Players and the head coach for the Boise State University Broncos credited God for giving them an incredible season and a chance to play in this year’s College Football Playoff.
The No. 3 ranked team in the county and winner of the Mountain West Conference had only had one loss (against the No. 1 University of Oregon Ducks) coming into its Tuesday night CFP quarterfinal matchup with No. 6 Penn State University in Glendale, Arizona, in the Fiesta Bowl.
But Penn State’s defense showed up in a big way, holding the Broncos’ Heisman Trophy finalist running back Ashton Jeanty to his lowest run total of the season, just 104 yards, with nearly half of that coming in the final quarter of the game, USA Today reported.
Jeanty had needed just 132 yards to surpass former Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders’s single-season rushing record of 2,628 yards, set back in 1988.
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Penn State put Tuesday’s game on ice with about five minutes to go in the 4th quarter with a 58-yard touchdown run by back Nicholas Singleton, increasing PSU’s lead to 31 to 14, which was the final score.
Jeanty’s longest run of the night was 26 yards. He had fumbled the ball twice in the game, though the Broncos at least recovered one of those.
A reporter asked Jeanty after the game, “What do you learn as a human being, as a man, not a football player, about a night like this?”
“Whatever it is, your best is always expected and you know sometimes you don’t always do your best, or do what you plan to do, but you know God always has a bigger plan for you,” Jeanty replied, according to KIVI-TV.
Bronco defensive end Ahmed Hassanein told reporters, “First I want to start off and say all glory to Jesus Christ. He’s the true champion.”
“Coach D, you changed my life,” he added, looking off camera to Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson, who has been forthright about his Christian faith.
"Coach D you changed my life, I didn't know God until I got to Boise State."
— Kole Emplit (@KoleEmplit) January 1, 2025
An Emotional moment between Ahmed Hassanein and Spencer Danielson following the Fiesta Bowl. pic.twitter.com/IFDc8aerf1
“I did not know God until I got to Boise State,” Hassanein said. “And I serve a true champion. Jesus Christ is the only true God. He died [and] rose from the dead three days later. That’s the champion that I serve.”
Danielson, in his first full season at Boise State as head coach, talked to reporters about his team’s loss. “I do know God never says ‘oops.’ And as hard as tonight is, as a competitor and as a coach, I do believe we learn and grow from everything. And the best is still to come for our team.
“I’m so proud of this team. It didn’t go our way tonight,” he continued. “I’m so proud of this team. … Obviously, tonight we didn’t execute the way we needed to, to win a heavyweight fight like we knew this was going to be, and we got to learn and grow from that as a program. But I’m so proud of this team re-establishing the standard in Boise.”
Wow! What an opening message from Boise State coach Spencer Danielson after his team lost to Penn State in the CFB quarterfinal matchup. pic.twitter.com/YoNjHM4tTI
— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) January 1, 2025
Faith also appeared to be important to several members of the Penn State football team, who could be seen joining hands and kneeling on the field before the game in apparent prayer.
Penn State travels to Miami next week to play the winner of Thursday’s Notre Dame-University of Georgia game.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal, and is reposted with permission.
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Stephen Strang 
