Texas State is riding high after securing back-to-back home wins in Pac-12 play, but head coach G.J. Kinne knows the Bobcats (4-3, 2-1) will face a much stiffer test on Saturday against No. 20 Boise State (6-1, 3-0). 

Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Mountain time on Halloween at Albertsons Stadium. 

“Really good team on Saturday,” Kinne said during his Tuesday press conference. “Obviously, Boise has kind of been the standard at this level of football for a really long time. Really quality coaching staff, really good team, really good culture, blue turf, all the things.

“We’ve got our hands full for sure, but this is what we signed up for. Go to Boise and play a top-20 team … in the country on the road, Halloween. Should be a great atmosphere.”

Kinne, a prolific college quarterback at Tulsa from 2009-11, is friends with Boise State defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. Kinne and Chinander were both with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013. 

“They’ve got a tremendous staff, a great team and a couple draft picks at running back,” Kinne said. “The quarterback’s been there for a while and is kind of the heart and soul of that team. Just very experienced and plays the game the right way, plays the quarterback position the right way. They’re talented at receiver, talented at tight end, big offensive line.

“Their defensive line really stood out to me in this last game. They played extremely well.”

The Broncos leaned on their physicality to wear down Washington State in the fourth quarter of last week’s 31-10 win in Pullman. 

Texas State is also coming off a physical game against Utah State. The Bobcats held on for a 20-17 home victory. 

“It’s going to be a tall task, there’s no question about that,” Kinne said of matching Boise State’s physicality. “But we’re definitely going to be up for the challenge. Our guys will be ready. We’ve got to match their physicality and their discipline.”

Kinne and Boise State’s Spencer Danielson have both been named as potential replacements for Baylor’s Dave Aranda, who was fired on Sunday. 

Danielson shot down the rumors during his weekly press conference, and Kinne did the same. 

“I love this place,” Kinne said. “We’re working on Boise State. I promise you, I can’t think about anything else or we’ll get killed.”

Kinne recalled watching Boise State’s famed Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma during his senior year of high school. He played against the Broncos and quarterback Kellen Moore on two different occasions while at Tulsa. 

Boise State is officially unveiling a statue of Moore on Saturday. 

“Hopefully we get to see him,” Kinne said. “He’s got to be one, two, three, four—somewhere in that realm—of all-time college quarterbacks.

“When we played them those couple times, I knew I had a lot of improvements I had to make in my own game after watching him play. … They were so precise and executed so well. Just a really, really good team. It was always fun to play those guys.”