With memories of Fiesta Bowls past, these Broncos are ready to add names to BSU lore

On the biggest night in the history of Boise State football, when Jared Zabransky and Ian Johnson combined on that famous Statue of Liberty play to win the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Spencer Danielson was a teenager watching on television at home with his dad.

He was a senior in high school living in Southern California and didn’t know a whole lot about Boise State. That all changed after the 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in Glendale, Arizona — an OT that came about only because of that famous hook-and-lateral play at the end of regulation.

“I was blown away by that game,” Danielson said Sunday afternoon at a press conference to discuss the team’s berth in the College Football Playoff, where it will play in the quarterfinals at the Fiesta Bowl after receiving a first-round bye.

When Boise State made it to the Fiesta Bowl again in 2010 and 2014 — both victories — Danielson was locked in.

“I came here because of watching those games,” Danielson said. “A Southern California kid watching Boise State win a Fiesta Bowl in front of the nation ... it’s special.”

On New Year’s Eve, the Broncos will be in friendly Fiesta Bowl confines again. Instead of watching on a TV screen, Danielson will have the best seat in the house: as Boise State’s head coach on the sidelines.

On Sunday morning, the CFP committee released its final rankings, setting in stone the 12-team bracket. Boise State, one of five conference champions to get automatic bids, was ranked No. 9 overall. But as one of the four highest-ranked league winners, the Broncos earned a first-round bye — climbing all the way to the No. 3 seed, ahead of the multiple-loss champions of the Big 12 and ACC.

They will play the winner of the first-round game between No. 6 Penn State and No. 11 SMU.

Boise State’s players and staff gathered in the team meeting room inside the Bleymaier Football Center on Sunday to watch the selection show on ESPN, which had a reporter and cameras with the Broncos. As a giant blue BSU logo flashed upon the two large screens as the No. 3 seed, the room erupted, and the ever-excitable Danielson could be found at the front of the room, jumping and celebrating with his players.

“It was a moment I’ll never forget,” Danielson said. “Watching ESPN and seeing our team room come up on ESPN, seeing our players on live television on ESPN, those are just surreal moments.”

All three Fiesta Bowl trophies that Boise State has won are on display in the lobby of the Bleymaier Football Center. Every player walks right past them going in and out of the facility.

“I’m sure I’ll have a little extra awareness of them these next couple weeks,” redshirt junior linebacker Marco Notarainni said Sunday.

In the past, the Fiesta Bowl marked the end of the season. This time around that will be the case only if the game ends in a loss, because the winner will advance to the CFP semifinals in either the Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl. It’s unclear right now where the Broncos would go if they advance.

The first time that senior safety Seyi Oladipo walked into Boise State’s football facility during his recruitment, he joked that the Fiesta Bowl wins were all he ever heard about. Now in his fourth year, Oladipo understands what those trophies represent, and he’s ready to help his team go one better.

“I think there’s now a better stage for us to do something that no one’s ever done before,” Oladipo said.

“I appreciate our history of Boise State, especially with the Fiesta Bowl, and I can’t wait to write our own names in the record books.”