While Boise State is now threatening to become a basketball school with Leon Rice a good bet each year to qualify the Broncos for the Big Dance, football at Albertson's Stadium isn't ready to cede the limelight in potato country quite yet. After an indifferent debut as head coach in 2021, Andy Avalos began to gain some traction last season as the Broncos picked up momentum in the second half of the campaign, finishing unbeaten in the regular season portion of the Mountain West slate before getting dumped on the blue carpet by Fresno State in the conference title game. Still, the thought in the region is that Avalos appears capable of keeping Boise State at or near the top of the conference until he too might be lured away down the road, as were his predecessors...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Boise State's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the Mountain West season.

Mountain West preview: Conference winner | Air Force | Boise State | Colorado State | Fresno State | Hawaii | Nevada | New Mexico | San Diego State | San Jose State | UNLV | Utah State | Wyoming

2023 Boise State at a glance

• Last Year: 10-4 SU, 6-7 ATS, 7-7 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 9; Defense 5
• Win total: 8.5 (Over +110, Under -120)

What do you need to know about Boise State before locking in your Mountain West futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Mountain West futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!