Fresno State vs. Boise State 2017 live stream: Time, TV channel, and how to watch Mountain West Championship online

The No. 25 Fresno State Bulldogs (9-3) have surpassed all expectations this year and are now playing for the Mountain West Championship. But they’ll have to get past the Boise State Broncos (9-3) for a second straight week, this time on the road. The conference title is up for grabs at 7:45 p.m. ET on ESPN (live stream at WatchESPN).

Jeff Tedford has engineered a stunning turnaround in his first year in Fresno. Just one year after going 1-11, the Bulldogs have rebounded to nine wins, including victories over San Diego State and Boise. These two teams just played last week, with Fresno getting the 28-17 win at home and knocking the Broncos out of the Top 25.

As a result, Fresno made it into the latest College Football Playoff ranking at No. 25, though neither team here has a real shot at representing the Group of Five in the New Year’s Six. That honor will likely go to the winner of UCF vs. Memphis in the American title game. Still, it’s not often that we see back-to-back rematches in college football, so look for both teams to pull out all the stops with Mountain West glory at stake.

If Ohio State beats Wisconsin, the Buckeyes will be 3-1 against ranked teams. They lost to Oklahoma and beat Penn State and Michigan State.

Bama’s currently 3-1 against ranked teams, with a loss to Auburn and wins against Fresno, LSU, and Mississippi State.

Debate the quality — Ohio State has the highest-ranked win of the group, while Bama doesn’t have a second loss to an unranked team — but Bama can match OSU in top-25 record, if Fresno wins.

Strength of schedule is a big deal when it involves playing against multiple top 10 teams. Two of Fresno’s losses this season came to Alabama and Washington so this team is thoroughly battle tested and wont be phased by playing Boise on their home turf. They both beat New Mexico, San Diego State, BYU and Wyoming so there is no obvious tie breaker there so you have to look at the non rest of the schedule for some insights to each team and this is where things very quickly stack up in favor for Fresno State. This team has been in as unfriendly of territory as it gets in the college football world and it’s a safe bet that coach Tedford has helped them learn from those experiences.

As fun as it’s been to watch Fresno get this far, beating Boise two weeks in a row might be asking too much — especially with this game on the road. The Broncos haven’t been their usual dominant selves this season, but they do just enough to claim the conference title.