If your favorite college football team, like mine, failed to qualify for the 2024-25 playoffs, fear not. You can always adopt one.
In fact, you could do worse than to cheer for an underdog led by men who have the right priorities.
Speaking to reporters ahead of their school’s first-ever appearance in the newly expanded College Football Playoff, Boise State Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson and star running back Ashton Jeanty spoke openly and passionately about their Christian faith and the Bible verses from which they draw strength.
“I talk about three things: Love Jesus, work hard [and] treat people right,” Danielson said in a clip posted Monday to the social media platform TikTok.
The coach also explained that his on-field success stems from his knowledge of Christ.
“My relationship with Jesus is the only way I can be everything I need to be for this team,” he said.
Indeed, Danielson did not merely talk about God in generic terms. He cited multiple Bible verses, including Revelation 3:7 and Ephesians 3:20.
“You look at stories in the Bible that directly correlate to what we are going through in our daily lives,” the coach said. “And that’s what I lean on, not on my own thoughts or my own things that I want to do.”
@jacksongroff #BoiseState Head Coach Spencer Danielson talks his faith in Jesus Christ & what God has taught him this season✝️🙏 #boisestatefootball #christian #Jesus #JesusChrist #christiantiktok #collegefootball #cfb #cfbplayoff #God #christianity #collegefootballplayoff ♬ Boundless Worship – Josué Novais Piano Worship
Meanwhile, in a separate TikTok video, Jeanty followed his coach’s example.
Are you rooting for Boise State after seeing this?
“When you put God first, before everything, he’ll give you everything you want and more,” the star running back said.
If that sounded like a familiar passage from the Bible, Jeanty meant it that way.
“So, I think in the verse Matthew 6:33, you know, seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be added. And that’s been this whole year,” he said.
“So I put God first, and I got baptized and I confessed to the whole world,” he added.
@jacksongroff #BoiseState RB Ashton Jeanty talks what God has taught him during his historic season🏈✝️ #collegefootball #cfb #football #boisestatefootball #ashtonjeanty #JesusChrist #Jesus #God #Christian #christiantiktok #cfbplayoff #collegefootballplayoff #fyp ♬ Boundless Worship – Josué Novais Piano Worship
Danielson and Jeanty, of course, had good reasons to feel gratitude to God.
The 2024-25 season marks the first in which the College Football Playoff features an expanded field of 12 teams.
On Tuesday night, the 12-1 Broncos will play the 12-2 Penn State Nittany Lions in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The winner will advance to play the winner of Wednesday’s Allstate Sugar Bowl between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. Then, the winner of that game will play for the national championship on Jan. 20.
Boise State earned the #3 overall seed in the playoff, while Penn State will enter the game seeded #6 overall. Due to the strange nature of the CFP’s selection and seeding process, however, the Broncos will play as heavy underdogs. Odds makers have established the Nittany Lions of the powerhouse Big 10 Conference as an 11.5-point favorite over Boise State, champions of the less-heralded Mountain West Conference.
Nonetheless, Penn State will hardly present the Broncos with an unprecedented challenge. On Sept. 8, for instance, the Oregon Ducks used a last-second field goal to hand Boise State its only loss. Oregon then finished the season undefeated and earned the #1 overall seed in the CFP.
Moreover, the Nittany Lions will have their hands full with Jeanty. The 2024 Heisman Trophy runner-up rushed for an astonishing 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns this season.
In fact, outlets such as USA Today and CBS Sports project Jeanty to go as high as 13th overall to the Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 NFL Draft.
In short, one of the best teams in the country has a Christian head coach and a Christian star player. Betting odds notwithstanding, they also have much more than a fighting chance.
Time to jump on the proverbial Boise State bandwagon. After all, if they can knock off the Nittany Lions, that bandwagon will get awfully crowded.
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