When Dan Kelly's game-winning 45-yard field goal cleared the uprights Friday night at Nevada, more than just University of Hawai'i fans had something to shout about.

The scene — and what it sets up — painted a picture the rest of the Western Athletic Conference can appreciate, too.

Well, maybe, except for Nevada.

It sets in motion this week's long-awaited showdown of unbeaten UH (10-0) and once-beaten Boise State (10-1), not only a battle for the conference championship but a milestone moment of arrival for the WAC. UH's win, coupled with the Broncos' 58-14 victory over Idaho yesterday, sets the table for what should be, after the polls come out today, the first collision of two top-15 WAC teams in 13 years. Not since the breakup of the old 16-team conference after the 1998 season has it had two teams even meeting while in top-20 positions.

The last two meetings of top 20 WAC teams were No. 6 Brigham Young against No. 20 Wyoming in 1996, and No. 15 Utah against No. 11 Colorado State in 1994.

Last year, Boise State's breakthrough into the Bowl Championship Series was a red-letter occasion for the WAC. Having two teams positioned in the top 20 at this point in the season and the very real possibility of Friday's winner going to a BCS bowl game would be a huge followup, an advertisement of WAC development. None of the non-guaranteed BCS berth conferences has yet managed to place back-to-back BCS teams. None had even a single top-20 team this past week.

For the nine-member WAC, this is a statement that will stand tall with Friday's game on national cable, putting on display the best the nation's most far-flung conference has to offer. It is a remarkable situation considering the WAC was given up for dead after the eight defecting schools sneaked out the back door for supposedly greener pastures.

When they took with them the TV package that had been negotiated for the 16-team WAC, not too may people gave the WAC much chance of survival. Fewer still gave them any kind of odds at having a leg up on the usurpers who formed the Mountain West Conference.

Significantly, Boise State, Hawai'i and Fresno State have given the conference a powerful one-two-three punch. Now, if only the bottom half could project a more competitive presence.

Until then, Friday's UH-Boise State game says a lot about the WAC. It says most eloquently that nine seasons after a tumultuous breakup the WAC has not only managed to survive, it is thriving.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.