Fresno State has held the Milk Can Trophy since 2022 with two straight victories over Boise State.
The rivals did not meet last year as the Broncos captured a second straight Mountain West title and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
The Bulldogs (5-3, 2-2) haven’t won three consecutive games against the Broncos (6-2, 4-0) since the first three meetings between the programs in 1977, 1984 and 1996.
Kickoff between the MWC rivals is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday at Albertsons Stadium.
“We’re playing a really good football team, it’s going to be exciting,” first-year Fresno State head coach Matt Entz said. “The Milk Can, a huge rivalry. Two teams that have really been towards the top of the league for a number of years.
“If you want to be the best, you’ve got to play the best and you’ve got to find ways to win. It’s going to be a fun environment, I’m sure it will be a packed house.”
Here are the highlights from Entz’s press conference.
“I know (Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson) relatively good. Their co-defensive coordinator — Tyler Stockton — I know pretty well. (Defensive coordinator) Erik Chinander and I worked together at the University of Northern Iowa. So I have pretty good familiarity with a couple guys.
“I have a ton of respect for what they do, how they go about it. You watch film … and they put a lot of the details into their work. Their kids play unbelievably hard on defense. Offensively, they’re going to force you to defend the entire field. They do a good job with motion, trying to impact your eye discipline. They have talented players that want to play there. Great venue, great support. They do it the right way. It’s a model of consistency that I’m sure a lot of people are trying to emulate right now.”
“Downhill guys, multi-talented. They utilize them in the screen game. I think they’re really good in protection as well, probably why they’ve limited any real pressure on their quarterback. We’re going to have to be … a great tackling team. The game of college football is a line of scrimmage game and a quarterback-driven game. To be successful, you better be good up front. We’ve got to challenge our defensive line to continue to play well.”
“The reason why their backs look good is they have a very athletic … you look at their offensive line, it’s 6-4, 6-5, 305, 310. It’s a good-looking group and they play well. They get to the second level, they’re going to get a hat on a hat and we have to do a great job getting off blocks.”