It is also not unusual for groups to battle early within the season. There isn’t any preseason in faculty soccer and all people is simply coming in chilly proper into actual video games. Generally groups take some time to get transferring.
However this isn’t a very good South Florida crew, and for Boise State to return out so flat and be so uncompetitive within the opener is a nasty signal for what is likely to be forward.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
