Boise State is officially the first team to effectively secure a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.
Behind 209 rushing yards from Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty, the Broncos defeated UNLV 21–7 at Albertsons Stadium on Friday night to secure the 2024 Mountain West championship and an automatic bid into the tournament as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.
"This means everything," Jeanty said on the ESPN broadcast after the game. " ... It's a dream come true. I love this team."
Slotted at No. 10 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, Boise State now is likely to secure a first-round bye into the quarterfinals as one of the four highest-ranked teams of the five auto bids. It's not guaranteed, however, and the winner of the Big 12 championship on Saturday between No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State likely represents the biggest threat to bounce the Broncos from a top-four seed.
The other three first-round bye slots will likely be determined by the winners of three conference championship games Saturday in the Big Ten (No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 3 Penn State), the SEC (No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia) and the ACC (No. 8 SMU vs. No. 17 Clemson).
The official College Football Playoff bracket will be unveiled on ESPN at 12 p.m. ET Sunday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Boise State's Win Over UNLV Impacts College Football Playoff Bracket.
