Editor’s note: This article is part of the College Football Playoff Prospectus , previewing and predicting the top CFP contenders for the upcoming season. In the locker room before Boise State ’s resounding win in last season’s Mountain West title game, star defensive end Ahmed Hassanein found teammate Roger Carreon and saw that the offensive lineman had tears streaming down his face because he never thought they’d be there. Advertisement They’d been 5-5 when head coach Andy Avalos had been fired with two regular-season games to play and the Broncos players huddled inside the team meeting room of the Bleymaier Football Center to regroup.
Despite looking nothing like legendary teams of old, last year’s team was galvanized by the message that interim head coach Spencer Danielson kept relaying. The Broncos won out the regular season and made the league title game. “He kept just telling us each week, ‘Give me one more week of your best, and you’ll never know what could happen,’” said star running back Ashton Jeanty .
The day after the MWC title win, 44-20 over UNLV , Danielson was named head coach for the first time. And as this unprecedented season of college football kicks off, the Broncos are a popular pick to claim the automatic berth that goes to the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. “As a competitor, you’ve got a shot now,” said Danielson, the 35-year-old former defensive coordinator.
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