What Boise State’s Spencer Danielson said about Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman

‘I think the world of Marcus Freeman,’ Danielson said

Sep 27, 2025; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Boise State’s most anticipated matchup of the 2025 college football season is finally here. 

The Broncos (3-1) hit the road this week to take on No. 21 Notre Dame (2-2) for a non-conference showdown between two College Football Playoff participants from a season ago. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Mountain time at Notre Dame Stadium. 

“Obviously, a lot of people will be talking about this game, as they should. It’s a huge opponent,” Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson said on Monday. “My biggest focus for our team is your best is enough, and your best is required. That’s going to be my message for them all week.

“Doesn’t need to be perfect. I don’t need anybody to be like ‘All right, we’re playing Notre Dame, I have to go be Superman.’ No, but I do need your best, no different from our coaching staff.”

Here are the highlights from Danielson’s press conference. 

On Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

“I think the world of Marcus Freeman. I was blessed to be able to meet him this offseason at an event. Obviously, the success speaks for itself in regards to him as a coach and him as a defensive coordinator, him as a leader. But from meeting him and seeing him from afar, he also seems like a phenomenal leader of men in that he cares about building young men to be champions in life.”

On Notre Dame’s offense 

“Their two running backs (Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price) … two of the best we’ll see all season, period, end of story. Two, in my opinion, first-round draft picks, and we’ve got our work cut out for us stopping them. They’ve got great schematics, their offensive line’s really good. They’ve got receivers that can beat you consistently, so we’ve got our work cut out for us defensively. 

Sep 20, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) celebrates scoring against the Purdue Boilermakers in the second half at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

“It starts with tackling the running backs. And then CJ (Carr), their quarterback, he’s going to be a future first-round draft pick. I don’t think I’m the first one that will say that. He has that type of potential and he has that type of leadership, accuracy. That’s who he is as a quarterback.

“Offensively, they are loaded. They are coached extremely well, they are not going to make mistakes. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

On Notre Dame’s defense

“Their front seven is one of the best front sevens we’re for sure going to see all year. Well-coached. (Boubacar Traore), one of their edge rushers, is a dynamic football player. (Drayk Bowen) is a really good football player for them, captain. They are able to rotate and play a lot of guys, very physical at the point of attack, can run, very sound. And their back end, they don’t give up a lot of explosive plays because they play really well together. They can lock you down in man and do a good job in some zone switch-ups.”

On Notre Dame’s special teams

“I think the phase that needs to be talked about more with their team is how good they are on special teams. They play relentless on special teams. It’s inspiring to me just how hard they play on special teams. They will fake it every opportunity they can. … They find ways to steal possessions, and they do a really good job of it.”

On defensive resurgence against Appalachian State 

“I feel like our defense … played better. Still a lot of meat on the bone there defensively, but played much better, played at a high level and were able to eliminate a lot more of the explosive plays that we had given up prior.”