Boise State Broncos College Football Postgame Quote, 12/31/2024

COACH DANIELSON: Well, thank you, everybody, for being here. No matter what, win, lose or draw, I’m going to always give Jesus the glory. I’m so blessed to be the head coach here, and we do serve a champion, and I do know God never says “oops.”

As hard as tonight is as a competitor and as a coach, I do believe we learn and grow from everything. The best is still to come for our team, for these players, our seniors. The best is still to come. I told every single one of them in the locker room that God has an amazing plan for your life. Never settle for less than that and this will always be home.

I’m so proud of this team. It didn’t go our way tonight. We’ll talk about that more. But they re-established the standard in Boise to be a light on the hill, to the country, that had been lost for a little bit. I’m so proud of them doing that. That’s a legacy that can never be taken from them.

Back-to-back Mountain West champs has never happened. They did that. I’m so proud of this team. Obviously tonight, we didn’t execute the way we needed to, to win a heavyweight fight like we knew this was going to be. We’ve got to learn and grow from that as a program.

So proud of this team re-establishing the standard in Boise and excited for us to learn and grow forward.

Q. Spencer, you guys fell behind 14-0, but you were able to fight your way back in. Just how proud were you of the way they fought back this entire game?

COACH DANIELSON: This is a resilient team. We talked even throughout the week that we knew we were playing a really good football team in Penn State, and they deserve a ton of credit. They’re very well-coached. We knew we were going to have to respond.

That’s football. It’s not about just capitalizing when things are going well. It’s about responding when things don’t. We knew we were going to get punched in the mouth. We had to respond and keep swinging, and our team did that.

This is a one-score game going into the fourth quarter, and we just didn’t make the plays enough at the end as we needed to. But proud of our guys responding and coming back from a really tough first quarter.

Q. What can you say about Jonah Dalmas and how he’s doing?

COACH DANIELSON: As a competitor, he’s hurting; but this game is not on Jonah. This is a team that will always be a team. We win as a team. We lose as a team.

Jonah Dalmas is one of the best field goal kickers in the entire country. His record can never be taken from him. Didn’t play his best tonight. But we win and lose as a team, and this is not on him.

Q. I saw you limping off here, Ahmed. What can you say about how you and your brothers were fighting down in the trenches there?

AHMED HASSANEIN: First, I want to say all glory to Jesus Christ. He’s the true champion.

Coach D, (Spencer Danielson), you changed my life. You changed my life. I did not know God until I got to Boise State. I serve a true champion. Jesus Christ is the only true God. He died and rose from the dead three days later. That’s the champion that I serve.

Thank you, Coach D, seriously. You changed my life.

Back to your question. I wanted to go out with my teammates. No matter what happens, win, lose or draw, I want to go out with my teammates. I just love them. I wish I had one more week with them. I wasn’t just going to take it off.

I love this team. I’ll do whatever it takes. I will die for this team.

Q. Ashton, a heck of a ride, man. I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now. But walking off the field for a final time as a member of the Boise State football team, you finish with over 2,600 yards rushing, the second-most in NCAA history. How would you sum up this season tonight?

ASHTON JEANTY: First of all, glory to God for bringing us this far, for helping us restore the order this year. We couldn’t do it without Him. Keeping God first is what has got us here.

But this season has been a blessing. God’s favor has been upon me and all my teammates all year. I’m just thankful.

Obviously, we didn’t come away with the result that we did, but ‚Äì not just me, but a lot of guys on this team did special things all year.

Q. What did Penn State do to maybe bottle you up better than other teams have been able to do this season?

ASHTON JEANTY: Just movement. That’s one thing we struggled with, is movement. They have a great D-line, front seven. I mean, it wasn’t really that they did anything extraordinary. They executed. They tackled. We didn’t play our best. I didn’t take care of the ball. So that’s why we weren’t able to get the job done.

Q. Coach, do you have any comments to the same question?

COACH DANIELSON: Yeah, I think we knew going in, one of the strengths of their team was stopping the run. They’re one of the top 10 rushing defenses in the country. We’ve played against a good rushing defense. We know we would get their best stuff and we did. We didn’t win one-on-ones consistently enough to be as explosive as we need in the run game.

Football always comes down to execution, and we just didn’t execute as much as we needed to, to establish the run game as much as we have to in a game like this. It’s something that we’ve got to look back and learn and grow from.

Obviously hats off to Penn State. They had a great plan going into it. We knew they would. We’ve seen really good defenses throughout the year, and they did a really good job.

Q. Spencer, how tough was it to utilize Ashton [Jeanty] as much as you wanted to when you fall in that early hole? You were kind of playing catch-up the whole game. Was it sort of taking the strengths away from you that your team had?

COACH DANIELSON: Yeah, you definitely don t go into the game wanting to be down 14-0. That’s just not something anybody wants to be in. But the strength of our team is establishing a run game on offense and play action passes off of it. When you’re down, it can, little by little, take away your strength.

But I’m proud of even after the turnover, our defense was able to go out there in the very next series and get a turnover to get us back in, score, make it a one-score game. You miss a couple of field goals. We miss a couple of fit, the explosive run. That’s how the game ebbs and flows.

But definitely getting down 14-0 in the first quarter, we didn’t play well in the first quarter. There were some good plays, but we weren’t consistent enough as a team in all three phases against a really good football team.

Q. Ashton, did you expect to pop a big one in this game? One, two, maybe even three? Coach, were you waiting for that moment, as you’ve seen it all year?

ASHTON JEANTY: Throughout the course of the game, you expect to wear the defense down and the big plays will come. But, obviously, it’s an expectation every game to make big plays.

COACH DANIELSON: I think just like anything, Ashton Jeanty is the best football player in the country, period, point blank. So you’re always ready for those explosive plays.

But we believe in wearing a defense out. It’s hard when you’re digging yourself out of a two-score lead to really establish the run game the way we wanted to.

I’m proud of our team battling. I’m proud of Ashton, our offensive line, our tight ends, our defense. We didn’t execute enough in all three phases. That’s something we have got to look at, because I know we’re better than that.

Being able to come to these games, win these games, make a run in the playoff is what we will do. We’re going to continue to build on to do that.

Q. Obviously, the Fiesta Bowl has such a big audience. Can you just talk about what you can take away from this season, what you hope that fans and people can take away from just seeing all the hype and all your good season and stuff like that?

ASHTON JEANTY: We have got one of the best fan bases in the country. We’ve got a lot of support behind us, a great community. It’s been great to see the community come together.

Obviously, we want to give them more football to watch, but we didn’t handle business. But we’re just thankful for everybody who supported us and believed in us when no one else did.

Q. Matt and Ashton, obviously, tonight, not the way you guys wanted to finish your game. But being able to finish your career, two straight Mountain West championships, bringing Boise State, like Coach [Spencer] Danielson said, to a place it has not been for a while, what does that mean for you guys?

MATT LAUTER: That’s super special for us, because of the way that we work and the effort we put in as a group. For me being a junior, it’s special to have another year to correct those mistakes that happened out there on the field today.

But we’re excited for next year, and we’re going to come for another ring. We’ve got a special group around us this year, but we’re always looking forward to being the best that we can be.

Q. Ahmed and Ashton, can you just reflect on your careers?

AHMED HASSANEIN: The biggest thing was leaving an impact and doing something we’ve never done, back-to-back champs, for the younger generation to come in and work as hard as we do.

The work that nobody sees ‚Äì the meetings, the early mornings, the decks, I mean, just to leave a legacy. We wish we would have had one more ‚Äì we wish we took it all the way, but God has a plan, and I trust in God’s plan.

I’ll always support His team. I’m always going to come back, and I’m always going to push this team. This team means a lot to me, and I’m always going to be there for them.

Q. Coach, you talked a lot about the underdog mentality narrative coming into this one. Those who will point to this game as a reason for changing the seeding or the format of the playoff, what would be your response to that?

COACH DANIELSON: Hopefully everybody just watches the film. That’s been my big message all year, is watch the film. You can watch the game tonight.

We had 387 yards – or they had 387. We had 412. Yes, we didn’t execute, we lost the game, and that is what it is.

But watch our team. We were 12-1, back-to-back Mountain West champs. You go into a game, a lot of people counted us out, and we’re a couple of plays away from winning. That’s football, though.

We could lose to anybody in the country, but I also believe we could beat anybody in the country, and we’ve shown that throughout this entire season, this entire body of work.

With the expansion of College Football Playoff, all you want is to give teams a chance. Everybody knew how to make the playoffs to start the season. There was no gray area: Oh, that’s how they’re doing it. You got to go out and win.

We’ve been in playoff mentality since September. We knew after we lost on the last-second field goal to Oregon, we can’t lose again and we didn’t. That’s the testament to this team. That’s the testament to these kids. That’s the testament to our fan base, the support we have, and we need to keep pushing forward.

So to me, just set the standard and it’s up to us as coaches to get our team to go win games to make the playoff.

I don’t think that should change. There’s been a lot of teams that have said they should be in it. I’m curious how they played in their bowl games. To me it’s all about put the ball down, play the game. Whatever they set to make the playoffs, that’s on us as coaches and competitors to go get it done.

I’m proud of our team and I know there’s a legacy here for this group, Ashton [Jeanty] and Ahmed [Hassanein], who won’t be wearing the blue and orange going forward; but there’s a legacy they left.

We haven’t been to the Fiesta Bowl in a decade. We’ll be back. We’re going to keep working our tail off. We want to be a light on the hill that’s going to do football different at Boise State.

It doesn’t mean it fits everybody. Doesn’t mean it’s perfect. We’re going to do it different It will be based on love. It will be based on giving Jesus the glory. If people don’t like that, don’t come here. But if you do, it’s going to be different. I promise you we’re going to continue to push the envelope, and we’re going to be back.

Q. Spencer, when you look back on this season, what will you remember most about this year’s team?

COACH DANIELSON: There’s going to be a lot of those moments. For saving you guys from me sitting up here crying, I’m just so proud of this team.

I’ll never forget in January when a group of guys just said, We’re going to work when no one is watching, and we’re going to leave a legacy. When no one is around, when we’re on THE BLUE in the snow working, to spring ball, to fall camp, to decks, and counted out in games.

Some people thought we were going to be good. Some people didn’t. Who cares. I’m just so proud of this team doing that and achieving what they did this year, because I believe football is a phenomenal vehicle to teach you about life.

For these kids, football is going to be over for all of them at some point and they’re going to be husbands. They’re going to be fathers. And learning ‚Äì if you listen to every time someone said you couldn’t do something, you wouldn’t accomplish anything in your life, me included. And they didn’t. They just went to work.

They love each other. They showed up. They kept swinging. They stayed in it. And you can achieve anything with that. That’s why I’m very open about how we serve a champion. Like, anything is possible.

Seeing our team go through the work when no one is around and then enjoying the moment that everybody watches the back-to-back Mountain West championships, the restoring of THE BLUE, those are the memories that are exciting. The thing I will never forget is the work that these guys did when no one was around.

DENISE SEOMIN: This will conclude our Boise State press conference. Congratulations, everyone, and congratulations to the Broncos on a great season.