Fresno State has stunned the Mountain West Conference, and perhaps the country.

Led by a defense that forced three turnovers, and knocked the opposing quarterback out of the game, the Bulldogs came away with a 30-7 win over the Boise State Broncos in Boise.

Using that tough defense, and a ground and pound game, the Bulldogs collected a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Elijah Gilliam capped a nine play 55-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown.

Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen would go down with a knee injury on the prior Boise State drive, and after that, the offense of the Broncos went extremely stagnant.

Madsen’s replacement, Max Cutforth, looked like he wouldn’t miss a beat, coming in and leading the Broncos on a touchdown drive in which he threw the score to Chase Penry from 10 yards out to tie the contest at 7-7.

After a Fresno State punt, Boise State would take over at their own 39-yard line. Two plays later, the wheels fell off. Cutforth would throw his first of two interceptions on the day, this one landing in the hands of Simeon Harris.

With the good field position, the Bulldogs would cash in with a field goal to take a 10-7 lead at halftime.

After a Bulldogs punt to open the second half, Cutforth would be sacked and fumbled at his own 27-yard line. Fresno State would recover and only take three plays to reach pay dirt.

Brandon Ramirez would finish off the quick, three-play, drive with a three-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7 in favor of the visitors.

Cutforth’s issues would continue on the next BSU drive, as he was picked off by Tytus Khajavi to end the ensuing drive.

That turnover wouldn’t yield anything for Fresno State, as the two teams would trade punts before Fresno State put the contest away for good.

After playing the field position game on their punts, Fresno State took over at the Boise State 43-yard line. After two Speedy Luke runs, and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Boise State, Bryson Donelson would take it in on a two-yard touchdown run to make it 24-7.

Following another Boise State punt to end the third quarter, the Bulldogs went on a long, grinding drive. Eating up 8:08 of game time and going 50 yards on 15 plays to culminate in a Dylan Lynch 43-yard field goal to push the lead to 27-7.

Lynch would add a 33-yard field goal later in the contest, and the defense would hold giving the Bulldogs the win.

Madsen’s injury was definitely huge in this one. The Broncos could not get much going following that, and Fresno State was able to wear down the Boise State defense with the run and short fields from turnovers. Without that, this might have been a different game.

Nonetheless, the Bulldogs will take it. Especially given the fact that Carson Conklin struggled yet again, going 10-for-21 for 35 yards. Instead, the Bulldogs leaned on the rushing game, which delivered. As a team Fresno State ran for 189 yards on 47 carries with Luke leading the way with 88 yards on 16 carries.

Another big key in the win was the fact that Fresno State did not turn the ball over on Saturday, something not done this season.

The loss by Boise State is their first in conference since 2023, and their first home loss since 2022, when Fresno State had beaten them as well.

With Fresno State now bowl eligible, they can breathe a sigh of relief. Fresno State will have a week off before hosting Wyoming on November 15th.