DETROIT _ They're not with their families for Christmas _ not yet.

But Saturday, the Western Michigan football team arrived in Detroit for Tuesday's Little Caesars Pizza Bowl as, well, a family of their own.

"We talk about the Bronco football family all the time," head coach Bill Cubit said. "Once a guy decides to come here, that's what we do, we introduce him into the family, and I think our kids, they look at it and say, 'I know we have a family, but this is our second family,' and the kids have really bought into that."

And the WMU football family is approaching its finest hour, a pseudo home game in front of fans, friends and family against a Big Ten opponent on national television. They square off against Purdue on Tuesday afternoon at Ford Field.

"It's basically a home game away from home for us," sixth-year senior wide receiver Jordan White said. "I'm pretty sure we'll have a large student body and a great turnout."

Yes, the Broncos are expecting a lot of fans _ the WMU faithful purchased more tickets to the Pizza Bowl than Virginia Tech or Clemson fans have bought for their respective bowl games. And perhaps for the first time in their recent bowl history, they're expecting to win, though the Boilermakers are 2 {-point favorites.

"Getting a bowl win has become a lot more important," junior quarterback Alex Carder said. "I feel like in the past, we've been sometimes happy with just getting to one, and this year, we've been more focused on winning it.

"I think we've prepared for it a lot harder than we have for our past bowl games, so I think we're ready."

The Broncos have only been to four bowl games in their history and are still searching for that elusive first victory.

And after a 7-5 season that included a trio of hard-luck losses by four points or less, Cubit and the Broncos feel they're ready for the WMU program to take the next step.

"These guys want to go out on a high note," Cubit said. "They want to do something that no other team in WMU history has done, so it's been pretty emphatic that they want to get this thing done."

No more so than the senior duo of White and MAC defensive player of the year Drew Nowak.

The pair are part of a small group of seniors who have helped carry the young Broncos to the team's first bowl berth since 2008.

"It would mean a lot of hard work has paid off for us," Nowak said. "But most importantly, it would be great for the university, and most importantly, it would help out the program for the future."

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And soon the Bronco football family will be cheered on by their families.

Nowak's dad has a school bus of fans coming from Green Bay, Wis. Inkster native Freddie Bishop is expecting a fan section of his own.

And Cubit knows his Bronco football family will show up for the holidays.

"They've grown together," he said. "So it's kind of neat that they'll spend Christmas together this year."

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