Ashton Jeanty sets his sights on Mountain West as No. 21 Boise State opens conference vs. Utah State

Ashton Jeanty ran wild against teams from the Sun Belt, Big Ten and Pac-12 through the nonconference portion of Boise State’s schedule.

Now it’s time to take aim at the Mountain West.

Jeanty and the 21st-ranked Broncos (3-1) will begin conference play when they host Utah State on Saturday night with the standout running back looking to add to his nation-leading yardage total on the ground.

“He’s the No. 1 back in the country right now, so he’s going to have our full attention and we know we got to be able to, got to be able to contain him,” Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling said.

Jeanty quickly has separated himself from being one of the top running backs in the country into being one of the top players and someone who could be in the Heisman Trophy discussion. He leads the nation in rushing with 845 yards and 13 touchdowns in just four games, and he’s coming off a performance that was filled with one highlight after another.

Last week against future Pac-12 Conference opponent Washington State, Jeanty rushed for 259 yards and four touchdowns, including TDs of 64 and 59 yards.

“Everything Ashton is getting right now is 100% earned and deserved because of how he’s worked and the production (he) does on the field,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “Not only the elite running back that the nation has privilege to watch on Saturdays, he’s one of the best teammates and leaders I’ve ever been around.”

Facing Jeanty and Boise State is just another challenge for Utah State (1-3) in a first five weeks full of them. The Broncos will be the third ranked opponent already for the Aggies, who have had two weeks off since losing at Temple on Sept. 21.

Utah State was overrun by Southern California but had an early lead against Utah before fading in the second half.

“Obviously the schedule is what it is,” Dreiling said. “We are going to play four ranked teams in our first six games. I don’t know the last time that happened (for Utah State). But at the end of the day, it is still about us. Every single one of our games, other than (USC), we’ve been up, we’ve been moving and we’ve been looking really good. Now it's about finishing. And that needs us to instill that mindset in our players, to have the confidence to win.”

Under center

Utah State QB Spencer Petras threw for a career-high 293 yards and two touchdowns in the Aggies' loss at Temple two weeks ago. Petras also tied a career high with 26 completions in the game. He got the start against Temple after Bryson Barnes was the primary QB the first three games.

The Aggies list Petras as the starter on their game notes for this week.

Meanwhile, Boise State would like to see a little more consistency from QB Maddux Madsen. The sophomore is completing just 58% of his passes, and he was under 50% in the loss to Oregon and just 12 of 21 in the win over Washington State. A little better pass game — with Jeanty — could really make the Broncos' offense potent.

Sack attack

No matter who is under center for the Aggies, they will need to be aware of the Boise State pass rush. The Broncos lead the country with 20 sacks through the first four games. Ahmed Hassanein leads the way with four, but 12 different players have at least one sack.

Conference opener

Since 2000, Boise State has just two losses in conference openers. One came in 2014 at Air Force. The other came three years ago when the Broncos lost 21-20 at Utah State.

Meanwhile, the Aggies are 7-4 in conference openers since joining the Mountain West and 4-2 on the road during that time.