‘Please, count us out’: Business as usual for underdog Boise State ahead of playoff game

Inside the friendly confines of the Treasure Valley, hype is high and hope is higher around the Fiesta Bowl.

Outside of the area, the Boise State football team is seemingly being discounted as it prepares for its College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup against Penn State on New Year’s Eve.

No. 3 Boise State is the team that received a first-round bye, but No. 6 Penn State — tradition-laden member of the Big Ten, a Power 4 conference — is a 10.5-point favorite, the second-largest margin between teams in the quarterfinals.

It puts the Broncos, who have built quite a tradition as well, in familiar territory. They opened as 8-point underdogs in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against mighty Oklahoma; 7-point underdogs in 2010 vs. TCU; and 4-point underdogs in 2014 vs. Arizona.

Boise State won all three games.

First-year head coach Spencer Danielson said he doesn’t need anyone outside of the campus to believe in his team.

“Please, count us out,” Danielson said Monday afternoon.

It’s a phrase he’s been using in recent weeks. In addition to being a huge underdog in this game, the Broncos have the longest odds of the eight teams remaining to win the national title.

“Please, count us out,” Danielson repeated. “That’s what Boise State football has been built on: people thinking we can’t do something, and we work our tails off to find a way to prove people wrong.”

Despite those previous Fiesta Bowl wins, this New Year’s Eve stage probably has the brightest lights the football program at Boise State (12-1) has ever seen.

But the Broncos, whose only loss all season was by three points at No. 1 Oregon, are just conducting business as usual.

Danielson is giving the team Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off before hitting the ground running on Thursday. The team will travel to Arizona on Saturday afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s game.

Nothing about how Boise State prepares for a game will change. Position group meetings will remain the same length, practices will follow the same formula and Danielson said he has no plans to try to “micromanage” anything.

“Every game is the most important game, so your process should continue to grow and be elite week to week to week, regardless of the opponent, regardless of where the game is being played,” Danielson said. “And so, no different going into the Fiesta Bowl, quarterfinals of the playoff, I just want to make sure we do our process better than we’ve ever done.”

The coach said it will be business as usual during the game as well.

Danielson has earned a reputation for going for it on fourth down, for instance. The Broncos are 15-for-21 (71.4%) this season, the 10th-best conversion percentage in the nation.

From the incomplete fourth-down pass in the first quarter against Georgia Southern in August to the successful 4th-and-1 rush from junior running back Ashton Jeanty in the Mountain West championship game, Danielson has leaned on a combination of analytics and gut feeling to make some big calls this season.

Danielson said the balance of risk vs. reward will not change because of the game’s importance or the team on the other side of the ball.

“I go into every game with a game plan for situational football. From timeouts to when to go for it, those are the moves I have to make as a head coach,” Danielson said. “And obviously, as a game goes, plans change, and I’ve got to be aware and very adaptable as we work through those.”

Fiesta Bowl, Boise State vs. Penn State

When: 5:30 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday, Dec. 31

Where: State Farm Stadium (63,400, natural grass)

TV: ESPN

Radio: KBOI 670 AM and KBOI 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)

Records: Boise State 12-1; Penn State 12-2

Series: First meeting

Vegas line: Penn State by 10.5 points

Weather: Indoors