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.
The Broncos dominated on both lines of scrimmage. Boise State had 301 yards rushing to UNLV’s 83 and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Star running back Ashton Jeanty paced all rushers with 157 yards and one touchdown, passing the 100-yard mark for the sixth time this season. Defensively, Boise State had seven tackles for loss and didn’t allow a run longer than 14 yards.
Danielson was named interim coach on Nov. 12 following Andy Avalos’ firing amid a 5-5 start to the season. In his first game at the helm, Danielson’s Broncos stormed to their biggest win of the season in terms of scoring margin by beating Utah State 45-10.
Then Boise State beat an 8-3 Air Force team that once held a spot in the AP Top 25 by eight points in the regular season finale to earn a spot in the Mountain West title game. Before rising to his current position, Danielson was in his third year as Boise State’s defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. This is his seventh total season with the program, as he has served in various roles on the defensive side of the ball since joining Boise State’s staff as a graduate assistant in 2017.