SCOTT LEIGHTMAN: Welcome once again to the 2024 College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. We're 33 hours from kickoff for the first-ever College Football Playoff Quarterfinal game. Coach Danielson, congratulations on your 12-1 season, No. 3 seed, Mountain West champion.
Coach, as you're approaching the biggest game in Boise State history, how are you merging Boise State's history here at the Fiesta Bowl with your task at hand tomorrow?
COACH DANIELSON: Obviously so excited to be here. Appreciate all your guys' time. Thank you, Jesus, for another day of life and another opportunity. We're so blessed to be able to play this game and impact these kid every single day.
Our team is excited. Boise State has been here before. It's been a decade since we've been here. It's been a while. Obviously this is the first time it's ever been a Fiesta Bowl and a College Football Playoff game.
Making our guys focus on -- it's all about their work. Regardless of how big the stage is, how big the game is, how bright the lights are, it's all about earning the right to play our best. Tomorrow night, our goal is to get all the prep in and then go cut it loose.
Excited for our guys. I know Coach [James] Franklin is going to say the same in regards to his team. But we look forward to the game tomorrow and we've got to continue to finish our prep.
SCOTT LEIGHTMAN: Coach Franklin, 12-2 season, No. 6 seed, 38-10 win over SMU in the first round, which was a pretty dominant performance -- the first step of your championship journey. How do you keep that momentum moving forward tomorrow?
COACH FRANKLIN: First of all, Spencer [Danielson] has done a phenomenal job at Boise. I've been a fan of the university and the football program for a long time. Spencer has done a phenomenal job. I love to see schools and athletic directors and administrators promote from within when they have an opportunity, and you've done a phenomenal job at a special place.
We were fortunate to get a home game. I think that played a factor. You guys were able to get a bye. I think those are the two things that everybody in college football were working for, either a bye in week one or a home game.
We were able to get a home game against a really good SMU opponent who we had a lot of respect for on film. First quarter, kind of worked through some things, but then were able to get it going.
Our fans played a role in it as well. But our kids just played well. A lot of coaches, I think, across college football were talking about where we were in our season, a four-game season, and we didn't really approach it that way. It's really a one-game season.
65 plays on offense, 65 plays on defense is about what we've been averaging; about 24 on special teams. We better approach each one of those reps like they're gold. Our guys did a really good job of that and obviously played well.
It's not very often in a playoff game, you're able to get your backups in the game in the fourth quarter, which for us and our quarterback situation was important. That was valuable as well.
We're just trying, as you mentioned, to keep that momentum going, which we're going to need against a really good Boise football team.
Q: James, there was a lot made about Ohio State's price tag for its roster. Could you shed any light on what exactly is the cost of a College Football Playoff team?
COACH FRANKLIN: Great question (chuckles). I can't really get into that, and it's not that I wouldn't want to. It's just hard. The way this system is set up right now, there's no real way to track that. The information that you see out there or if an athletic director or somebody is willing to report it, there's no real way to track it.
I think Boise's situation is probably a little bit different, and I think you guys know our situation has been a little bit different in those areas. I can't really speak on that.
I'm not one of these guys that feel like you should have a strong opinion if you don't have all of the information, or most of the information, and I don't have enough true valuable credible information to make that type of statement.
I think there's things that we see out there on social media. How credible that information is, I'm not sure. But I just spend a ton of time on our roster and our guys, and making sure they're having a great experience. Give ourselves the best chance to go out and win as many games as possible.
We're working hard at it and trying to raise as much money as we possibly can to put our program and our university in the best position to be successful. I can't really speak on anything more than that.
Q: Spencer, do you have any thoughts on the commissioner idea in college football? Especially coming from the perspective of so-called non-power conference. And James, have you heard from Nick Saban since yesterday?
COACH DANIELSON: That's a good question. I get asked a lot of questions that I have no true say in. I get asked about the transfer portal, NIL, collectives, the future of college football. Nobody is calling me to make changes, so I don't think about it a ton. I focus on things that move the needle and what matters for our team.
College football is in a very interesting place. Do changes need to be made? I believe they do. What those are and how those should be implemented? I don't spend a ton of time on that, but I do believe changes need to be made.
I'm going to throw my vote in for Chris Petersen to be part of that commissioner as well.
COACH FRANKLIN: I have not heard from Nick [Saban]. They obviously did a game at our place this year and came to practice. We sat down in my office and had good conversations. Obviously I was in the SEC when he was in the SEC. I know Nick and have an amazing amount of respect for him.
I actually think Chris Petersen would be another good candidate. Another guy that I thought of was Dave Clawson, a really smart guy that did a really good job everywhere he's been. Won at a ton of different places.
As you can imagine, it's not like I'm spending a ton of time on this. I got asked the question and I just kind of answered. But I think Coach Peterson would be another really, really good example or person that could, I think, really represent college football as a whole, which is what I think we need.
Q: The future of college football: You've got Coach [Spencer] Danielson, Dan Lanning, [Kenny] Dillingham, Marcus Freeman, all in this tournament, Head Coaches at big programs, all in their 30s. What's that say to you about where college football is coming, guys like this, young grinders coming there and getting their teams to as big as games as they can?
COACH FRANKLIN: First thing is, I probably don't have a lot of years left is, what you're saying. (laughter). No, I think it's good. To me, at the end of the day, whether it's age or whether it's experience or whether it's diverse candidates, you just want people in the job that have earned it and that are qualified. And sometimes, I think, really good candidates have been overlooked, because they're young. Candidates have been overlooked for a ton of different reasons.
I think sometimes we get into a tendency of reusing former Head Coaches that have done it before, because it's a safe hire and you're not going to be ridiculed or criticized for going out and hiring a guy who's been a Head Coach before at a couple of different places.
When maybe, you really feel like you got a great defensive coordinator on your staff that is prepared and ready for the opportunity.
I think we all tend to do that sometimes. You try to make the safe hire, rather than the best hire. To me, I think it's a positive. You see it in the NFL. You see it in college football. Obviously, guys like Spencer have earned this opportunity. Then once he was able to get his foot in the door and get in that seat, he's run with it, which I think will create other opportunities for other guys, just like I'm trying to create opportunities for guys as well.
Q: Coach Franklin, when you go against a player like Ashton Jeanty, how do you find the balance between giving him the respect he deserves in preparation, and also paying enough attention to the other 10 guys on the offense?
COACH FRANKLIN: The first thing that we all try to do as coaches is you're trying to figure out who are the issues in the game; or what are the issues in the game? Then how can you limit their impacts. Obviously a running back like him, everybody all year long has gone into it with the same plan, and no one's stopped him.
But I think that's where you've got to start. Whether you're a defensive guy and you're trying to make people one-dimensional, or you're an offensive guy and you're trying to make a team play in a style that they don't want to play in, that's what we all try to do. That's kind of where it starts.
But I think the running back position, just like the quarterback position, they get a ton of credit, and deservedly so. He's earned that. But Ashton will tell you, just like every other running back, if you don't have an offensive line in front of you, if you don't have a great offensive coordinator that's calling the plays and taking advantage of your skill set, that he's not nearly as successful as he is right now.
Obviously, we've got a great example of that. I want to be careful of how I say this, because I don't want to be disrespectful of anybody. But our guy, Saquon Barkley. He's in a great situation with the Eagles, my hometown team, and is flourishing right now.
Part of it is because he's playing behind a great offensive line, and maybe the best offensive line coach in the history of the NFL, or at least part of that conversation, Coach Stout [Jeff Stoutland].
I think Ashton is a great example, and obviously he's done it. I've talked all week long about the craziest stat I ever heard is 1,900 yards after contact. It's impressive. But obviously, most importantly, they're in this position because they've got a great team. Obviously he's a focus point, but they've got a great team.
SCOTT LEIGHTMAN: I want to follow up on that, Coach Danielson. The yards after contact, that's a big thing. How is Ashton [Jeanty] so successful at yards after contact?
COACH DANIELSON: He trains that way. Ashton Jeanty, I've been very open about this, just to make sure everyone sees behind the veil, how great a man he is, how hard it works. That's what he's done since he was a 17-year-old, early-enrolling freshman doing it against the starting defense, and I was the defensive coordinator getting really upset with him. He's been doing that this whole time and trains at that type of standard.
It was January last offseason, and he's the guy on the blue, in the snow with his shirt off, doing tug o' war against the rest of his teammates, running them all around the field. It's how he trains. He's built for that.
To Coach Franklin's point, it takes a team. Ash [Ashton Jeanty] will be the first to tell you that. It takes the offensive line, the tight ends. Our receivers, it's mandatory to block on our team. We're a run first operation with complements off of it. There's a lot of pieces that go into the success that Ashton is having.
Not to take anything away from Ash. There's been multiple times when 11 guys have a shot at him and don't get him down, but it definitely takes a team.
Q: Spencer, since December 3rd of 2023, the day you were named full-time Head Coach, what's been the most valuable lesson you've learned in this new assignment?
COACH DANIELSON: We could probably be here all day talking about lessons I learned, but I'm with you. I got such great mentors around me. Chris Petersen being one. We talk often. Obviously Dirk Koetter is in the building. Pick his brain all the time. There's multiple people in my life that I pick their brain on.
There's a lot of things I screw up on a daily basis and a lot of people around me that help support and learn. For me, it's about finding a balance between how God made me, what I'm passionate about, how I feel called to lead this team.
I've been open about it's all about developing champions for life for me. The by-products are the championships. Staying true to that true north for me, but then learning a lot of lessons along the way, from scheduling to staffing to players; all sorts of things that focus on the development of these kids.
There's been so many different lessons throughout. There's been lessons I've learned as we came out to Arizona to play the Fiesta Bowl. There's been so many different lessons, but there's a lot of people in my life that help me see around the turn, because they've been here before me.
Talking to Chris Petersen, who's played in this game. Some things like: Hey, what were some things you would have liked to know the first time you played in a Fiesta Bowl?
I'm able to pick so many people's brains to help me as my first year as full-time Head Coach. This is a dream job for me. Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity. There's a lot of thing I'll mess up every day, but I've got a lot of really good people in my life that help me learn and grow from it.
Q: Spencer, 14 months ago, Boise State was on the verge of having their first losing season in almost three decades. For the first time ever, they fired a Head Coach in season. 14 months later, you're at the Fiesta Bowl. The players clearly bought into your message. What is it like, after all that emotion last year, to be able to extend it this far this year from your players?
COACH DANIELSON: I'll never forget stepping into the interim role. So many things going on. At that point, Head Coach can get let go, players can transfer, coaches -- the smart thing is probably to get your resume ready to roll, because you don't know what's about to happen in two weeks.
The staff and the players in that time, they put their foot down and said: We're going to finish. We're going to do this for each other, we're going to do this for the seniors. Go on to win a championship game. So blessed to be named the Head Coach after the championship game.
Even in January, a lot of things pulling at our players to leave or what's going to happen. And when an Ashton Jeanty says: I'm staying. I want to leave a legacy. The college football is expanded. Let's do something that's never been done before.
And Ahmed [Hassanein] says he's going to do the same. Then it trickles down to the whole roster.
What is done in the dark will be brought to the light. These guys just went to work, day in and day out.
Seeing them reap the benefits of that work when no one was around, no one was tweeting about them, no one was talking about them -- seeing that work come to fruition now is such a valuable lesson for life. It's not about what you talk about, it's about what you do. It's about your actions and the work you put in.
Seeing our guys do that, so blessed to be a part of it. They impact me every single day. I make sure I'm very open about that. This isn't, I'm driving this whole truck. This is a player-led team. They love each other, but they hold each other to extremely high standards because they know what they want most. I'm so blessed to be a part of it.
Q: To both of you, just having a guy like Stacy Collins on staff, what kind of asset is he?
COACH DANIELSON: Stacy's been a huge addition for us. I know Coach Franklin was able to work with him for a couple of years. He was a guy I knew kind of growing up in the profession. When he was at South Dakota Mines [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology] and I was at Azusa Pacific, I remember going out to play them in South Dakota. Then we were able to work together in 2021.
Not only in regards to what he does for special teams for us, what he does for our linebackers, he's a huge addition for me in regards to just picking his brain, because he's been a Head Coach. He's got a good understanding of kind of all facets, from recruiting, to game planning, to scheduling.
All the things that as a first-time Head Coach, I want someone to be honest with me. Not just: Oh, I think it's good, Spence. But really be able to speak into my life and being able to speak into our team. And Stacy is able to do that.
Q: You both have talked about how much respect you have for each other. Do you see, from the outside looking in, any similarities between how you approach your jobs and your programs overall?
COACH DANIELSON: I stopped playing football in 2012 at Azusa Pacific. And in 2013 in January, I started coaching right away. Azusa Pacific, small school, people were like: Oh, you were a graduate assistant. It's not really a graduate assistant in Division II football. It's like, can you survive long enough to stay in this profession? I was so blessed; Victor Santa Cruz was the Head Coach at that time.
I was able to go to one of the AFCA conventions, listen to Coach [James] Franklin speak, and just blown away by him. He was aDivision II football player, seeing his journey, seeing the success that Coach Franklin has had everywhere he goes.
He was just -- obviously I did not know him, he did not know me. But just so much respect from afar and seeing the product that he's continually put on the field in every spot he's ever been. Obviously for the past decade at Penn State, the success they've had, he's just been someone that I've admired from afar for a long time.
COACH FRANKLIN: Obviously I'm just getting to know Spencer [Danielson], and what he's done in a short period of time as a head coach has been really impressive. Really, kind of how you described it -- took over a program at a challenging time. Both D-II guys.
Now, I did go to East Stroudsburg, which is like the Harvard of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, which I take a lot of pride in.
But I do think his point is a good one. When you're a Division II coach and a Division II player, a lot of the things that maybe our team takes for granted, or the staff takes for granted, we don't. When you're a Division II guy, you kind of have to do it all. I think there's a lot of value in that. There's not 75 coaches; there's eight. And you're doing everything from lining the fields to coaching the guys.
I remember I used to fill soda machines up on campus in the morning when I worked at Kutztown and the players made fun of me, kind of going to class, talking trash as they walked by. But I think humility is such an important part of our job in serving others, right? When you've been a Division II guy and kind of had to work your way up the ladder, I think you learn a ton from that. again, I think the humility is a huge aspect for all of us.
But I'm looking forward to getting to know Spencer better. I've gotten to know him fairly well through guys on his staff that I have a ton of respect for. Then just watching him on film. I don't care what people say, your team is a reflection of you. They do it with class. You listen to their players speak, you watch how they conduct themselves on tape, you look at how hard they play.
I think it's the best compliment you can get as a coach is that your players play hard and they do it the right way and they do it with class. And they represent not only him, but the university the right way and the community the right way. I think that's more challenging than it's ever been when these young people got people pulling at them from every direction.
This is just really kind of the start of our relationship. We'll have a heated, passionate, competitive game, but hopefully we'll have an opportunity to visit more and get to know each other.
I'm a big fan of Victor Santa Cruz as well. We stayed in touch over the years. He came and visited us as well at Penn State. But he works with good people and for good people, and I feel like I've done the same throughout my career.