What did Boise State coach Spencer Danielson, Penn State players say after the Fiesta Bowl?

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Penn State and Boise State entered Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup at State Farm Stadium with perfect Fiesta Bowl records. Only the Nittany Lions have won now. The CFP three-seed won 31-14 to move onto the semifinals while winning this particular contest for a record-setting eighth time. The Broncos fell to 3-1 and their season is now over.

“As hard as tonight is as a competitor and as a coach, I do believe we learn and grow from everything,” BSU coach Spencer Danielson said. “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.  

“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.” 

What else did Boise State coach Spencer Danielson say?

His next question focused on his team’s ability to fight back from an early 14-0 hole to make the game competitive until the fourth quarter.

“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.”

Danielson also deflected blame from his kicker, Jonah Dalmas, who was 0-for-2 on the night.

“As a competitor, he’s hurting; but this game is not on Jonah,” he said. “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.”

What did Penn State players have to say after the game?

Here is a smattering of quotes from the Penn State contingent that spoke:

“I wouldn’t necessarily say a dream come true, but it was definitely exciting fun. You never know when it’s going to happen, when your number’s going to get called, when it’s going to be your time. So you always got to prepare like a starter. And that’s what I’ve been doing my whole time here, no matter what ups, downs, it is what it is. You just got to stay the course, trust in the process, trust your coaches, trust everybody in the building that you chose to trust to come to this school which you committed, and trust the process, and everything should fall out. I’m saying, ‘The job’s not done.’ I mean, it’s obviously a great thing to go 1-0.. But the job’s not done. We got to go 1-0 again next week.”

–PSU DE Amin Vanover on his six tackle performance.

“Saw grass for real, but shout out to the o-line. It always starts up in front. Coach always preaches that. And just, they made good blocks throughout the whole game. And that run, I made a guy miss in the hole. After that, I saw grass and just ran.”

–PSU RB Nick Singleton on his game-sealing 58-yard touchdown run.

“We just had a lot of film on all the keys that Coach [Tom] Allen had said was going to be in this game, it was there. Everything from the tackle to the tight end to all the different formations, everything was 100 percent. So I got to say thank you to Coach Allen because he set us up perfectly with the game plan. They had a great line, great running back, and we just feel like, as the Penn State defensive line, we feel like we’re the best in the country. So that’s pretty much all we had to do, just go out there and show it.”

–PSU DE Dani Dennis-Sutton on limiting BSU star Ashton Jeanty to 104 yards and no touchdowns.