And who would argue? A win over Oklahoma would elevate the Broncos, as senior safety Gerald Alexander put it, "to the next level.”
But here’s the thing: Using their performance against OU as a measuring stick for the program?
"We’ve been there,” senior quarterback Jared Zabransky said. "We’ve seen that.”
Unfortunately for Boise State, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Flash back to the program’s previous biggest game.
In Sept. 2005, the Broncos traveled to Athens, Ga., to take on Georgia, the season opener for both teams.
They had prepared for the game by, among other things, listening to Ray Charles’ tune, "Georgia on My Mind.”
They still can’t get Georgia off their minds — or at least, not off the minds of college football fans.
Georgia was ranked 13th. But Boise State was ranked 18th. And along with a $650,000 payday, the Broncos planned to make their name and reputation between the hedges.
"Everybody hoped and believed it could be that,” said Milford Terrell, the former president of the Bronco Athletic Association, the school’s booster club.
It wasn’t just the fans, either.
"I thought we were primed,” said former coach Dan Hawkins, who’s now at Colorado. "I thought we were ready. I thought the mentality was great.”
Georgia rolled 48-13.
And then they got pigeonholed: Not ready for prime time.
The knock on the Broncos? Despite all their recent success — in the past five seasons, including this one, they’re 57-7 with five WAC championships — they’ve been seen as a nice, lower-tier program.
Their conference schedule is routinely panned.
And although they’ve played several teams from BCS conferences, they’ve never beaten a BCS conference team on the road.
Boise State has been close in games at Wisconsin (a 28-24 loss in 1997), Arkansas (38-31 in 2000), Washington State (42-35 in 2000), Oregon State (26-24 in 2003 and 30-27 in 2005).
And Boise State has beaten Oregon State twice at home in the past three years — including a 42-14 rout this season.
A quick reminder: Oregon State rebounded to beat USC.
But Georgia was the big opportunity, until now. A big, blown opportunity, the Broncos say.
Looking back — when they have to do so — the Broncos describe it as a seriously bad day, uncharacteristic of their capability.
"It was the first game of the season,” sophomore tailback Ian Johnson said. "A lot of things happened. It was obvious the same team that played the rest of the (2005) season wasn’t there.”
Zabransky, who was being touted as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, suddenly wasn’t.
His first pass — the first play of the game — was picked off. He threw three more interceptions and fumbled twice, all in the first half.
"You can’t beat Temple turning the ball over six times,” senior center Jadon Dailey said. "Well, maybe Temple.”
But not Georgia. Or another of college football’s big boys. The Bulldogs led 38-0 before the Broncos scored.
"Obviously, we got spanked,” Hawkins told reporters after the game.
And this week, Hawkins said he was as surprised as anyone by the outcome.
"We just never gave ourselves a chance,” Hawkins said.
And unfortunately, the college football world didn’t give them much chance, either. Not after that performance.
Boise State finished 9-4 and just missed a win over Boston College in the MPC Computers Bowl (played at Bronco Stadium).
This year, they’re 12-0, with a new head coach, a new team — and new confidence.
But still, people keep reminding them of the 2005 season opener.
"We’ve been scrutinized since that game,” Dailey said. "Every game we’ve played since, just about, everyone always brings up Georgia.”
Which brings us back to the present. With a win over Oklahoma, the Broncos could get Georgia off their minds.
"We need to go out and prove a point, that that game wasn’t typical Boise State,” Zabransky said. "This is an opportunity to do so.”
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