BOISE, Idaho – Tre’ Bugg walked off the blue turf at Boise State on Saturday knowing his senior year would include a bowl game and a very specific bit of vengeance had been achieved.

But he didn’t want to think what it all might mean. Not yet.

“I’m going to wait for the big picture until the picture’s all done,” said Bugg, the Air Force senior cornerback whose interception in the final minute secured the Falcons’ 24-17 win over Boise State late Saturday night.

Bugg is one of the remaining starters from Air Force’s 2019 season that included an 11-2 record and a No. 21 final ranking from the Associated Press. But that team didn’t win a Mountain West title or a Commander-in-Chief’s trophy because the two losses came at Boise State and Navy.

After Saturday, the team has victories this season at Boise State (the first since 2015) and Navy (the first since 2011).

With No. 22 San Diego State coming to town on Saturday, Air Force (which received votes that left it five spots outside the Top 25 in the Associated Press on Sunday and was six spots shy in the Coaches’ Poll) has everything in its immediate sights. The rankings are there for the taking. A conference title is in reach. The Commander-in-Chief’s trophy can be secured in the Dallas area on Nov. 6.

“Two years later, now we get to this point,” said Jordan Jackson, another Air Force senior who has played long enough to bring a unique perspective. “We beat Boise. We beat Navy. I couldn’t ask for a better start to the season; I couldn’t ask for a better team to be doing this with.”

The last time Air Force won at Boise State was in 2015, a victory that helped propel it to a Mountain Division title.

In this win the offense carried the load early, answering two early Boise State touchdowns with three of their own. Then the defense settled in and held the Broncos to three points over the final 40 minutes. Then everyone faced the mental test of withstanding the twists of the final 5 minutes that included a stuffed 4th and goal play from the 2 by the Air Force defense, a fortuitous turnover when a punt hit an unsuspecting Boise State player and then they survived a recovered onside kick in the last minute.

“We pride ourselves on just keeping a level head, so there wasn’t too much ‘Oh, we should have got that; we should have had that,’” Bugg said. “When there were 3 minutes left, we were still running up the sidelines saying, ‘There’s a lot of football still out there.’ And you saw how much happened in the last 3 minutes. So, anything can happen at any time. We just try to keep a level head through it all.”

Boise State (3-4, 1-2 Mountain West) is struggling through a rare down season, though much of that is due to a trying schedule. But the Falcons know how rare it is to win at a place where the Broncos are 123-13 since 2000 – only Oklahoma has a better home record in that span.

Whatever that final picture ultimately looks like, the events of Saturday night will factor into it somehow.

“The atmosphere here was crazy,” said Brad Roberts, who ranks fifth nationally in rushing with 818 yards after running 28 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns at Albertsons Stadium. “They were extremely loud. To be able to win on the blue turf was something I will never forget.”