Boise State's College Football Playoff Hopes Take Brutal Blow With Week 1 Blowout Loss

The Broncos were thoroughly outclassed by a USF squad that looked closer to the part of Group of 5 CFP representative.

Boise State entered Week 1 with some of the best odds to return to the College Football Playoff, before dropping their Thursday night game to USF. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Entering Thursday night's season opener at USF, Boise State was a strong favorite to represent the Group of 5 conferences in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. After an embarrassing showing in Tampa, that dream may be dead before the calendar flips to September.

The Broncos were absolutely steamrolled by the Bulls at Raymond James Stadium, falling 34–7. While replacing Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty was always going to be a tall task for Spencer Danielson's program, Boise State hoped to do so in the aggregate, with quarterback Maddux Madsen returning behind an experienced offensive line, with a pair of promising running backs in Sire Gaines and Malik Sherrod.

Instead, Boise struggled to 122 yards rushing and a paltry 3.2 yards per carry, while Madsen was horribly inefficient, picking up just 4.9 yards per attempt, tossing for 225 yards and a touchdown on 46 passes. Meanwhile, His USF counterpart Byrum Brown looked the part of G5 star, with 253 all-purpose yards and two rushing touchdowns in the sloppy Florida conditions.

First tuddy of the season? Byrum Brown, of course. 🙂‍↕️

📺: @ESPNCFB pic.twitter.com/wh4dSHh1wD

— USF Football (@USFFootball) August 28, 2025

Boise State didn't need to be perfect this season to return to the CFP—that much was clear last season. The Broncos lost in Week 2, though it was a 37–34 shootout with eventual Big Ten champion Oregon. They had sloppy performances down the stretch against overmatched Nevada and Wyoming teams. And yet, the star power of Ashton Jeanty and a solid defensive showing was enough to put Boise State at No. 9 in the final CFP rankings, making them the fourth-highest ranked conference champion ahead of No. 12 Arizona State (Big 12) and well clear of the next G5 contender, No. 22 Army.

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A bad loss to a Bulls team picked to finish fifth in the American in the league's preseason poll, however, could be a deadly blow to the Broncos' chances of returning to the field. They may be able to play their way back into the conversation with a win at Notre Dame later in the season, and could use some help from USF if Alex Golesh's program proves to be one of the sport's big surprises this year. At the same time, if the Bulls prove that this game was no fluke, they will have a great shot of boxing the Broncos out as the CFP selection committee logs its votes in a few months.

Anything can happen on a college football Saturday—or Thursday—and a team that entered the year with odds better than +200 of reaching the Playoff field getting blown out in the first game of Week 1 certainly proves it.

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