As bowl season kicks off around the country this weekend, you will hear just how excited all 78 teams are to be where they are.

Ahead of Saturday’s Las Vegas Bowl against Washington, Boise State is just happy that it looks like it’ll actually get to play 60 minutes of football this year.

The Broncos’ Dec. 26, 2018, trip to Dallas to play Boston College in the First Responder Bowl made the wrong kind of history, becoming the only bowl game to be canceled because of weather.

After nine minutes and 52 seconds of game time had elapsed at the Cotton Bowl, both teams were sent to their locker rooms because of lightning in the area. They never returned to the field. An hour and 21 minutes later, the game was declared a no contest. Viewers quickly pointed out the ironic twist within the slogan of the bowl’s sponsor, SERVPRO: “Like It Never Happened.”

“Was that the strangest day in my career? 100 percent,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “It’s not in the handbook, how you tell your team you’re not playing.”

It was uncharted territory for everyone: officials and participants figuring out if the game could be rescheduled or moved, players keeping themselves occupied and seniors coping with their careers ending so abruptly. What followed, as the weather became a torrential downpour with lightning mixed in, was just as chaotic as everyone tried to find a way home.

“It went from bad to worse,” nose tackle Sonatane Lui said.

Here is Boise State’s side of the bowl game that never was.

AJ Dillon broke free for the game’s only score. (Tim Heitman / USA Today)

‘It looked like it would hold off’

Boise State and Boston College had met in the postseason once before, in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl, Dan Hawkins’ last game as Boise State head coach. A First Responder Bowl win would have helped the Broncos rebound from a heartbreaking Mountain West championship loss to Fresno State and give them a Power 5 win after going 1-4 in their previous five. For Boston College, a win would give them eight wins after finishing with seven wins in four of the previous five seasons.

Avery Williams (cornerback): I feel like we were excited. Boston College is in the ACC, we were opening the next season with Florida State. I think we approached it like we could carry in some momentum to the next year. The place, the date, it didn’t matter.

Ezra Cleveland (offensive tackle): We didn’t end the season on the best of terms, wanted to go out and redeem ourselves.

Even before the game arrived, Boise State had dealt with a lot that week. Big-play receiver John Hightower and backup running back Robert Mahone were declared academically ineligible to play three days prior to the bowl. The following day, starting middle linebacker Tyson Maeva was sent home after being caught smoking marijuana in his hotel room. Meanwhile, junior running back Alexander Mattison (1,415 yards rushing) was pondering leaving early for the NFL.

Benton Wickersham (linebacker): Obviously some stuff went on before it, but it was an incredible experience, coming from Elko (Nev.) to be in the Cotton Bowl, get the chance to start. I called my dad when we did our walkthrough the day before the game.

Mattison: It was a bittersweet the whole time because half the team was giving me the “Let’s go out on one last ride,” then half the team was hopeful it wasn’t my last one. I was using that game to give me the go-ahead (to enter the NFL Draft). If I did what I expected, then it was time to open the next chapter, or if I didn’t perform well, maybe I’d stay another year to better myself.

Jesse Hawila, WFAA meteorologist: We had rain in the forecast, and it was an enhanced risk, a 3 out of 5, for severe thunderstorms. The day after Christmas three years earlier brought some really bad tornadoes, so people were prepared. It looked like it would hold off until the afternoon (the game kicked off at 12:30 p.m.).

Williams: We were aware that it might rain. We worked wet ball mechanics all week. We were ready for bad weather … but never did we think it would get canceled.

‘Oh God, what do we do now?’

Boston College, riding its excellent running back AJ Dillon, scored a touchdown on its first drive to take a 7-0 lead. Meanwhile, Boise State’s offense had stalled, despite a pair of catches for 37 yards by sophomore receiver CT Thomas. The defense stopped the Eagles on their second drive, and Williams fielded a punt at his own 14 when the lightning delay was first called.

Wickersham: They came out fast, they were physical, they ran it down our throats, but that second drive, we came out and gave it back to them. We came off the field feeling good.

Harsin: We were gonna drive and go for two and it was going to be 8-7.

Williams: It’s a four-quarter game, it could’ve changed on one play. We were down 7-0, but we were getting the ball back. I was the last guy to touch it, I guess. We’ve been down more and won games. Their linemen were like 6-5, 6-6, 300 pounds. Dillon looked like Saquon Barkley.

CT Thomas (wide receiver and Dallas native): I had all my friends and family there. I remember looking around before that game and thinking, “It’s time to lock it in, CT.” First time the ball came my way, thank God I made a good play on it. I had probably 60-plus people in the stands. (Colorado receiver) Laviska (Shenault) was there to watch. I wanted to make plays, this was my hometown, I wanted to represent.

Brett Rypien (quarterback): We actually moved the ball pretty well, got close to midfield, but got into 3rd and long. Defense got a stop, we were getting the ball back … and that was that. It was a wrap.

Cleveland: It was a weird vibe. We go into the Cotton Bowl, we knew the weather was going to be bad at some point. … It wasn’t raining really, then we heard “lightning warning.” And it was like, “Oh God, what do we do now?”

Fans who braved the elements were sent into limbo by the lightning delay. (Tim Heitman / USA Today)

‘We knew it might be awhile’

NCAA rules state that a game must be delayed for 30 minutes if a lightning strike occurs within eight miles of the stadium. If another occurs in that timeframe, the 30-minute stoppage is extended from there. Both teams headed to the locker room to wait it out.

Bryan Harsin (head coach): We go through all these situations. That year, we faked a lightning storm in our indoor (facility). I take off running and they’re like, “What are we doing?” It was like, “We just had a lightning strike!” and they were like “No we didn’t.” I was like, “Play along, what if this happened?” … Then it actually happens. Early on it was like “We’ve been through this.”

Mattison: We got in there, everyone was stretching out, took our shoes off so the feet don’t hurt. Then we took the shoulder pads off when we knew it might be awhile. We had kind of prepared for it in practice before. This was a lot longer than a short talk in the middle of practice. … There wasn’t complaining, we talked ball, what we could’ve improved on for those couple minutes we played.

John Molchon (offensive line): I left my pads on. I knew if I took them off, it was admitting we wouldn’t be putting them back on. I was pacing from my locker to outside, I’d look up at the clouds and try to move them with my mind. Dudes were taking naps, it was the weirdest thing.

Shawna Cleveland (mother of OL Ezra Cleveland): We had to wait in the concourse during the whole thing, not knowing what was going on. I like storms, but the longer we waited, the more nervous you got. … Some guy went back down to the stands and was dancing in the rain, so that was pretty funny at the time.

Mattison: Guys were playing games on their phones, we had to loosen it up a little bit. At least we got to hang out one more time.

Curtis Weaver (defensive end): There was one point, we had three minutes left in the delay, everyone’s getting up, we had guys getting everyone amped. We start walking down the tunnel and it was boom, boom, boom. We just turned around, knew it was at least 30 more minutes and it was like, “Yep, we’re probably done.”

Curt Apsey (athletic director): There was a lightning strike incredibly close to the stadium, and I was in the tunnel, it was the loudest, scariest sound I’ve heard. It was like a bomb went off.

Hawila: The forecast didn’t quite pan out as far as most meteorologists expected in terms of the severe weather. Sometimes it comes earlier. It’s a fluid medium … but it can shift quickly.

Sonatane Lui (nose tackle): It was like, “We can wait.” Everyone was on their phones, looking up the rules and regulations. We thought we could play at 11 at night or whenever, just whenever the storm cleared. But it turns out, it never did. It was a heartbreaker, especially for those seniors.

Tyler Horton (cornerback): It was my last game. But even though I was a senior, I felt most bad for all those families that traveled, weren’t home for Christmas. We get so caught up in football and school, we don’t have moments where we’re all in a room, just enjoying each other’s presence. I think that hour and 30 minutes we were in the locker room made it worth it.

Rypien: It’s hard to think it won’t be vivid in my mind for a long time, Harsin just walking in and saying the game’s over. Like, that’s it, my career is over.

Harsin: I went in and told them, some guys (didn’t believe it). Then it just got silent. … I said a few words, asked the coaches to say a few words. You’re ad-libbing at this point. Thanked all the guys, we sang the fight song and everybody went on their way.

Williams: It was like, “Man, that doesn’t feel good.” It was just silence. All the work we put in, our excitement for the game, we believe hard work pays off, and it was difficult not to see that happen.

Horton: There was this feeling like, “Oh snap, this has never happened before.” Usually, after a bowl game, everyone’s off doing their thing, but we all were there with each other. I wanted to get one more photo of us DBs together. I’m glad I got that opportunity.

The DBs take one last photo. (Courtesy of Tyler Horton, center of bottom row)

In the aftermath, there was naturally a question of what could have been done to resume the game. Bowl director Brant Ringler said that there was no contingency plan to move it to an indoor venue, with the logistics too daunting on short notice. The same went for playing it another day. A former Boston College player tweeted that he’d been told Boise State made the call to cancel the game because it wanted to catch its flights home. Of course, the Eagles were in the same situation. Still, Boston College later produced tongue-in-cheek bowl champion T-shirts with the 7-0 score.

Apsey: Their AD (Martin Jarmond), me, our football coaches, ESPN people, the bowl people, we knew we had an issue on our hands that morning … then the storm came. Both coaches were worried about the players’ safety. Not from the weather standpoint, necessarily, but risking injury from going on and off. You can’t play five minutes and go into the locker room, then wait and try to do it again. I can’t remember who made the final call, but it was more of a group decision, really. We didn’t know when it would let up.

Steve Addazio (BC coach, postgame): It’s not just that easy, to say we’ll play it at 7 o’clock tonight … I’m not a scientist, but there are stats on this. Your rate of injury goes up substantially.

Joe Nickell (associate AD): From the first lightning delay until the next day, there was enough of a window where we could have played eight minutes. Not game minutes, but eight real minutes.

Harsin: The more it went on, we had that conversation … obviously you want to play, but it wasn’t going to happen. The guy that ran the bowl was like, ‘You guys want to play?’ and we were like, ‘Yeah.’ Then I asked, ‘Do you think we’re going to play?’ and he’s like, ‘No.’

Apsey: Could something have been done maybe a little better prior to all this happening? Yeah, but at the same time, you have to count on what you’re seeing in the forecast a little bit.

Lui: The shirt is pretty funny, I guess, because yeah, technically it was 7-0 as the game ended. But after we stopped them on that second series, we had some good momentum. There was a lot of game left.

‘That’s a lot of rain on one day in December’

The game became the first Division I postseason game canceled because of weather and was only the second postseason game ever canceled, joining a game between San Jose State and Hawaii that was supposed to be played Dec. 13, 1941. The torrential rain and persistent lightning continued until past midnight. Two days later, Mattison declared for the NFL Draft.

Wickersham: I remember Curtis (Weaver) ran out after it got canceled, took his jersey and rubbed it around on the field to get it more dirty.

Weaver: I just like getting dirty, always wanted to have the dirtiest uniform. The defense played, what, 10 snaps? My mom was getting that jersey, and I didn’t want her or my grandkids someday making fun of me, thinking I didn’t even play or anything.

Lui: When I heard it was the second canceled bowl game, I wanted to know what the first was. I looked it up and just realized, “Oh no, it was because of Pearl Harbor.” We were part of history, canceled by weather, but it kind of pales in comparison to the reason for the other one.

Mattison: That (game) was really going to determine if I left. … It made the decision 10 times harder. I ended up taking it as a sign I didn’t need another tackle on me in college, possibly hurt myself. It sucked it ended in a game that was 10 minutes long.

Hawila: There ended up being 2.45 inches of rainfall. That’s a lot of rain on one day in December. Our records go back to the 1880s, and that is the record for Dec. 26. In the area, luckily we had no tornadoes reported, but there was all that rain and lightning throughout the day.

Apsey: We got on the bus, and on the way to the airport, you couldn’t see the sidewalk or the curb. And it didn’t stop for 12 hours. Then we got the airport, and it was like a movie where you see the screens and it’s like, ‘Canceled, canceled, canceled.’ That helped make me feel better about the decision we made because there wasn’t any chance we could’ve played that night.

Cleveland: I went to the airport with my dad, to hang out. (The flight) was delayed and delayed and delayed, then it got canceled at 1 a.m. We just stayed the night in the airport.

Williams: I slept in the airport, too. Me and (safety) DeAndre Pierce, we were both going back to L.A., our flight got canceled. So we’re refreshing our apps constantly and two seats opened up the next morning, but we couldn’t go anywhere, so just stayed there. You can’t play your game, you can’t get home, your flight gets canceled? It was all bad.

Apsey: The charter flight back (for staff and families) was delayed about five hours. We had just called the buses to come pick us up and take us back to the hotel, but Southwest found a plane.

David Moa (defensive tackle): We were pretty much stranded, but (defensive line coach Spencer) Danielson was like, “We already missed Christmas, I can’t not make it home.” So, he said he was going to rent a car and drive us San Diego boys home. I wasn’t sure, but he said he wasn’t going without me, and the boys said it’ll be an adventure of a lifetime. And it was.

Danielson: The only thing we could get was a truck, and we had to cram about 2,000 pounds of football players in there.

Moa: It was me, (OL) Garrett Curran, (DE) Demitri Washington, (WR) Khalil Shakir, Coach D and (P) Quinn Skillin. It was about 19, 20 hours of driving to get home. We heard the rain bashing the truck, knew our stuff was getting wet. At one point, Coach D needed to sleep, so he crawled in the back with all our stuff, it’s cold as hell, but we weren’t going to stop him. … We bonded a lot on that trip. We all had a hand in the music. Garrett wanted to play country, I wanted to play reggae, Shak wanted to play some rap.

The impromptu carpool to San Diego. (Courtesy Spencer Danielson)

Harsin: I still think about that team, it’s one of those, was it (the 1986 movie) “The Best of Times”? Where they go back and play a high school game? It’s almost like you want to bring that team back and just do something because they never really got to finish it.

Chase Hatada (defensive end): When we found out we weren’t able to finish the game, it was pretty upsetting. We went packed up, went home and got ready for this year. I wish we weren’t (part of history), but it’s all good.

Kekoa Nawahine (safety): We were in Dallas for almost a week, all this preparation for a game you never fully play, just getting a taste of it, it sucked. Just a disappointing ending. It was kind of like the last season of “Game Of Thrones.”

In a strange way, the First Responder Bowl experience wound up providing an unexpected silver lining. The Broncos’ 2019 season opener at Florida State was moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee on Aug. 31 as Hurricane Dorian threatened Florida’s coast. The kickoff time was moved up seven hours, but the Broncos overcame those distractions and erased an 18-point first-half deficit to win 36-31.

Harsin: When we get to the Florida State game and there was some weather and all that, I was like, “The hell is going to stop us from playing.” We would’ve played it in Dallas, we would’ve played it in Boise. … If that had been canceled, I don’t know how this season would’ve went. Because the guys that were (there), it would’ve been so discouraging for them. That game, just half of it was the emotion of playing because we finally got to play again. It was odd.

Thomas: It was bittersweet, I’d wish it could’ve gone the whole way, because I was feeling good. But that’s Texas weather for you.

(Top photo: Tim Heitman / USA Today)