Boise State is BCS-bound after 38-7 victory

How big was Boise State’s victory over Nevada?

About 4,000 Broncos fans rushed the field in celebration.

Happens all the time, right? Well, the game was in Reno.

The Boise State fans were celebrating because the 38-7 victory over the Wolfpack assured the Broncos that they would play in a BCS bowl game.

The BCS bowl bids won’t go out until Dec. 3, but Boise State can make reservations in Tempe, Ariz., for the Fiesta Bowl because among those in the crowd Saturday was Fiesta Bowl President John Junker.

“This team is worthy of a BCS bowl,” Junker told the Broncos in the locker room after the game. “You’ll have to wait a week, but we’ll be getting ready for you in the Valley of the Sun.”

As a team from a non-BCS conference, Boise State needs to finish among the top 12 in the BCS standings to get an official invitation to one of the big-money bowl games. They were 11th heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale.

They would be only the second non-BCS team to play in a BCS bowl. Utah, from the Mountain West Conference, played in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl.

“This is overwhelming,” linebacker Korey Hall said. “I couldn’t have pictured myself in this situation five years ago. We’re now 12-0 and about to go to the Fiesta Bowl.”

Boise State would play the Big 12 Conference champion in the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma and Nebraska will play next week for that title.

-- Peter Yoon