Boise State Broncos College Football Pregame Quote, 12/27/2024

Q. What do you see out of the tight end [Tyler Warren] and what he does with their offense?

COACH CHINANDER: Obviously, he’s an elite player. Won some awards, which he definitely deserves. Really good in the run game, makes some unbelievable catches, runs great routes. I think he can do a lot. I mean, they put him as a wildcat quarterback. He can throw the ball, run the ball. Just a really, really good player, and I think that he makes every part of their offense better.

Q. It’s crazy to watch it and see how they do use him [Tyler Warren] and line him up all over. It seems like he’s about as unique of a player that you have faced on defense this year.

COACH CHINANDER: There’s no question. Not only him, but I think that their coaching staff and their offensive coordinator does a great job with a ton of pre-snap shifts, motions, unique formations, lining up in wildcat, shifting to something coming back to another thing. There’s just so much eye candy out there that you’ve got to get through all those layers before you even get to the DNA of their offense.

They do a really good job with Tyler Warren, but they also do a really good job just in general with their shifts and motions and how they format things week to week.

Q. How much more dynamic does that make their offense? I can’t think of anybody you have played, tight end, that would cause you to have to really kind of scheme for things that are happening.

COACH CHINANDER: No, usually, especially in passing situations, you’re looking at how can you eliminate a receiver from the game. It becomes more difficult when it’s a tight end because he’s in the corps. He could be running the ball. You don’t have a corner, or potentially you don’t have a safety that you can dedicate to him. It does cause some issues in the pass game, certainly. And then if you try to go sellout overboard on the pass game on him, then it can hurt you in the run game. So, it causes some definite issues.

Q. When you have three weeks off like this, how much of a concern is tackling?

COACH CHINANDER: That’s always a concern. I know Dirk [Koetter] said it yesterday, but too much time off, there’s definitely positives, but there’s definitely negatives. Getting some good work versus our offense to see some full speed looks. But we haven’t played a game in a while. You worry about tackling when you haven’t got a chance to full speed tackle, which you can’t replicate this late in the season, because you don’t want to injure some players or do something not too smart in practice.

All of those things combined -tackling-, getting lined up fast to all the shifts and motions -they’re probably going to do it faster than our scout team can replicate. Just those full- s-peed aspects of the game are definitely concerning as you go into some extended time off.

Q. I think you’ve been on top of tackling teams.

COACH CHINANDER: At times we’ve been good, at times we have not been good. Most of them come down to some leverage issues, some eye control. But definitely there have been some times when we have not been a good tackling team, and those have led to some explosive plays that we shouldn’t have given up.

But this group is a group that wants to improve. They know the deficiencies. They want to see the deficiencies, and they want to help correct those as we move forward. So, we’ve been working a lot of tackling drills. But to your point, it’s not a full speed tackle.

Q. You haven’t done any full speed tackling from the championship game to this game?

COACH CHINANDER: There’s been some full speed drill work, but not a whole bunch of full speed to the ground.

Q. Their two running backs, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, how are they similar? How are they different? Do they do different things?

COACH CHINANDER: I don’t know. I think maybe at the beginning of the year, they were used a little differently. Later in the year, that’s one of the better running back tandems I have even seen in a long time.

The thing that impresses me about both of them is how physical they run the football. They are hard to tackle. Physical in the run game, physical in the pass pro. I just like the way they play football. They’re a good one-two punch. I don’t think there’s one that’s better than the other. I think they’re just a lot to handle.

Q. You look at the way the SMU game went. They got up early with two defensive pick sixes. Drew [Allar] is obviously pretty capable at quarterback, but a ton of that is just because of the way the game went. What do you take from the SMU game? Do you have to go back and find another game to more particularly latch onto, I guess?

COACH CHINANDER: I don’t think it’s ever one game for us. Usually, we’re trying to pick out four games that either fit us the best or was their best competition. Obviously, we’ve had a little more time. So, we went a little deeper in the archives. Then situational football, you’re looking back through the whole year and some of those trick plays and a lot of the exotic formations that they’ve got into.

But Drew Allar is a heck of a quarterback. I’m not an NFL GM, but I think he’s a first round pick. He’s much bigger than I think people believe when you’re watching TV. I don’t think you realize how big he is. He can make every throw, and then obviously they used another couple guys to wildcat run. But he’s very efficient with his legs. Like, when the pocket breaks down, he’s going to be able to make a first down. He’s going to make a lot of those plays. A lot of respect for him as a quarterback.

Q. Spencer [Danielson] told us that Alexander Teubner was going to be available for the game. How big of a boost is that to have your captain back in the game?

COACH CHINANDER: We’re getting Tubes [Alexander Teubner] back. He’s working full time. The last couple of days is his first full speed work. He’s done really well. We’ll see how he feels going into the game.

But just having him back at practice, having him available, is a boost for the team. Those guys love Tubes. Great leadership, whether he’s been in the game or whether he’s been injured on the sideline. He’s been another coach out there. So just having him back out on the field has been huge for the guys, for us as coaches, for the whole team.

Q. You anticipate this to be a slugfest?

COACH CHINANDER: You get down to playing in late December, January football, it’s elite teams. They’re going to be a heavyweight fight. Usually, the teams that are left at this time of the year are really good up front on both sides of the football. Obviously, Penn State has elite skill players, too. We haven’t hit the wide receivers yet, but they have some elite speed at wide receiver.

But I think this is going to be a heavyweight fight. We’re going to get punched and we’re going to have to punch back. This game is going to be a little bit back and forth, because I think that there’s two really good football teams playing right now. This is December. It’s tough guys only in December and January.

Q. Talking to Mason Randolph yesterday about Ashton [Jeanty] and the rushing attack. He said, the offensive linemen don’t really have stats. Kind of on the flip side of that, a guy like Herb Gums, he doesn’t have a lot of stats, but it doesn’t mean he’s playing at a high level. How good has Herb played for you guys down the stretch here?

COACH CHINANDER: In my opinion, Herb [Gums], Sheldon [Newton] when he wasn’t injured, even Mike Callahan. Braxton Fely, obviously, was awarded with small conference accolades, because he has a few more stats. Herb and Shel and Mike, they’re as good as any defensive linemen in our conference. They just don’t have a ton of stats.

What they do for the team, what they do for the defense, you can’t make that up. There won’t ever be a stat for it. They won’t ever get patted on the back, but everybody in this building knows how important they are.

Q. I don’t know if there’s a way that you can summarize his [Herbert Gums] impact on the game. Like you said, the stats aren’t there, but how is he impacting the game?

COACH CHINANDER: The best way to summarize that is to ask Marco [Notarinni] and Drew [Simpson] and those guys how it feels to play behind a guy like that, because they know he’s going to take care of what he needs to take care of. Whether that’s his gap, a double team, whether he’s got to two-gap somebody and free them up.

But just the number of strikes and impacts he puts on the other team, and he takes himself, like I said, nobody is ever going to write about it. Nobody’s ever going to have a press conference about it. But it’s impressive to watch.

Q. What about the O-line? It looks like they’ve had four guys play every game. Recent change on the right tackle spot. What do they do best?

COACH CHINANDER: It’s a very big and athletic group. They can get running on their midzone. They can really go. You guys have watched film. But you see defensive linemen a lot losing their gap integrity almost double-hatted because it’s such an athletic group. They get talked about because it’s a big group. But I think it’s very athletic for how big of people they have.

They’ll even put an offensive lineman out in the slot and motion him down and try to kick out a defensive end or trap a tackle, which causes another layer of confusion in communication on our part. I think this is a really good offensive line.

Like I said, you don’t get to this part of football unless you have a really good offensive line. Boise State has got a really good offensive line. Penn State has a really good offensive line. But it takes that to get to this point in the football season.

Q. Dirk [Koetter] said he knows the strengths and weaknesses of your offense better than anybody. For Stacy Collins, he was at Penn State not that long ago and may be scheming stuff, not necessarily. But when it comes to some of the strengths and weaknesses of some of their player, how do you utilize Stacy going into a matchup with Penn State?

COACH CHINANDER: I think Stacy has done a great job of giving us a preliminary scouting report, like you said, on the roster. He wasn’t there with either one of these coordinators, but he gave us a really good outlook on just the players. What do they do best? How have they been used in the past?

What kind of speed do they have? When you’re watching film, there’s a lot of speed every single game they’re playing, but what kind of speed is there really out there? But he’s done a really good job of giving us that scouting report on their roster.

Q. Yesterday, Coach [Dirk] Koetter said he wasn’t a fan of three weeks off. How do you feel with your D with that much time off?

COACH CHINANDER: Some pros are we’ve been able to get some guys back healthy. But just like anything you do in life, it’s hard when you take that much time off to come out and be elite from the very beginning. We’ve had to do a really good job of getting some full speed tempo so we’re ready to walk out on that field and play fast from the beginning.

But that’s the part that worries you a little bit, is you got bodies sitting around for a while, not getting the same look that we would get from a normal game action. But there’s a chance to get some guys healthy as well.

Q. I’ve enjoyed watching your defense this year because I’ve seen them improve as the season goes along, I think especially in the secondary. Have you seen that as well?

COACH CHINANDER: There’s no question about it. Some of the things ‚Äì like early in the year, some things that don’t always get talked about are if you get up in a game and you want to try to get some young guys in there, that’s when some things tend to break down. But it’s great to get those young guys some snaps.

But I think those older DBs have taken it upon themselves to improve every week, to help those young guys get better, because we’re going to need them; whether it’s this season, whether it’s this week, or whether it’s next year to get those guys ready.

They’ve improved themselves every week, but they’ve also got those young guys better and better and better as the weeks have gone on. They’ve embraced the technique. They’ve embraced the scheme, and they kind of know now what are the strengths and weaknesses of that defense. I think that’s helped them along the way.

Q. I wanted to ask about your background. You coached one season with the [Philadelphia] Eagles back in 2013. How do you use that kind of experience to what you do now?

COACH CHINANDER: Going to the NFL is a different animal. Obviously, it’s not yelling and screaming and all those kinds of things. It’s more teaching. I think that you learn how to be a really good teacher.

In that league, you’re going to get a rookie that showed up on day one, and you also have a 10-year potential Hall of Fame veteran that’s been a Pro Bowler for six years. You have to learn how to teach to a bunch of different levels, just like you do in college football.

But I think you have to learn how to really teach people and help them get better at what they need to get better on. It’s not all of the other things on the outside. It’s just what do we need to do specifically to get you ready for this game, get you ready to make the cut, get you ready to play in this defense.

The other thing in NFL football, you learn a lot more than when you’re coaching college football or high school football, is there’s certain situational footballs that are about matchups. Not necessarily about scheme, not necessarily what might be the best situation for all 11, but what’s the matchups that we have to go win in certain situational football times. I think that helped me a lot as I left the NFL and came back to college football to be a coordinator.

Q. First of all, you mentioned [Drew] Allar can make all the throws. In what way generally does that cause problems for a defense as you’re trying to defend the whole field, because he can make all those throws?

COACH CHINANDER: You can gameplan a little bit in coverage by where a certain quarterback wants to throw the ball, or he struggles to throw the ball. You can, quote, unquote, give up a little area of the field. But I think since he can make all the throws, it’s very hard to deliberately do that.

The other thing I think is very impressive about him, in my personal opinion, he makes some of his best throws when he’s under duress, when he’s keeping the play alive, when he’s moving around in the pocket. He’s made some really unbelievable throws on the move and under stress. That causes an issue, too. We’ve got to do a great job of leveraging the pocket and plastering in the coverage.

Q. You mentioned that mobility and making plays. How does that sort of challenge your pass rush in trying to put pressure on him? How do you generally approach that part of it, too?

COACH CHINANDER: I think you see a lot in college football, NFL football, guys become undisciplined in their pass rush lanes. And that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stay outside the tackle, but you have to contain the quarterback. You have to stay in your inside cage if you’re there.

But when you lose that discipline in your pass rush package, and guys start doing their own thing because they’re worried ‚Äì it’s like any other position. But when you’re trying to make a play and do your job with the understanding that the next one will come to you, bad things start to happen.

We have to stay disciplined in whatever kind of pass rush package we have, whether it’s three, four, five or six and staying in our gap integrity, our pocket leverage integrity.

Q. How has Ty [Benefield] grown from game 1 to game 14 of this season?

COACH CHINANDER: Ty, at the beginning of the year, the way he finished up last year, he’s a sophomore. I don’t know how old he is, 19 years old? But we don’t treat him like that, and that’s probably unfair to him. But he has matured a ton. He’s got a ton of leadership value, just his knowledge of the game. You’re asking a young kid to do a lot of things in our defense, and he’s handled them like a pro.

And it’s just gotten better and better. His process, the way he learns, the way he goes about his week, that’s the impressive thing to me. Not just how he plays on Saturday or how he practices, but just the process that he takes throughout the week to get himself to that point.

Q. Not saying go beyond what he [Ty Benefield] can do, but he is pretty impressive with what he can do. In a game like this, how much do you need him to be the dude on Tuesday?

COACH CHINANDER: I think we’re going to need all 11 to be dudes. But Ty is going to have to play the best game, just like everybody else is. I think that they’re ready for that. I think they embrace that. Coach [Spencer] Danielson tells them all the time: Your best is enough, but it’s required. I think that we haven’t seen our best yet, but we’re going to have to have it this week.

Q. What kind of sense do you get that the underdog role here kind of fits this program and this team pretty well? Obviously, it’s worked in the Fiesta Bowl before, but not a lot of people are giving you a chance in this game.

COACH CHINANDER: I don’t know. I don’t know about the underdog role. I know we have a really good football team. I know Penn State has a really good football team. This is going to be a good football game.

All I see is how our guy s work, how they prepare, and I just don’t see an underdog in that role. I see a team that’s hungry, a team that might be not favored in the game, in the line, but they’re a team that believes in themselves, they believe in each other, and they’re ready to go play football.

Q. As you watched last Saturday and it became more and more apparent that it was going to be Penn State, what emotions did you have?

COACH CHINANDER: I don’t know. After looking at both teams and seeing how much stuff is going on in Penn State, yeah, we’re going to have to get ready for all that. But I think just like the question a minute ago, we want to play the best team. You’re in the last eight for a reason. Our kids deserve to play the best team. That’s what this part of football is about.

We’ll see. We’re not favored in this game. That’s not a secret. That’s out on the internet. Everybody can read it, right? But all we’re asking for is a chance, and that’s why you play these games.

Q. What is it like for you to be coaching in a playoff game? Back at UCF, you guys won every game, had to finish out the season in a bowl game. Now you have basically every opportunity in front of you as you head into the new season, as [Spencer] Danielson has been calling it.

COACH CHINANDER: I think it’s awesome. That particular year you’re referencing, I felt like were we (UCF) the best team in the country. I don’t know. But I felt like we had a chance versus whoever we were going to play. I don’t know if we would have won or lost if there had been a playoff system, but it would have been nice to see.

I know what the narrative is. If we would have went to that Auburn game and got beat up really bad, people would have been like, see, they shouldn’t even have been there, but we didn’t. We won. It’s just going to be cool to see what can happen here moving forward.

Q. When you were at Nebraska, did you coach against Penn State?

COACH CHINANDER: I believe we played them in COVID one time.

Q. Every year, it seems like 10 to 12 wins. They’re about as consistent a team as far as results as possible. How does this one compare to any others you played?

COACH CHINANDER: It’s a well-coached football team always. You know they’re always going to be good up front. They’re always going to have a good quarterback.

I think the other factors that come in are just who is that one real special skill guy? Now, I think on this team, they have more than one. But is it going to be a tight end? Is it going to be a receiver? Is it going to be a running back? Is it going to be a multiple of guys? But you’re always going to get a really good football team in Penn State.

Q. Do you like their offense? All the shifts and motions they do. Their D coordinator (Tom Allen) said: I’m very impressed with Ashton [Jeanty]. I don’t like going against him, but I’m impressed. Is it a fun offense, I guess, to look at?

COACH CHINANDER: I mean, I don’t like what they do, for our sake. But no, I think it’s great. It causes a lot of stress on defense. It causes a lot of communication by your guys. Obviously, what they want is for us to sit in that room and look through all the stuff that you have to get adjusted to. It takes a lot of time, from coaches, staff, players.

I think they do a great job with their offense. I think they do a great job of using the pieces they have very, very appropriately and getting them in the best position they can to be successful.

Q. Vanderbilt’s quarterback (Diego Pavia) recently won a ruling where he gets an additional year of eligibility because he played some junior college ball. It seems like A’Marion McCoy would fall under that umbrella. Have you had discussions yet?

COACH CHINANDER: No. I would love A’Marion to come back. We haven’t gotten into all those scenarios yet, because I think the NCAA just officially came out with the ruling the last couple of days. I want him to focus on Penn State. But if he wants to come back, I would love A’Marion McCoy to be back. There’s no doubt about it.