No. 10 Boise State returns to cusp of playoffs 14 years after heartbreaking loss to Nevada

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - First-year Boise State coach Spencer Danielson didn't have much to say earlier this week about the No. 10 Broncos' opportunity to crash the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff field.

It was a surprisingly toned-down response given how enthusiastic he seems about everything else in life.

But then again, given what happened in 2010, the last time Boise State was this close to tasting the playoffs, few in Idaho’s capital city want to talk about it either.

Maybe it's fear of jinxing it or - even worse - witnessing history repeat itself when Boise State hosts No. 19 UNLV in the Mountain West championship game Friday night.

"Do we have to talk about that game?" former Boise State and NFL receiver Austin Pettis said with a chuckle this week when asked about the one blight on the Broncos' schedule that season.

That game - Boise State's regular-season finale against the Colin Kaepernick-led Nevada on Nov. 26, 2010 - is the one that spoiled a perfect season, snapped a 24-game winning streak and squelched an opportunity for the school's most talented team to crash the then-BCS championship game between the two top-ranked teams.

"It's one of those games I think about … once or twice a year," said former defensive lineman Billy Winn, who played on that Boise State team and later in the NFL.

The Broncos entered that weekend No. 3, behind only No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 Auburn. A stumble by either team could’ve enabled the Broncos to break the glass ceiling for a team outside the power conferences.

"I do believe that would've been our national championship year," said Winn, who was one of 12 Boise State players on that roster drafted to the NFL, five more than eventual national champion Auburn. "I'm not sure if the voters would've tried to keep us out, but we thought that spot was ours for the taking."

In a wild start to the day, No. 9 Alabama took an early 24-0 lead against No. 2 Auburn. But then eventual Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton led an Iron Bowl comeback for the ages to help the Tigers escape with a 28-27 win.

A dominant win over a No. 19 Nevada team and who knew how voters would view that Boise State team?

"Going into that game, we knew if we won, the worst-case scenario would be a trip to the Rose Bowl," Pettis said. "We had so many guys from California on the team that it would've been special for them to play in that bowl. But it didn't work out that way."

How it worked out became an instant classic with the Broncos' Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Kellen Moore dueling with Nevada’s Kaepernick.

Kaepernick led the Wolf Pack on a frantic game-tying drive in the waning seconds of the game to force overtime. Boise State had two opportunities to win with a field goal, one at the end of regulation and the other in overtime, but both attempts by Kyle Brotzman were just wide and Nevada emerged with a 34-31 victory.

But as painful as that memory is for the players on that team, they see plenty of similarities with the 2024 edition of Broncos.

"The mentality that Danielson is instilling within the program is similar to what we had when we were playing there," said Pettis, who spent four seasons with the St. Louis Rams. "And that's been shown in how they play on the field this year."

Winn agreed.

"They're similar in how they play with that blue-collar attitude and knowing what's at stake each time they step out on the field," said Winn, who played for five NFL teams between 2012-20.

Pettis, the offensive coordinator at his high school alma mater Orange Lutheran in California, also noted a return to the type of culture that elevated Boise State among college football's elite under then-coach Chris Petersen.

"This year, it's much more than the talent they have, but it's the culture they're producing," Pettis said. "When you have the correct culture that translates into wins. Football is more than just transactional where if you get elite athletes, you put them together and get wins. We're seeing that across college football in the age of NIL."

While Boise State has struggled to return to its lofty ranking from that 2010 season, its identity remains entrenched in what built the program.

"We knew what our identity was," Winn said. "We had the Ohio State president saying we only played the Little Sisters of the Poor. But it was comments like that that fueled us.

"We understood nobody thought we were supposed to be where we were, so we just decided to go show the world what we could do. We were going to drag people into the deep water for four quarters and say, ‘What can you do?'"

Winn recognizes that familiar mindset with this year's team.

"The No. 1 thing I see in this team is grit," Winn said. "You see it in their faces, and it's a look I know all too well."

Whether Boise State buries the pain of the past on Friday night, under Danielson the Broncos seem to have recaptured the essence of what made the program dominant under Petersen when it went 104-12 between 2006 and 2013.

"Danielson understands that football is more than just having the best players," Pettis said. "It's about going through the fire with your brothers and knowing how to do that together."