2023 Mountain West Football Championship: The Ten Most Important Players, Ranked
2023 Mountain West Football Championship: The Ten Most Important Players, Ranked
Both Boise State and UNLV will need some big performance to claim the crown. Who might they need to stand out the most on Saturday?
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Athletes abound.
10. UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard
One thing that is almost certain to define Saturday’s result is whether or not the Rebels can remain stout against the run. In that regard, UNLV has not been the most disruptive team in the Mountain West all year long but Woodard has stepped up in recent weeks to lead the charge. He collected 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in the team’s last three games, and according to Pro Football Focus, he collected 16 total stops in November, which tied for third-most among conference defenders.
9. UNLV linebacker Marsel McDuffie
Pop quiz: Which defender playing in Saturday’s championship tilt ended November with the highest overall Pro Football Focus grade? If you guessed that this was a leading question to highlight McDuffie’s 77.2 mark, pat yourself on the back. He has been overlooked in the Rebels’ surge, but the sophomore has anchored the middle linebacker position all season and played his best ball in recent weeks.
To wit, he was one of only two Mountain West defenders to average double-digit tackles in November, missing just one tackle attempt (per PFF) while collecting 16 stops, an amount that tied with Woodard for third-most in that stretch. In other words, the Grand Prairie, Texas native is an under-the-radar Lone Star athlete in this game who could be ready for a star turn.
8. Boise State linebacker Andrew Simpson
In examining the statistics, few players in the Mountain West have been as unpredictable as the redshirt sophomore who’s made ten starts on the weak side this year. On the one hand, he’s emerged as a much-needed havoc generator for the Broncos defense, picking up a conference-high eight tackles for loss in November along with 2.5 sacks and, like McDuffie and Woodard above, 16 stops per PFF.
Unlike the two Rebels linebackers, though, Simpson also has a season-long missed tackle rate of 24.7% that is the fifth-highest mark among conference players at the position. They’ll need him to be on point against a UNLV rushing game that features two athletes, Vincent Davis and Jai’Den Thomas, who have combined to force 57 missed tackles this season.
7. Boise State punter James Ferguson-Reynolds
Despite leading the country with an average of 50.08 yards per punt and a net of 43.06 that ranks fifth, Ferguson-Reynolds somehow wasn’t named a Ray Guy Award finalist earlier this week. Surely, he’ll be motivated to prove to the voters that their oversight was foolish and be prepared to bail out the Broncos should they find themselves in a jam.
Ferguson-Reynolds’s prominence in flipping the field will come in handy on Saturday since UNLV has benefitted from some of the nation’s best field position week after week, facing a field that, on average, extends just 67.1 yards. For his part, Ferguson-Reynolds has launched 26 of his 49 punts more than 50 yards and pinned 22 of them inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, so that usual script gets rewritten, you can thank the Aussie sophomore for it.
6. UNLV wide receiver Jacob De Jesus
If that script looks like business as usual, though, it’ll probably be because De Jesus is running free. The former Modesto Junior College product has been the Mountain West’s top return specialist in 2023, leading the conference with 26.4 yards per kickoff return and 16.8 yards per punt return while finishing fifth overall with an average of 107.2 all-purpose yards per game. He’s also been handy as the Rebels’ primary slot receiver as well, managing 20 first downs on 46 receptions, so the Broncos will need to be mindful whenever the ball is in De Jesus’s hands.
5. UNLV wide receiver Ricky White
When the Rebels have needed a big play this year, White has been the one to deliver it most often throughout 2023. This has been especially true in recent weeks: His 29 receptions in November were the second-most in the Mountain West, but his 589 receiving yards, collected as part of an ongoing five-game streak of 100-plus yards, were the most anywhere in the country. As was pointed out by Parker Fleming, he comes into conference championship weekend with the highest team target share of any player who’ll see the field on Saturday, so he will be a factor one way or another.
4. Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein
The Broncos will head into Saturday with a notable pass-rushing advantage thanks to Hassanein’s breakout campaign. He’s one of only 12 FBS defenders to have collected a dozen sacks in the regular and, like White, he also finished with a flourish: The junior’s six November sacks were the second-most in the country. That could pose a challenge for a UNLV offensive line that has cut the number of sacks they’ve allowed by more than half, from 37 in 2022 to 17 this fall, and be the element that curtails the Rebels’ potency in critical situations.
3. Boise State cornerback Jaylen Clark
If Ricky White seems all but certain to get the ball, which Broncos defender will be tasked most often with slowing him down? The six-foot-two Clark has been the de facto number-one cornerback all season, starting every game but the season finale against Air Force, and would seem to be the most physical presence capable of stymieing the six-foot-1 White. He’s seen 65 targets and, per PFF, has allowed a 52.3% completion rate that’s the sixth-lowest among the 33 Mountain West defensive backs who have seen at least 30 balls thrown their way.
2. UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava
Maiava’s emergence as the 2023 season unfolded was one of the Mountain West’s most unexpected narratives, and his play down the stretch has been something to behold: Since the start of November, the Las Vegas native leads the conference in averaging 261.8 passing yards per game and is tied for first with seven touchdowns against just two interceptions. He’s only averaged 25 attempts in the last four games, but he’s made them count more than just about anyone else around.
It hasn’t been without some potential red flags, though, and it’s those warning signs that could rear their ugly head on Saturday. According to Pro Football Focus, Maiava managed an 8.6% big-time throw rate from Weeks 10 to 13, the best figure among starting quarterbacks in the Mountain West, but he also had a 6.5% turnover-worthy rate that’s also the highest in the conference during that stretch. All it might take is one mistake for Boise State to seize an advantage, but the Mountain West freshman of the year could have it in him to play one more mistake-free contest.
1. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty
No surprises here. It’s not that the Broncos missed him much when was sidelined for two games with injury, but they didn’t waste much time re-establishing the super sophomore as the offense’s centerpiece once he was healthy again: He earned eight yards per play on 13 touches against Utah State, then exploded for over 100 rushing and receiving yards in the victory over Air Force.
UNLV has been mostly sound about defending the run all year, but the Rebels were pushed by Air Force and San Jose State in their last two contests, and both the Falcons and Spartans managed over five yards per carry. If things break right, this could be the game that cements Jeanty in the national consciousness as one of college football’s top overall weapons.
