It was hard to tell Nevada was the home team Saturday. There was an invasion of orange at Mackay Stadium and it was rowdy — and for good reason.

No. 9 Boise State took one step closer to a potential BCS bowl game with a 41-34 win, clinching the Western Athletic Conference title in Reno for the fourth time since 2002.

“They got a great program here,” Boise State coach Chris Peterson said. “Coach Ault does a tremendous job with these guys. They are getting better every year. We are just fortunate to come here and get a win.”

It started off as a far cry from last season’s 69-67 four-overtime win by the Broncos. This time around, Boise State was prepared to stop the evasive Wolf Pack running game, which entered the game as the best in the nation. Nevada totaled 144 yards on the ground — 181 yards under its average per game.

Boise State dug itself in a hole on its second possession, but the worst passing defense in the WAC helped the Broncos climb out safely. On a third-and-24 play, the Pack got good pressure on BSU freshman signal caller Kellen Moore, forcing him to move up in the pocket and throw on the run.

The southpaw tossed up a perfect strike to Vinny Perretta for a 60-yard gain to the Nevada 33. Moore finished off the drive five plays later when he rolled out to the left and found a wide-open Richie Brockel, who took it in for a 16-yard touchdown with 7:05 left in the first quarter.

Kyle Brotzman’s PAT made it 7-0.

Then the first-half onslaught was on.

On their next possession, the Broncos journeyed 70 yards in less than two minutes as Perretta took a direct snap and made it a two-touchdown game with a 3-yard touchdown run.

Nevada’s offense finally started moving down the field when the Pack stopped throwing deep balls and hoping the inaccurate Colin Kaepernick would eventually hit his target. A couple intermediate passes opened up the option and run games, and Nevada broke into BSU territory for the first time late in the first quarter.

However, after driving to the Broncos’ 8, the home team had to settle for a 25-yard Brett Jaekle field goal with 13:36 on the second-quarter clock.

Boise State pushed the lead back up to 14 points on a Brotzman 34-yard field goal.

After forcing a three-and-out on defense, the Broncos’ offense got back to work late in the first half with Moore connecting with Austin Pettis for an 18-yard TD reception for a 24-3 halftime advantage.

Moore completed 29 of 48 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns on the afternoon, but three third-quarter interceptions nearly led to an upset.

While Nevada’s offense couldn’t get in the end zone, the defense took it upon itself to put some points on the board with a pair of “pick sixes” by Jerome Johnson and Josh Mauga. The latter cut the deficit to 31-24 with just over five minutes remaining in the third and greatly shifted the momentum.

“It was a really tough night. This was my last game at Mackay. To lose like that to the No. 9 (team) in the nation, they were scared out of their minds. They thought they were going to lose the game,” Johnson said.

But other than a 31-yard touchdown run by Vai Taua in the third quarter, the Wolf Pack offense didn’t have much going for it after the intermission and it cost the Silver and Blue.

The Broncos outgained their opponents 414-241 in the game.

“I thought the defense held together, played hard and gave the offense an opportunity. Offensively speaking, the inconsistency just sat us down,” Nevada coach Chris Ault said.

Boise State started to pull away again thanks to a diving catch in the end zone by Pettis on a fade pattern. The 10-yard pass play made the score 38-24 with 10:11 left in the game.

After the Broncos made it a three-possession game with Brotzman’s 50-yard field goal with 7:20 on the fourth-quarter clock, Nevada had to strike quickly and did.

On fourth-and-6, Kaepernick fired a bullet to Marko Mitchell for a 9-yard touchdown and a 41-31 score.

Nevada recovered the ensuing onside kick and went down to add three points with a 25-yard Jaekle field goal with 2:36 to play.

But the onside magic vanished when Pettis showed his sure hands by grabbing the bouncing kick for the Broncos.

Still, Boise State left the door open by not running out the clock and missing a 48-yard field goal.

Nevada had to go 69 yards for a game-tying score with 1:37 left.

Kaepernick threw up four straight passes to the end zone from the Boise 31. The first three were severely overthrown and uncatchable by any Pack player. The fourth floated to the back of the end zone and fell to the ground with time expired.

“Our defense played great tonight,” Kaepernick said. “Offensively we did good up front. I didn’t complete passes when they were open and we needed them. I think that was the difference in the game.”

The Broncos stifled Kaepernick, holding him to just 70 yards on the ground, a year after allowing him to run rampant for 177 yards in his first start. The sophomore quarterback was a dismal 19-of-50 through the air Saturday.

Boise State senior Chris Johnson led the team in rushing with 74 yards, but 66 yards came on a third-quarter touchdown run.

Nevada (6-5, 4-3 WAC) heads to Louisiana Tech Saturday to finish out the conference schedule, while Boise State (11-0, 7-0 WAC) must win at Fresno State to cap an undefeated regular season.