Ashton Jeanty reacts after beating San Diego State
Ashton Jeanty has produced one of his most dominant seasons in recent times. He was once again one of the stars of the show as the Boise State Broncos beat the San Diego State Aztecs 56-24. After the running back's 149-yard, two-touchdown performance against San Diego State (3-5, 2-1), he currently sits at 1,525 yards and 20 touchdowns.
He has roughly 1,100 yards to go to get in the same sphere as Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record of 2,628. Also, many believe Jeanty would only need to get to 2,000 yards to secure the Heisman Award or at least lock in a spot as a finalist.
After his performance against SDSU, he posted some snaps from the game on Instagram. Part of his caption read:
"Dark Mode."
The "dark" comes from the shadowing aesthetics from the photo depicting Jeanty and two of his Boise State Broncos teammates in the first photo. Throughout the slides, you'll see various versions of high contrast in low lighting. He finishes it off with a snapshot of an old-school Batman cartoon.
What could Ashton Jeanty's pictures and caption mean?
The post could point to a couple of things.
One, being in "dark mode" could refer to not being seen. Part of that could be that Boise State (7-1, 4-0 Mountain West) is still being viewed as a place filler in the 2024 College Football Playoff as the Group of Five Representative in the bracket.
Many don't view them as legitimate contenders - they believe that they are limited by their Mountain West competition.
It could also be an indicator that Jeanty does not believe fans are taking him seriously as someone who can win the Heisman. While many hardcore college football fans are fully on board with Jeanty, he still may not be getting quite the national media coverage many believe he deserves.
Some of that might be because of his position. But a lot of it can likely be traced to the lack of branding Boise State gets in contrast with many of the other teams that will likely be joining them in the postseason bracket.
If anything, Jeanty winning the Heisman would prove a point that you don't need to come from a national brand to be recognized as the best in the country - being shown as that everywhere, not just on social media.