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

Boise State had gained 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 appeared to be business as usual for the Broncos, who went into the match as 24-point favorites and were looking at another win at home.

But then the Wolf Pack dragged the Broncos back to reality and reminded everyone that this series — which will end with Boise State moving to the Pac-12 — could throw some surprises.

No. 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 coming across something scary.

“I feel like there are hard feelings between the two schools,” Madsen said after the game. “And then you add in where we are now in our standing in college football. And so I think we’ll see the best of everyone every week.

Those hard feelings seemed beyond comprehension for the players. Boise State coach Spencer Danielson and first-year Nevada coach Jeff Choate — a BSU assistant from 2006-2011 — shared a brief handshake after the game, with Choate quickly flying by.

“It went pretty quickly. 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 a number of 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 several other plays that could have changed the game, and Boise State had to hold on for dear life after twice building two-touchdown leads.

By halftime, Nevada erased one of those two touchdown deficits, making the score 14-14, the first time Boise State has not taken the lead at intermission this season.

The Wolf Pack, whose last win came on Oct. 12 against Oregon State, didn’t score again until the final three minutes of the game, on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis to receiver Jaden Smith. But even up to that point the battle had been tense.

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

The Broncos defense forced two Nevada goals, including a fumble on the goal line in the fourth quarter and a first-half fumble recovered by Notarainni.

It wasn’t the prettiest win for the Broncos, but teams looking to get where they hope to go — a conference title, the College Football Playoff — know that sometimes they have to dig in and pull out a W.

“We’re coming out with a win, there’s nothing to really sulk about,” Madsen said. “We can learn from certain things and be proud of the team that wins.”

Madsen endured one of his most 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 said upon replay review to be an incomplete pass.

Danielson acknowledged it was a tough game for Madsen and much of the team, pointing to missed passes, misreads by the quarterback, fumbles — including two that the Broncos were able to recover — and other missteps.

He also called November “competition month” and said it doesn’t matter what teams did earlier in the season because the schedule offers now-or-never games for many teams.

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

“It’s 1-0 every week. And we know we’re going to get the best from everyone, but my promise is that they’re going to get the best from the Boise State Broncos, too.”