Madsen to be out ‘awhile.’ Boise State’s offense sputtered without him

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — As Boise State football’s season ticked along to the tune of a 6-2 record, a not-insignificant portion of the fan base gave redshirt junior quarterback Maddux Madsen a lot of heat.

The Broncos scored just 7 points in both of their losses, at South Florida and at Notre Dame, and Madsen struggled in those games, and then eventually opened up about the vitriol that can come at a college quarterback online.

On Saturday afternoon at Albertsons Stadium, Bronco Nation got a glimpse of what can happen when Madsen isn’t around. And it was not pretty.

Madsen exited the game midway through the first quarter with an injury, and Boise State lost 30-7, its offense reaching new levels of futility — and hearing a lot of boos from a restless crowd. The point total was the Broncos’ lowest ever against a Mountain West opponent.

Boise State fell to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play, losing its grip on the regular-season title race. Fresno State (6-3, 3-2 Mountain West) extended its winning streak over the Broncos to three games, and handed the home team its first loss on The Blue in league play since BSU lost the championship game in 2022 — also to the Bulldogs.

Fresno State also snapped Boise State’s nation-leading 16-game home winning streak, leading coach Spencer Danielson to apologize after the game, saying that what people watched “was not the standard.”

It all happened with a Madsen-less offense sputtering mightily. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Max Cutforth, a Nampa native and Skyview High graduate, couldn’t complete 50% of his passes (14-for-29), and threw for just 106 yards while tossing a pair of interceptions.

He also had two fumbles, one of which was recovered by Fresno State and turned into a touchdown three plays later.

“Obviously, (Cutforth) didn’t play extremely well tonight, but this isn’t on Max,” Danielson said after the game. “ … There are some things that Max needs to do better, but this is on our entire team.”

Madsen was sacked from behind and remained on the ground for a couple of minutes. He was assisted off the field before being carted into the locker room, and returned to the sideline a short time later with his right foot in a protective boot and on crutches.

Madsen had been wearing a protective boot on his left foot as a precaution since injuring it against Air Force on Sept. 20, but Danielson said the injury sustained Saturday was not related to any other medical issues. And it clearly looked worse, considering Madsen returned to the game at Air Force. It appears the Broncos will be without Madsen for some time.

“We’re going to continue to look at what happened to Maddux. I think it’s going to be awhile from what I initially saw,” Danielson said. “He’s been banging through an ankle injury all year … elite competitor that doesn’t think about himself, he cares about the team. But I think it’s gonna be awhile.”

The Boise State offense started uncharacteristically slowly at home on Saturday anyway, going three-and-out on two drives with Madsen, for minus-6 yards. He was then hurt on the third possession.

Cutforth did not start horribly, and his first full drive saw the Broncos advance to the Fresno 28-yard line, but Colton Boomer had a 45-yard field-goal attempt blocked. Later in the half, Cutforth then helmed a 12-play, 50-yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior wide receiver Chase Penry — the first TD catch of Penry’s career.

That score brought the Broncos to a 7-7 tie, but things went nothing but downhill afterward. In the eight drives after Penry’s score, Boise State went three-and-out twice, had two Cutforth interceptions, lost a fumble, punted on a four-play drive, and turned the ball over on downs twice. Cutforth was also sacked three times for 25 yards.

“We’ve just got to be better,” Penry said. “Max comes in, and we’ve got to make plays for him, and we just weren’t able to do that.”

Penry finished as Boise State’s leading receiver with 44 yards on five receptions. The only other Bronco to record multiple catches was redshirt senior tight end Matt Lauter, who had 30 yards on four catches. Former Fresno State running back Malik Sherrod, who transferred to Boise State in the offseason, led the rushing game with 67 yards, but 44 of those came on one run in the first quarter. The Broncos had minus-5 rushing yards in the second half, and their 91 yards on the ground were a season low.

They had only 11 first downs in the game and averaged just 3.1 yards per play.

Boise State will now head into a bye week, but with Madsen likely out and Danielson indicating that he would stick with Cutforth over redshirt freshman QB Caleb Annett, there’s a lot of work to be done.

The next game is at San Diego State (7-1, 4-0), which has taken over BSU’s spot atop the standings.

“We’ve got to look at ways to be able to move the ball offensively, and we’ve got who we’ve got,” Danielson said. “And if guys aren’t able to be healthy and play, then we’ve got to find a way as a coaching staff to to put our players in situations, move the ball, create explosive plays and create touchdowns.”