BOISE — The Boise State football team found itself on upset alert, in danger of becoming the latest FBS team to suffer a loss at the hands of an FCS opponent.

But the Broncos were able to make plays when they needed to and came away with a 38-24 win against South Dakota on Saturday at Albertsons Stadium, avoiding a loss which would have dealt a huge blow to their College Football Playoff chances.

“I don’t think anybody is happy with our performance today, but at the end of the day, we won,” said Boise State defensive end Max Stege. “So now, it’s about getting back in tomorrow, watching the game and learning from the mistakes. It’s awesome that you can learn from those mistakes with a win. Winning is always hard. We got it done today, and that’s what championship teams do: They win, no matter what.”

The Broncos (2-1) certainly gave the Coyotes (3-1) plenty of chances to win. Boise State fumbled inside its own 20 early in the game, setting up a South Dakota touchdown. Twice Boise State had drives stall at the South Dakota 24 on fourth-down stops. The explosive plays allowed the Coyotes to keep the game tied into the fourth quarter.

And then there was the disastrous muffed punt return by Cam Bates with less than five minutes to go and the Broncos holding on to a 31-24 lead, giving South Dakota new life.

“At the end of the day, we have a lot of things we have to improve,” said Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. “I’m going to go back to the drawing board, and this is what I do after every game, regardless if we won by 50, or lost, or won by two scores, whatever it is. It’s, what do we learn? It’s going to be from Monday to kickoff, what are some things we have to get fixed?”

But despite all the struggles, Boise State still found a way to win. After Bates’ muffed the punt around midfield, the Bronco defense held strong, as Kyle Hall broke up a fourth-down pass with two minutes left in the game. On the next play, Dylan Riley broke free for an 83-yard touchdown run before Travis Anderson sealed the game with his second interception of the day and third in the last two weeks.

“It was a great learning experience,” said wide receiver Rasean Jones, who had eight catches for 95 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown reception late in the first quarter to tie the game at 7. “I think it showed us our flaws, possible things we need to work on. And then I think it showed ourselves that we could stick it out to the end and fight through any kind of adversity.”

From the very beginning, South Dakota, the No. 12-ranked team in this week’s American Football Coaches Association poll, looked like a team on a mission. After recovering a Riley fumble on the Bronco 16, Austyn Modrzewski had a 16-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Cohoon for the first score of the game. Modrzewski put the Coyotes ahead 14-7 early in the second quarter with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tysen Boze.

Modrzewski and Boze connected again late in the third quarter on a 59-yard touchdown pass, cutting Boise State’s lead to 24-21. South Dakota tied it at 24 on a field goal early in the fourth.

Riley put Boise State ahead on a 2-yard score with 6:25 left in the game, his first touchdown of the season, and after Boise State stopped South Dakota on fourth down at the Boise State 17, Riley closed the door with his 83-yard score.

It capped another effective week for the Broncos running the ball. After putting up 357 rushing yards last week in a win against Memphis, the Broncos put up 325 against South Dakota. Riley, who had a career-high 206 rushing yards against the Tigers, followed that with a 198-yard, two-touchdown day. Sire Gaines had 102 rushing yards for the Broncos, including a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen finished with 208 yards on 22-of-31 passing with touchdown passes to Jones and Bates.

Boise State finished with 533 total yards of offense, the second straight week the Broncos put up 500 yards.

“We’re doing some really good things, but we still had two fourth downs that we didn’t get,” said Danielson. “There’s some other things, there’s some drives that sputtered that we need to get fixed. So as coaches, we’re going to focus on those things. But there’s a lot that our players are doing a really good job of, our coaches are doing a great job of, offensively.”

Boise State will look to fix a lot of the mistakes over the next week as they get ready for a road game at Western Michigan, in a battle of the Broncos. Like the Boise State Broncos, the Western Michigan Broncos, the defending MAC Champions, have their eyes on a College Football Playoff bid. The winner will likely get a leg up in the race for the Group of 6’s CFP bid.

“Process over outcome,” Stege said about the next week. “That was my No. 1 thing during media day and it hasn‘t changed. We’re not focused on what happens next Saturday, we’re focused on how can we get better tomorrow, how can we get better on Monday.”