‘Hard feelings’ and ‘pretty quick’ handshakes: Boise State survives pesky Wolf Pack

After Boise State’s first two drives Saturday night, the Broncos were ahead 14-0 and on cruise control.

Boise State had racked up 122 yards of offense, redshirt sophomore quarterback Maddux Madsen had a touchdown pass, and junior running back Ashton Jeanty had already rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown.

It seemed business as usual for the Broncos, who entered the game as 24-point favorites and were looking at rolling to another blowout win at home.

But then the Wolf Pack dragged the Broncos back down to reality, reminding everyone that this series — which will come to an end with Boise State’s move to the Pac-12 — can deliver surprises.

No. 12 Boise State (8-1, 5-0 Mountain West) emerged as 28-21 victors over Nevada (3-8, 0-5), but it was far from a walk in the park. It was more like being in a park after dark and running into something scary.

“There are hard feelings, I feel like, between the two schools,” Madsen said after the game. “And then you add in the fact of where we are in our status in college football right now. And so I think we’re going to see everyone’s best each week.”

Those hard feelings did not seem contained to the players. Boise State coach Spencer Danielson and Nevada first-year coach Jeff Choate — a BSU assistant from 2006-11 — shared a terse postgame handshake, with Choate quickly breezing past.

“It was pretty quick. One of the quick ones I’ve had,” Danielson said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Wide receivers coach Matt Miller, who played for the Broncos in some knockdown, drag-out games with Nevada, said earlier this week that he expected a “bloody knuckle fight for four quarters.” He wasn’t wrong. The teams combined for four turnovers and multiple other plays that could have been game-changing, and Boise State had to hang on for dear life after twice building two-touchdown leads.

By halftime, Nevada erased one of those two-TD deficits, making it 14-14, the first time Boise State didn’t lead at the break this season.

The Wolf Pack, whose last win came on Oct. 12 vs. Oregon State, didn’t score again until the final three minutes of the game, via a 36-yard touchdown pass from Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis to receiver Jaden Smith. But even up till then, the contest was tense.

“We knew we were going to get a battle, that’s a good team,” redshirt junior linebacker Marco Notarainni said. “They’ve played every team they played on their schedule really tough, so we knew it was going to be a grinder, and we came out on top today.”

The Broncos’ defense forced two turnovers out of Nevada, including a fourth-quarter, goal-line fumble, and a fumble in the first half that was recovered by Notarainni.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for the Broncos, but teams that want to get where they hope to be headed — a conference title, the College Football Playoff — know they sometimes have to dig in and grind out a W.

“We come out with a win, there’s nothing to really sulk on,” Madsen said. “We can learn from certain things and be proud of the team for winning.”

Madsen endured one of his more challenging games of the season, going 9-for-20 for 119 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also had two interceptions overturned — one for defensive pass interference and the other after replay review said it was an incomplete pass.

Danielson acknowledged it was a tough game for Madsen and much of the team, pointing out dropped passes, misreads from the quarterback, fumbles — including two the Broncos were able to recover — and other miscues.

He also called November “compete month,” saying it doesn’t matter what teams have done earlier in the season, because for many teams, the schedule provides now-or-never games.

“You don’t need to lose a game to have that fire to come in here and improve,” Danielson said.

“It is all about 1-0 each week. And we know we will get everybody’s best, but my promise is they will get Boise State Broncos’ best, too.”