When Boise State coach Chris Petersen held up the Fiesta Bowl trophy and said “This is for the Bronco Nation,” some of you might have been tempted to snicker. I can imagine the retort: “There’s a Bronco Nation?” Everyone knows there’s a Trojan Nation, a Domer Nation, a Red Sox Nation, a Raider Nation, etc. … but does Boise State really have a “nation”?

Well, let me tell you, there absolutely is a Bronco Nation, and it came out in force to Arizona for this game. Those people you heard on TV cheering for the Broncos weren’t just bandwagon fans rooting for the underdog; they were Boise die-hards. It’s absolutely incredible how many people can down here from Idaho. The Boise State fans seriously own this town right now. When Becky, Casey and I went to Tempe for New Year’s Eve celebrations, we were all floored by the vast number of Boise fans. They were everywhere! There were at least five Broncos fans for every Sooners fan, and it might have been more like ten, as I said at the time. It was amazing.

There were a lot of reasons I was absolutely ecstatic when Boise won (and, conversely, absolutely crushed when I thought they were going to lose), but one of the biggest reasons was thinking about how these folks must be feeling:

I can’t tell you how happy I am for the Boise fans. They deserve every bit of the joy they’re feeling right now. They treated this game much like their team’s players and coaches did: as a chance to prove themselves on a national stage, to disprove the doubters and show that they’re “for real.” In the fans’ case, that meant proving that Boise State has a rabid fan base that absolutely will travel to big-time bowl games. And they definitely proved it. So, hats off to the Bronco Nation. Great job, guys.

During the last four days, the Phoenix Valley has played host to the greatest comeback in bowl history (the Insight Bowl in Tempe) and one of the greatest bowl games ever, period (the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale). The latter might also qualify as the greatest upset in bowl history, if we’re looking not at pointspreads but at the reputation and national cachet of the teams involved, as well as the potential implications for underdogs everywhere.

And I was here, and yet I didn’t go to either game. Damn, I wish I had more money to blow on football game tickets. ;)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BOISE STATE WINS THE FIESTA BOWL ON A STATUE-OF-LIBERTY PLAY ON A TWO-POINT CONVERSION IN OVERTIME!!!!!!

YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Un-freakin-believable!!! I honestly think that might have been a better game than USC-ND last year. Certainly the best football game I’ve ever watched on TV. Absolutely incredible.

And an absolutely perfect ending for a champion of the mid-majors like me. I was literally just running around the in-laws’ living room, silently pumping my fists and jumping over furniture. (Everyone else in the house is asleep. Fools. They missed an utterly amazing game.)

Fox reporter asks Boise QB Jared Zabransky: “Do you deserve a shot at Ohio State?”

Zabransky: “I believe we do … We deserve a chance at a national title.”

Yes, Jared, yes you do.

UPDATE: And Ian Johnson just proposed to his (cute!) cheerleader girlfriend, and she said yes! Call me an emotional sap, but I totally have goosebumps. Okay, that puts it over the top: this was officially better than the USC-ND game. :)