Everything Fresno State head coach Matt Entz said about Boise State, Milk Can rivalry

One of the best rivalries in the reborn Pac-12 will be contested on Saturday night between No. 23 Boise State (4-1, 1-0) and Fresno State (4-1, 0-0) at Valley Children’s Stadium.

The Bulldogs have won three straight in the Milk Can series, including a 30-7 road romp last November.

Both teams have ripped off four straight victories following Week 1 losses to ranked opponents.

“A well-coached football team,” Fresno State head coach Matt Entz said of Boise State during his Monday press conference. “Spencer (Danielson) does an outstanding job. They’re the standard of—and I’ll say the Pac-12, regardless of the league—right now. They’ve won three (straight) conference championships … they’ve been to the College Football Playoff. Right now, most of the prognosticators are penciling them in (to the playoff).

“They’ve got a lot of things going in the right direction. They’ve got a great group of kids, very talented. Play extremely hard. And they’ve got a great staff over there, I know a handful of them. Really impressed with the product they’re putting on the field.”

Here are the highlights from Entz’s press conference.

On Milk Can rivalry series

“It’s an exciting one. We talked a little bit about it this morning, and of course the trophy will be at practice every day this week. It’s a great rivalry. You look at it since 2005, it’s a relatively new rivalry. It’s interesting, I think 13 of the games that have been played have (featured) a ranked football team.

“Both teams are going to play extremely well. I think both teams have very similar philosophies. Run-first, protect the clock, play really good defense, have really talented special teams, or special teams that can impact games. It’ll be fun, it’ll create a buzz about the game. Hopefully (the Fresno State fan base) continues to create a bigger buzz just with the energy on Saturday in the stadium.”

On last year’s blowout win on The Blue

“Last year is last year. I don’t think we’ve even referenced it, I know we didn’t this morning. That’s 2025, this is 2026. New game, new team, new personalities on it. We need to find out how this group is going to click moving into a big game this weekend.”

On matching up with Boise State

“Boise is the golden standard for probably Group of Six football across the country. A brand that’s known from coast to coast. They’re very well-coached, have tremendous players. They just kind of fill in a new name every year, it seems like. They’ve got really good players, they do a great job in recruiting as well. We have our work cut out for us.”

On Boise State’s offense, defense

“Offensively, a run-first, ball control, clock control offense. Stay on the field. You talk about how successful they’ve been defensively, a big part of it is they’re averaging (35-plus minutes) time of possession. When their defense is out there, they’re fresh. They are able to get off the field. They do a tremendous job—both sides of the ball—on third down.”

On Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen

“Got to try to take away what he’s good at, because he’s played so much football. He’s seen a lot of defenses, he’s seen a lot of pictures. He goes against as good a defense that’s probably in our league every day at practice. (Defensive coordinator Erik) Chinander does a tremendous job with their defense.

“You can’t take everything away, but what’s he really good at? He’s good at identifying pre-snap where he wants to go with the football. He’s very strategic about when and where (to throw the ball). He does have the mobility, the athleticism to hurt you with his legs … not that they necessarily have a designed run game through him, but some of the nakeds, some of the moving pocket stuff, he does have the ability to become a dual-threat at that time.

“You can tell, he’s a young man that has the moxie. He carries the mentality of that football team. As he goes, they go.”

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