No ‘gray area’ for Boise State: Maddux Madsen is starting QB, and he’s back

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson confirmed this week that redshirt junior quarterback Maddux Madsen would be back in the starting lineup against UNLV on Friday evening in the Mountain West championship game.

Madsen missed Boise State’s past three games, as well as most of the Broncos’ 30-7 loss to Fresno State on Nov. 1, the matchup in which he suffered a lower-leg injury early in the first quarter.

Now sufficiently healed, Madsen will look to exploit UNLV’s defense for the second time this season — he passed for 253 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-31 thrashing of the Rebels on Oct. 18 at Albertsons Stadium.

Redshirt sophomore Max Cutforth played in Madsen’s absence. The Broncos lost his first game, at San Diego State, by a 17-7 score, before pulling out crucial victories against Colorado State and Utah State. Cutforth helped Boise State make the title game — along with several computer rankings — by throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns last Friday, but Danielson said there is no QB controversy here.

“Max did a great job on Friday against Utah State, so proud of him,” Danielson said. “But Maddux is our starting quarterback, and if Maddux is healthy, Maddux is gonna be rolling.”

Cutforth completed 56.9% of his passes for 790 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions over his nearly four full games of action, including a career-high 341 passing yards in the 25-24 win at Utah State the day after Thanksgiving.

But Danielson said there was no thought of creating a stir ahead of Friday’s title game.

“I don’t like living in the gray area, especially with our team,” Danielson said. “I don’t want the talk all week to be who’s going to be the starting quarterback of Boise State.”

Madsen was a full participant in practice on Monday morning. He was also taking part in throwing drills last week, but Danielson said he wasn’t 100% ready to play against the Aggies.

“I thought he practiced good on (Monday),” Danielson said. “I thought he was on time, I thought he did a good job leading our offense. And I thought, as a whole, we had a good practice.”

Madsen had one of his best games against UNLV on The Blue, despite completing just 14-of-23 passes. That’s because eight of those completions covered at least 15 yards, allowing the Broncos to torch the Rebels with big plays.

UNLV head coach Dan Mullen said during a press conference on Monday afternoon that he thinks, first and foremost, getting Madsen back will be a “huge lift” to both Boise State and the home crowd. He praised Madsen for his poise in the pocket and ability to understand the offense.

“His ability is to understand when they get you into a certain look to stop the run, where his one-on-one matchup is, where he’s creating leverage and an advantage within the pass game, within play-action pass, to hit you for explosive plays down the field,” Mullen said. “And when the receivers have a step, he’s extremely accurate.”