Ashton Jeanty heading into toughest test of the 2024 season vs. UNLV

On Friday, elite running back Ashton Jeanty and No. 17 Boise State will head west for a road matchup against an unranked 6-1 UNLV team.

With both teams off to impressive starts this season, it's set to be a highly competitive matchup. As the ranked team, Boise State is the presumed favorite, but UNLV's run defense presents a challenge that Jeanty and the rest of the Broncos haven't encountered yet this year.

Heading into Friday's contest, the Rebels defense allows 3.35 rushing yards per attempt — good for 23rd least in the nation. That's better than any of the other 11 teams on Boise State's 2024 schedule, so Jeanty will truly be taking on a new obstacle this week.

However, the Broncos running back is in the middle of a generational type of season, and if anyone is going to figure out a way to run the ball well against UNLV, it's going to be him.

In six games this year, Jeanty has averaged 208 rushing yards per matchup, and he's already scored a total of 18 touchdowns (17 rushing and one receiving). His 9.9 yards per carry are the most among any FBS running back with at least 100 rushing attempts this season, and he only needs 100 more yards on the ground to surpass his rushing total from the entire 2023 campaign (1,347 yards).

With the way that Jeanty has played so far in 2024, he has a very good chance to become the first running back from a Mountain West school to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season since Rashaad Penny did it in 2017 as a member of San Diego State's offensive backfield.

At the very least, Boise State has six games left on its schedule, including Friday's matchup against the Rebels. So, in order for Jeanty to finish with at least 2,000 rushing yards this season, he only has to average 126 yards on the ground during the Broncos' next six matchups.

That might seem like a tall task for some college running backs, but with the way Jeanty has been playing so far this season, 2,000 rushing yards might just be scratching the surface of what he could actually finish with this year.

First up, Boise State's junior running back will attempt to join Kansas's Devin Neal as the only players to rush for over 100 yards in a game against UNLV's defense this season.