ART OF SPORT LA BOWL HOSTED BY GRONK: WASHINGTON VS BOISE STATE

December 13, 2025

Spencer Danielson

Marco Notarainni

Matt Lauter

SoFi Stadium

Boise State Broncos

Press Conference

Washington - 38, Boise State - 10

Q. Guys, we can see it in your face, but just what are the emotions like walking off the field? I know you guys expected it to go differently today.

MARCO NOTARAINNI: Just sharing this field the last time with this team is something special. I've been sharing the field with Lauter since high school. Knowing it's our last game together is painful and tough to deal with, but it's just been an honor being a part of all the seniors in the senior class and how much we've grown over the last four or five years or however long we've been here.

That's kind of been our main focus in the locker room and kind of how we're feeling.

MATT LAUTER: Special group of guys. It's tough, hard loss like that. Need the team to operate in all areas to win like that, and I trust in Coach D and the younger guys to get that fixed for next year. I'm excited to see what Boise State is going to do.

Q. You guys had them 3-3 there five minutes or so left in the second quarter. Just what kind of changed after that, Marco, that miscommunication or whatever on the wide open play for the touchdown, and obviously that kind of opened the flood gates late in the second quarter.

MARCO NOTARAINNI: Yeah, we gave them a lot of free opportunity to make plays. When we were operating as a defense and communicating well and getting a line and not doing somebody else's job, I felt like we were shutting them down and they had no answers.

That's the game of football. You make a mistake as a defense, and they throw one over the top. We had 21 unanswered points. As a defense, we can't let that happen. Obviously the scoreboard showed that we couldn't hold them to less points than our offense could score. As a defense, we need to hold that on our shoulder and play better and operate better.

Q. Obviously emotions are running high, and we'll never understand what Boise State's brotherhood is really like. Can you kind of give us a little glimpse of why this place has been so good to you, what it means to you.

MARCO NOTARAINNI: Just the consistency to never give up. I had a lot of growing up to do as a freshman coming in. I know Lauter did too and all the guys in the senior class had a lot of growing up too to do. As a person, as an academic, as an athlete.

For the university, the leaders, the brotherhood, the guys we came in with, to just consistently build into each other and forgive each other and really grow together is just nothing I'll probably ever experience again.

Yeah, it's just special. That's my best way of describing it. But every single person that has ever left this program that I've been super close with, and it's just been an honor to share the field with them and get to know them as a person with such diverse backgrounds.

Q. You guys have got like Chris Marshall, he comes in to redeem himself, gets ingratiated with the team and was out there battling until the very end. When you see guys who have a chance to come back and they're still fighting, what kind of hope does that give you for the future?

MATT LAUTER: I'll answer that. I think it's cool for the offense to see a guy like Chris obviously coming in here. A lot of high expectations for him, but his mind really wasn't in the right spot. To be honest with you, Coach D and this program changed him. So it's cool to see him not actually lose it and get back on the field and go make a play, which is cool.

After the game, dabbing up guys in the locker room, just saying I love you. Back to your question, that's what Boise State does. It changes lives for sure. As an offense, I'm excited to see them grow and what's going to happen next year. I'm fired up for them.

Q. Matt, you leave Boise State as one of the most productive tight ends in school history. What does that mean to you, and what did it also mean, I mean the outcome not what you wanted, but to get in the end zone there at the end?

MATT LAUTER: So grateful for Potter and calling a screen pass to me on the last play of my career. That was cool. Getting in the paint is always fun. After the game, to piggy-back off what you said at first, I think it's cool because all the other tight ends look up to me. We've got Wagner and a few other guys in that room who are going to be special too. They're going to take over the role, and they're going to own it and be amazing players too.

So just to leave a legacy and those guys to understand how that room is supposed to operate and their work ethic, that's like the biggest thing to me.

Q. Matt, you guys play premium on eliminating turnovers. Those five interceptions, just how frustrating were they, and how killer was that for you tonight?

MATT LAUTER: It was a struggle. It sucks to see our defense go back on the field and have to stop them again and again and again. That's just the way it is, and we'll get it fixed.

Q. I heard Sire Gaines walking through the tunnel and saying time to get back to work. I know you guys aren't going to be here, but what do you make of this team and the leadership that is going to be back and trying to get back to the standards of Boise State football here?

MARCO NOTARAINNI: Yeah, I think that's just what Coach D has instilled in us. That's what our program is all about is get back to work, grinding through hard things. It doesn't really matter how you feel, you've got to do the right things even when the right thing is hard to do.

I know Sire obviously is going to do a good job carrying that torch, and so are a lot of other guys that I can talk about that are going to do the same thing.

Q. Coach, great season despite the loss. Just in regards to the quarterback play tonight, will you take any consideration into maybe looking into options in the portal for the off-season? And as far as just this being your last game in the Mountain West, what kind of lasting memories, remarks, people that have impacted you? What do they mean to you? Kind of just wrapping up the season.

SPENCER DANIELSON: First off, Maddux Madsen is a warrior. He's battled through injury all season from Game 3 to now. You see him even pregame, he's just trying to fight and scratch and get out there. I would say a less competitor wouldn't have even tried to play in the game, wouldn't have even tried to play in the championship game, but Maddux Madsen is an elite competitor, and that's our quarterback.

We believe in Max Cutforth, and he came in and did some good things. Obviously we didn't play well enough tonight. Don't take my answer like I think we did. I think the easy answer is you should go to the portal, but I believe in our quarterbacks. I believe in Maddux, and I believe in Max Cutforth.

Q. Matt, just with the offensive line, you lose Kage from opting out, Metoyer is injured, Carreon gets injured. How more difficult did that make it for you guys? Did it change what was working up there?

MATT LAUTER: It doesn't really change anything. We're going to stick to our process. We have tight ends be in there to help chip and help slow those ends down. Obviously we don't have Kage, and that's frustrating.

We've got to move on from it, and we did. We went out there and, we played our hearts out, and it just didn't go our way.

Q. Just with you saying Kage, close obviously, just from him opting out, just from a leadership perspective, how much more difficult was it without him?

MATT LAUTER: I'm not going to answer that question.

Q. Coach, resilience and effort, Coach. You guys always fight till the end. What happened in the second quarter, in the secondary, with Zion looked like he thought he had some help and then Washington was able to put some points on the board?

SPENCER DANIELSON: We were playing good defense. The biggest part of playing elite defense is eliminating explosive plays. Our defense battled tonight. Proud of a lot of the things they did, but that first touchdown was just a blown coverage. We were in a two-high Shell, and we just didn't play the technique, and that turns into a big time explosive play.

Q. Spencer, with Kage not even being here as a team captain, I don't know how that went down or what you can say, but did that have any impact on the morale of the team not having the captain here tonight? You mentioned the quarterback play of Maddux. Is he your starter going into next season? Is that an open competition? How do you look at the quarterback position going forward?

SPENCER DANIELSON: I respect your question with regard to Kage, but we're focused on our team that was playing the game. They had a great week of perp, and obviously it didn't go well tonight, and I take full responsibility to look at why. Our guys freaking prepped their tails off and went out there and battled, and we've got to be better. I'm going to leave the question at that.

With regard to Maddux, that's our quarterback? Do we need to get better? Do we need to improve? Are we going to compete? All yes. But I'm unwavering in the fact that I believe in Maddux Madsen, and I believe in our quarterbacks. We need to improve and we're going to. We have two really good freshmen coming in, and I'm excited to see them and they'll come in and elevate the room. I love our quarterbacks, and we've just got to be better than we were tonight.

Q. Coach, now that it's all said and done headed into the off-season, what did you learn about your squad tonight in a tough matchup against a Power 4 program?

SPENCER DANIELSON: First off, I'm just so proud of these seniors. They are leaving Boise State better than they found it. Three straight conference champions. I don't know how many teams in the country can say that. They've been through a head coaching change. Some of them have been through COVID. They've been counted out. They've held trophies. They've been booed off the field and continued to come back swinging.

The best is still to for our seniors in life, and this will always be their home. They're leaving this place better than they found it. When I think about this team, I'm thinking about a team that loves each other and will find a way to push through adversity because they're a resilient group. We talk about building a different program, that's building champions on and off the field. But to build someone, they've got to want to change. They've got to want to grow, and it's player driven.

Our players, our leaders too, sitting by me right now, they've pushed that standard forward. The foundation is in a great place. We've obviously got a lot of work to do, and we're going to get to work. I'm proud of what our seniors have done. I'm proud of the foundation. I truly believe the best is yet to come for our football team and I know God's hands are on it.