ARLINGTON, Texas _ They ran onto the field to a standing ovation _ and ran off the field to one, too.
In between, Western Michigan's football team pushed big, bad Wisconsin to the final few minutes of the fourth quarter Monday afternoon in the Cotton Bowl despite eventually losing 24-16.
One more play _ or one less turnover _ and the Broncos might have completed the most unlikely undefeated season in our state in decades. The game was that close.
And yet, as good as it turned out to be, the arc of the season was better.
WMU was the best story in college football this year. That it got here, to this football mecca and the home of the Dallas Cowboys, gave small schools everywhere a boost as the division between the Power 5 conferences and everyone else continues to grow.
It didn't look so good early.
Wisconsin scored on its first two drives and pushed the Broncos off the ball at the point of attack. The Badgers, known for their beefy road graters up front, showed why, and used its backfield speed to get around the edge and race for down the field for large chunks.
Halfway through the first quarter, it was 14-0 Wisconsin. It felt much worse.
Western Michigan, though, managed to find its footing along the line of scrimmage, and gave some time to quarterback Zach Terrell, and opened some holes for running back Jamauri Bogan.
Early in the second quarter, Terrell and his offense began a drive that ate up almost nine minutes of clock and ended when Terrell took a snap and ran a bootleg into the end zone. Wisconsin answered with a field goal.
WMU went in to the half down just 17-7 and took the opening second-half drive for a field goal. The Broncos kept it a one-possession game until Terrell didn't see Wisconsin linebacker T.J. Edwards as he tried to hit Michael Henry on a slant. Edwards picked it off deep in WMU territory.
The Badgers scored on a pass to its tight end, Troy Fumagalli, who gave WMU trouble all game. The big tight end made tough catches in traffic.
At that point, with Wisconsin up two touchdowns, the Broncos fans, who'd been chanting "row the boat" all game, sat glumly.
But Terrell led another long drive.
He finished it on fourth and 4, when he dropped back, then ran back, then ran outside and heaved it to the back corner of the end zone where Corey Davis, one of the best players in program history, shed a face-guarding defensive back and hauled in the touchdown.
WMU trailed 24-16 _ missing the extra point.
The Broncos couldn't get another stop and Wisconsin ran out the clock.
Still, pushing the Badgers until the last couple of minutes of the fourth quarter, after falling behind so quickly to begin the game, showed grit and character.
WMU head coach P.J. Fleck, who had taken his team to AT&T Stadium the day it arrived in Texas to make sure his players wouldn't be in awe, talked all week about his team being more than a plucky underdog.
For three quarters on a warm afternoon in Texas, they weren't. He was right. His Broncos belonged here.
And came up just short.
