University of Hawai'i and Western Athletic Conference football teams take note, you could be the next Boise State, commissioner Karl Benson and others said in the wake of the unbeaten Broncos' 43-42 Fiesta Bowl overtime victory over Oklahoma Monday night.

"I don't think there's any question we're going to have teams there (in the Bowl Championship Series) again," Benson said. "From a recruiting standpoint," Benson said he expects members will be selling the prospect that, "next year is their turn."

"I think Hawai'i can be right there where they (the 13-0 Broncos) are next year," said Dick Tomey, San Jose State coach. "Hawai'i has a lot of guys coming back. It is probably more (true) for Hawai'i than everybody else. They can be right there a year from now."

Benson said it was just a matter of time until the WAC got its breakthrough game, becoming only the second conference without an automatic berth to place a team and win a BCS bowl game. "Boise State was on the cusp a couple of years ago (13-1 in 2003 and 11-1 in '04)," Benson said. "Fresno State, even last year, had they beaten Southern Cal and went on to take care of Nevada and Louisiana Tech, would have been there as a one-loss team."

For the WAC, which is one of five conferences that do not have a team automatically placed in the BCS, the Fiesta Bowl, "was an opportunity to make a credibility statement — and they (the Broncos) certainly did," Benson said.

"They (the Broncos) did a fantastic job. I don't think I've ever seen such an exciting football game," said UH coach June Jones, who attended the game. "And, they made a statement not just for Boise but for the whole conference. That is what everybody in the conference knows and that is that we're better than we've been given credit for being."

Tomey said it also serves notice to teams like his Spartans. "It sends more of a message for us: that we've got to keep getting better because they (the Broncos) are going to do nothing but get better. We have to continue to grow if we're going to compete with them."

For the moment, Benson and Jones said they believe the good-to-the-last-pass victory over the Sooners was the biggest victory in the conference's 40-year history, supplanting Brigham Young's 1984 national championship.

"With all due respect to BYU, BYU was playing a 6-5 Michigan team (in the '84 Holiday Bowl) that wasn't ranked and they didn't know if they were going to win a national championship," Benson said. "(Monday's) game was certainly a much bigger stage against a better opponent."

The Sooners were 11-2 and ranked No. 7.

"As far as I'm concerned, (Boise State's win) has the magnitude of a national championship and the rewards that are going to come with it wouldn't be much different than if the game had been for the national championship," Benson said.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.