EUGENE — Boise State lost 37-34 to No. 7 Oregon on Saturday night at Autzen Stadium.

Spencer Danielson reflected on the loss to the Broncos.

Below is a transcript of Danielson’s post-game press conference.

SPENCER DANIELSON

Opening statement…

“We’ve got to find a way to win that game, that’s what I told our team. You come to Boise State to be a part of Bronco Nation, to win that football game. I’m proud of our team. We didn’t finish the game like we should have. We’ve got to find a way to win that game, we didn’t. We’re going to look at it, learn from it, grow from it. We’re going to be a better football team because of what we went through tonight. I’m proud of how our team competed. They don’t run from hard work. From January until now, this team hasn’t run from it. A lot of times in life, people look for the short cut or the easy way out. That’s not these guys, that’s not our team. Momentum is created through execution. Even when we were down late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, our guys kept hitting. That’s a test of their hearts and who they are. We’re going to learn from this and grow from it. Our best football is in front of us. I think we showed ourselves tonight. Even for the people who didn’t believe in it, we have a good football team. We have a group of guys that don’t shy away from hard work. They’re going to do the little things. Now we’ve got to fine-tune it. We gave up too many explosive plays. You can’t give up two special teams touchdowns and find a way to win a game, but those are things we can fix, and we’ve got to do that. I’m proud of our guys, disappointed in the loss, obviously. You come to Boise State to win those games. That’s why you come here. That’s why you come here as a coach, to find a way to win those games. We didn’t get it done, but I’m proud of how our guys kept swinging until the end.”

On momentum shift after second special teams touchdown…

“Football is a momentum game. All the big explosive plays on special teams or takeaways create momentum. All the things we have to look at and fix. Coach (Stacy) Collins is the best special teams coordinator in the country. I believe that and that’s not going to change. We have to fix it. We have to find the guys on special teams to win their one-on-one games, no different than on offense and defense. But it’s huge. It was back and forth. We found a way to take the ball in the fourth quarter, to get the momentum back, to execute, to stay in the fight, because our guys never blinked. They never blinked. They were up six at halftime, 0-0, they came out swinging. Lost the lead, then a takeaway, it was a back and forth game. We have to find a way to win those games. As a coach, it’s all on me. I have to look at how we practice, how we train, to fine-tune it so we can win those football games. You come to Boise State to win games like this, and we have to be better.”

About the execution of the kick-off…

“Taren Schive gives us the best chance to shoot the ball out of the end zone and give us our best kickoffs. He’s earned the right to do that. We’ve got to clean up our coverage unit. I haven’t had a chance to watch it on the iPad yet, but we’ll watch it and clean it up. There’s going to be a matchup that we didn’t execute. It’s football, it’s black and white. Someone didn’t win their one-on-one and lost leverage. That’s fixable, but we’ve got to do it. The best teams learn and grow, keep learning. Our team improved from week one to week two, but we didn’t do enough to win this game.”

Up to speed with fumbles and recoveries…

“It’s huge. We talk about it all the time. Tireless effort, explosive plays, turnover margin. Those are the three stats I look at, the three things that win football games. Those takeaways at the end of the game, great work by our defense. I’m proud of our defense. They were 4-for-12 on third downs today, huge. We’ve got to get off the field. The explosive plays on special teams were obviously huge plays in the game. We had every opportunity to win that game. We’ve got to find a way to stop the defense, get our offense going and win the game. We didn’t do that.”

Looking back after Noah Whittington’s return touchdown…

“They thought he dropped it late. I haven’t been able to watch the film. They said he dropped it late, then they watched it and said it was a touchdown.”

About Maddux Madsen’s performance…

“We’ve got to get better in the passing game. Everyone’s going to look at the quarterback, but it’s not just him. There’s some formations and routes we’ve got to find, we’ve got to win one-on-one. I’ve got to take a hat off to our offensive line. If you lose Roger Carreon early in the game, we’re already without Mason Randolph. Two of our better players on the O-Line are out, but they’ve found a way for guys to step up, like Zach Holmes coming in there and hitting against one of the best fronts we’re going to see all year. Ashton Jeanty continues to put on performances. He’s the best player in the country and I make no bones about it when I say that. Everything he gets, he’s earned and he deserves. Hats off to our tight ends, to our offensive line, because they came together. But we’ve got to work on our passing game. I know Coach (Dirk) Koetter called a great game, we’ve got to execute when the call comes.”

On the hope for an extra touchdown at the end of the first half…

“I always think about scoring touchdowns, but we wanted to score points. There’s always parameters for me. Last week we talked about analytics to win, but I wanted to score points. It’s all about winning the middle eight (minutes). We also got the ball to start the third quarter, so let’s score points. Let’s make it a touchdown game and let’s get the ball in the third quarter. We definitely thought about it.”

About Ashton Jeanty’s performance…

“Oregon is one of the best rushing defenses in the entire country and for good reason. They’re very well-coached. Kudos to Oregon, they won the game. I’m proud of how our team competed. You see who Ashton is, no matter the spotlight. No matter the game, he’s going to execute.”

Report on the overall performance against Oregon…

“We have a very good football team. Maybe people outside our walls didn’t know that. I believe in our team because of the way they work. It’s not because of a talented player or a talented group, it’s because I’ve seen our team work. They don’t run away from it and I’m proud of that. That showed tonight. We didn’t show up to win the game, so we’ve got to find a way to win that game, but we have a good team. We’re going to learn from this and grow. We’re going to be better come September 7th because of the way we learned. You can see how our team is going to fight. Anyone who plays us, be prepared for a Boise State team that keeps swinging. We’re going to be even better in the final period. I believe that. Ultimately, I’m proud of how our team came out of the gate and kept swinging until the end. We’ve got to fine-tune the details and make sure we win that football game.”

About the defensive performance…

“We put a huge emphasis on third downs, and holding Oregon to 4-for-12 is a big deal. There’s more to it than that. Explosive plays are still a problem, obviously, so we’ve got to keep cleaning them up. The explosive plays on special teams, the explosive plays on defense. We’ve got to find a way to eliminate them, to grow, to be the defense that we want to be, but I’m proud of our defensive staff. We’ve got to find a way to get off the field there at the end of the game. Our defense is built to get off the field at the end of the game, to give our offense a chance in the first two minutes. We didn’t do that. We’ve got to look at it, grow from it and figure out how to get off the field from all angles. It’s such a fine line in football. There are no ceremonial losses in football, you either win the game or lose the game. Hats off to Oregon, they beat us tonight. But I think it shows that we’ve got a good team, and we’ve got a team that’s going to fight and fight. It doesn’t matter what stadium, whether we’re playing home or away, put the ball down and I’m going to take my guys against anybody in the country. I believe that God brought us all here for a time like this. It’s in the Bible and I believe that. Our team talks about faith. Our team believes that they can win every game because they work hard. I think they have the confidence. Frustrated about losing, as they should be, but they know now that when you put the ball down, you’re going to get Boise State’s best every time.”

On a reset for a three-game home series…

“We can’t wait to get in front of Bronco Nation. Thank you to all the Bronco Nation fans who came all the way to Autzen to see us play. That’s Boise State. We’ve got to find a way to win that game and I apologize to Bronco Nation that we didn’t do that tonight. I promise you we’re going to learn from it and grow. I promise Bronco Nation that this is a team that you can be proud of, that will never give up and we’re going to trust each other to continue to grow. I can’t wait to get back on the Blue. I can’t wait to play Portland State in two weeks. We have a bye week, which we’ve got to win as well. We’ve got to look at these first two games schematically, fundamentally and technically in all three phases. How can we learn and grow from these first two games and get better in the final phase? We’ve got a great group of opponents. There’s not a game on our schedule where we can take our foot off the gas pedal. The best teams continue to learn and grow and find a way to win every game. That’s this team.”

About corrections to secondary and explosive plays…

“Most of the time, explosive plays come down to lack of eye control, lack of communication, lack of execution. We have to look at the film and take it from there. It’s all about 11 guys playing together. If one guy doesn’t play well, it’s going to be an explosive play, and it showed. We had less tonight, but it’s still not enough to beat a top-10 opponent. We have to find a way to win that game. Our players are frustrated because they know what kind of team we have, and we’re going to keep getting better. I have to give God all the glory for our team, who they are and who they’re going to be. We’re going to grow from this.”

About Zach Holmes’ performance…

“Zach did a great job. We went into the game with all our chips on the table with Zach. He did a great job, especially against one of the best fronts we’re going to see all year. Obviously, there’s still some cleaning up to do on film. Talk about a guy who didn’t blink. He went out there and kept executing. We put a lot on him. Mason Randolph is one of the best players on our team. Roger Carreon is one of the best players on our team. Losing those two guys hurts, but you see good teams have guys that step up. Zach and Tyler, they stepped up and got better and better. They were able to move the ball a lot from a run offensive standpoint tonight. Now we’ve got to make sure we clean up the passing game.”

– James Crepea covers the Oregon ducks and Big Ten. Listen to the Ducks confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup Newsletter.