No. 3 Boise State clinched a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, and there are still doubters complaining about how the Broncos even made the Fiesta Bowl in the first place.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!So what did the players do when arriving in Phoenix on Saturday? They wore a shirt that read, “Please Count Us Out.”
Despite what outsiders believe, that motto has fueled this program to where they are today: having a shot at a National Championship.
Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen (left) and defensive end Ahmed Hassanein (right) speaking to the media. 2024 College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl – Boise State Team Arrival. Photo by Jonathan Mouer
Ready to shock college football
Putting the college football world on notice, the Broncos went 12-1 this season, were 7-0 in the Mountain West and won the conference championship. Their only loss of the year was to the Big 10 champion Oregon by a single field goal, 37-34.
While the naysayers will continue to argue about Boise State in the CFP and predicting No. 6 Penn State to win the Fiesta Bowl, defensive end Ahmed Hassanein encourages the criticism because the team will use it as motivation.
“If you look at Boise State’s history, we’re always being counted out,” Hassanein said at Boise State’s team arrival press conference on Saturday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “We want to play in these types of games. We’ve always been counted out. When we come here, every single one at BSU has been counted out. They [doubters] already counted us before, ‘We’re not going to win this game, you already have the favorite.’ You already have all that.
“We just want to prove them wrong because when we step on that field, he’s just a human being just like me, he eats just like me, he sleeps just like me. So, might as well just stick it to them.”
Video Credit: Colton Pool, Hero Sports
Here’s Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein talking about the team’s “please count us out” shirts players wore while getting off the plane today.#CFP @Fiesta_Bowl @HERO_SportsCFB @BroncoSportsFB @SSN_BoiseState @BSUsportsreport @A_Hassanein91 pic.twitter.com/hoVgqiIqij
— Colton Pool (@CPoolReporter) December 28, 2024
For Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen, he has that same mindset because he too has been an underdog throughout his life.
“Personally, I’ve dealt with this my whole life, so to kind of have the team, obviously getting the three seed and a bye is where it initially started. A lot of people didn’t feel like we deserved it, but really what did we do to not is kind of the way I put it,” Madsen said. “I know this team is going to take on this underdog mentality, that’s what Boise State is built on. You heard that all week. These shirts, it was kind of cool to get this just because it’s the truth. Everyone is counting us out. So the acceptance of, like, do it, is a big deal.”
Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen also talked about the team’s “please count us out” mentality during a press conference after the team’s arrival in Phoenix.#CFP @Fiesta_Bowl @HERO_SportsCFB @BroncoSportsFB @SSN_BoiseState @BSUsportsreport @MadduxMadsen pic.twitter.com/dgjdfF2flL
— Colton Pool (@CPoolReporter) December 28, 2024
Unlike previous years, the CFP format has expanded to 12 teams and four teams received bye weeks.
One of the most well-known games in bowl season, the Fiesta Bowl’s significance has skyrocketed to another level. Instead of just the two teams involved wrapping up their seasons, the Fiesta Bowl is the first CFP quarterfinal ever where whoever wins will advance to the semifinals.
Given a chance to extend this season into 2025, Hassanein feels a bowl game like this means more than it ever has before.
“It feels different because I can keep going. The last previous bowl games, it was one and done, but no, our goal is just to win this one and go again,” Hassanein said. “I don’t want this to be the end. I want to keep winning. I want to just keep going. I love this team so much, and I want to just do everything in my ability just to have one more week with this team; two more weeks with this team and just take it all the way.”
Matching up with Penn State, the Nittany Lions and Broncos are two of the most successful teams in Fiesta Bowl history.
Jerseys and helmets of the Boise State Broncos and Penn State Nittany Lions on display at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Ragsdale Executive Terminal in Phoenix on Dec. 28, 2024.
Boise State is 3-0 all-time after beating Arizona (2014), TCU (2010) and Oklahoma (2007). The best team in Fiesta Bowl history, Penn State is a perfect 7-0 and will be making a return to the Valley of the Sun after it won 35-28 over Washington in 2017.
Having two storied programs battle it out to see who will remain perfect in Glendale and advance to the next round of the CFP, Madsen understands the magnitude of this game and wants to carry on Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl success.
“It is a cool tradition that Boise State was built on. I mean, the Fiesta Bowl is a stamp on the Boise State football tradition,” Madsen said. “So to be in the position to uphold that tradition and that standard is something I’m not taking lightly, nor do I think this team is taking lightly. I know we’re all going to be ready for the challenge that we got, and every little bit of us is excited for it as well.”
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Suns, ASU Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
