Spencer Danielson wants Boise State’s offense to be more explosive, creative

Broncos have been shut out in second half four times this season

Boise State Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson didn’t attempt to sugarcoat the Broncos’ offensive performance in last weekend’s 17-7 Mountain West road loss to San Diego State. 

At soggy Snapdragon Stadium, Boise State deployed a conservative offensive game plan with Max Cutforth making his first career start at quarterback.

Cutforth was only allowed to throw the ball nine times until the Broncos’ final desperation drive and ended the day 12 of 18 passing for 104 yards. Boise State logged 20 consecutive run plays during the second and third quarters en route to 164 rushing yards on 41 carries (four yards per attempt). 

The Broncos have scored exactly seven points in all four losses this season. Boise State failed to score after halftime in each loss. 

“You’re not going to win football games if that happens,” Danielson said during Monday’s press conference. The Broncos (6-4, 4-2) will look to re-ignite the offense and snap a two-game skid on Saturday against Colorado State (2-8, 1-5) at Albertsons Stadium. 

“So what are we adjusting at halftime? How are we going to put our players and our playmakers in better spots in the second half? What are some things we’re seeing that we can exploit in the second half? And we’re going to do a better job with that.” 

Danielson said the Broncos will remain a run-first team, but the passing attack needs to be more threatening moving forward. 

“We’ve got to pick our spots to make sure we attack,” Danielson said. “Still run the football, but we’ve got to make sure that we can attack downfield because when you don’t, you’re going against a (stacked) box defensively. … Especially with a quarterback that is not a plus-one run threat, we’re outnumbered in the box. So it doesn’t matter what run schemes we do, it’s going to be really hard to be explosive.”

Cutforth will remain the starting quarterback against Colorado State, Danielson confirmed on Monday. Regular starter Maddux Madsen suffered an unspecified lower leg injury on Nov. 1 against Fresno State. 

Danielson admitted the offense lacked creativity in the San Diego State loss. 

“We need to put a defense in more conflict,” Danielson said. “We need to find ways to put them on their heels more than we did in the game, and we’ve got to be better. We had some things in the game plan that we didn’t use that we had good conversations about why and making sure we don’t leave those bullets unshot.”

Danielson also reiterated his support for first-year offensive coordinator Nate Potter, who took over for Dirk Koetter during the offseason. 

“I believe in coach Potter,” Danielson said. “I know who he is as a coach, I know how he sees the game, I know he pours into our players, I know he’s got answers. 

“Now, are we performing to the level we need to offensively? Absolutely not. But for me, I don’t directly go to ‘You can’t do it.’ Or, ‘You’re not good enough.’ To me, that’s a very average leader that the second maybe a player doesn’t play well in a game, all of a sudden you just write them off. Or is there something you’re missing? Are there ways I have to support Nate more? Are we having enough conversations throughout the week? Are we putting our players in good spots? It’s holistic.”