What Boise State’s Spencer Danielson said in Week 5 press conference

Broncos to host Appalachian State on Saturday

Boise State Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson has seen steady improvement from his team following a Week 1 loss to South Florida. 

“We’ve played three games, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves,” Danielson said on Monday during his weekly press conference. “But we’ve still got a lot to improve on. … That’s going to be the big push for our team this week.”

The Broncos (2-1, 1-0), who are coming off a 49-37 Mountain West victory over Air Force (1-2, 0-2), jump back into non-conference play this week with a home game against Appalachian State (2-1, 0-1 Sun Belt). Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Mountain time at Albertsons Stadium. 

Here are the highlights from Danielson’s presser. 

On Boise State’s rushing attack, Dylan Riley 

“I’m proud of how our offense was able to establish a run game. That’s something that is a DNA part of our team. Proud of them. … Running back-wise, I thought all three of them played well. Dylan Riley, no one deserves it more. At the end of the day, practices his tail off, man. Practices his tail off. And for him to be able to be explosive the way he is … and once again, that’s also a product of the offensive line, tight ends, receivers doing a really good job getting him free.

Sep 20, 2025; Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; Boise State Broncos running back Dylan Riley (24) runs the ball as Air Force Falcons defensive back Roger Jones Jr. (5) defends in the fourth quarter at Falcon Stadium. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

“We’ve got a really good problem on our hands to be able to continue to figure out the touches and who we’re going to get the ball to. Because all three of them (Sire Gaines, Malik Sherrod, Riley) have done a really good job.”

On offensive areas for improvement

“The biggest thing offensively is we’ve got to eliminate the sins, that’s self-inflicted negatives. There’s a drive where we have a false start, false start, holding penalty in a row. You can’t win if we don’t get those things fixed. We’ve got to clean that up. … There’s a lot of stuff discipline-wise we’ve got to make sure we continue to fix. When guys play hard, that’s going to happen sometimes. But we’ve got to make sure we improve on the self-inflicted negatives.”

On gritty performance against Air Force 

“We learned that we can respond to adversity. That’s what I think we learned a lot about our team on Saturday. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect at it yet. We had a game Game 1 where we didn’t (respond). Game 3, I feel like we did a much better job. 

Sep 20, 2025; Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; Air Force Falcons quarterback Liam Szarka (9) runs the ball under pressure from Boise State Broncos linebacker Marco Notarainni (53) as offensive lineman Alec Falk (75) defends in the fourth quarter at Falcon Stadium. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

“Second play of the game, starting quarterback goes out. Then defense goes on the field, gets a touchdown scored on them really quick, and we are at an opportunity as a team like ‘What are we going to do?’ And I’m so proud of (backup quarterback) Max Cutforth coming in, leading our offense on a touchdown drive, defense gets a stop. Our guys responded the right way.”