What Boise State’s Spencer Danielson said about UNLV, head coach Dan Mullen

‘Good teams find a way to win, and UNLV has,’ Danielson said

Spencer Danielson | Boise State Athletics

Boise State’s biggest home game of the season is finally here. 

The Broncos (4-2, 2-0) will host undefeated UNLV (6-0, 2-0) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in a critical Mountain West game. 

The Rebels are one of 11 undefeated teams in FBS. 

“Got a huge opponent coming to The Blue this weekend,” Danielson said during Monday’s press conference. “We’re playing a really, really talented offense in UNLV.”

Boise State and UNLV have met in the last two MWC championship games. The Broncos captured the 2023 MWC title with a 44-20 victory at Allegiant Stadium and clinched a College Football Playoff spot a season ago with a 21-7 home win over the Rebels. 

Nov 20, 2021; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Former Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen, now with UNLV Rebels. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

“Yes, we’ve played each other a lot the past couple of years,” Danielson said. “It’s a whole new staff, a bunch of new players. We’ve got a bunch of new players. Obviously our staff is here and there’s a lot of things we remember from last year, but that’s not going to carry over at all into this game. It’s a whole new season, a whole new team.” 

Here are the highlights from Danielson’s press conference. 

On UNLV’s 6-0 start

“They’ve played on the road, they’ve played in different time zones, they’ve been in battles. Good teams find a way to win, and UNLV has. We know them coming to The Blue is one of the best teams we’ll see all year, and we’ve got our work cut out for us.

“You look at the film, there’s no doubt they’re undefeated, and there’s no doubt they are one of the top-20 offenses in the country. That’s what you get when you have really good players and really good coaches.” 

On first-year UNLV coach Dan Mullen

“Hats off to Dan Mullen. He’s obviously one of the top coaches in the country and has done it for a long time. UNLV brought him there to win, and obviously he’s done that at a high level.”

On Rebels’ explosive offense

“Their quarterback (Anthony Colandrea) is their second-leading rusher. He can make all the throws, but he is absolutely dynamic running the football. Could be designed runs, but even scrambling for first downs … and it’s not just scrambling for first downs, he’s explosive. 

“That offense is rolling. I think they’re a top-20 offense in every category. First downs, touchdowns, yards, they’re a very, very explosive offense. Obviously Dan Mullen is an offensive guy, you see that. You see the explosive bones.” 

On creating turnovers, protecting the ball

“Really proud of how our defense played (against New Mexico). When the two first drives of the game turn into takeaways, that’s a point of emphasis for our team. We’ve got to take the ball away, and then on the flip side we have to protect it on offense, and we did not give the ball away. That’s a huge stat for us.” 

On getting the running game going 

“We’ve got to start faster in our run game. Way too many first-down (tackles for loss), way too many. Can’t happen. We can’t start a drive on second-and-11, can’t happen. … I am proud of how our run game got going in the second half, but we’ve got to start way faster in regards to running the football.”