BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State Broncos are hosting BYU this weekend, in what could be the last game between the two schools for a long time.
This meeting will be the thirteenth all-time between the two programs, and the teams will play each other for the eleventh year in a row. The two teams were planning on entering a new contract, but with BYU moving to the Big 12, the teams currently have no future games scheduled against each other.
“It’s just a historic game that’s just the game that happens every year, a game that we look forward to every year," said Broncos wide receiver Stefan Cobbs. "And we just handle it how we handle all our other games, you know. One week at a time, so this week it’s BYU. Just make sure we go in and do our job and you know handle the business we need to handle.”
In the young rivalry, Boise State has usually come out on top with an overall record of 8-4 against BYU.
The last two times the team's matched up, they split games. BYU routed BSU in 2020 50-17, but in 2021, the Broncos delivered a ranked BYU team their first loss of the season.
“You know you have to go out and get it every time you play these guys," said Broncos safety JL Skinner. "And we’re ready for the challenge and it’s going to be a physical game, and we’ll see.”
While the rivalry is ending, for the time being the players say they can't look past this week into the future.
“I don’t really care about the years from now," said Skinner. "We don’t even have time to focus on that. People won’t even be here at that time so we’re focused on winning this next game and that happens to be them and that’s how we’re going to treat it.”
The Broncos are winners of four games in a row after a tumultuous first month of the season. The team is undefeated since starting 2-2, losing their starting quarterback to the transfer portal, and firing their offensive coordinator.
Boise State is undefeated in conference play, so their goal of winning a Mountain West Championship is still ahead of them as they enter the final month of the year.
“It’s where the season’s really made," Cobbs said about the final month of the season. "It doesn’t really matter what you do at the beginning if you don’t finish it in the end. It’s the end time, it’s almost like the fourth quarter of the season. You got to finish strong just keep going and just finish and play ball.”
