“Life is like riding a buffalo. It can be unpredictable and thrilling.” – Buffalo Bill

Welcome to the Wild West Show on Stock Show Saturday.

Although the visiting adversaries were named in his honor, William Frederick Cody would be cheering for the home team.

Ten years since their last playoff game at home, the Denver Broncos will try to tame the Buffalo Bills on Saturday afternoon at chilly Mile High, 22 miles from Lookout Mountain, where the authentic and iconic Buffalo Bill rests permanently.

Cody quietly died 109 years ago last week at 2932 N. Lafayette St. in the Whittier neighborhood in his sister Mary’s three-story, Queen Anne-style home, which is valued today at $1 million and which still looks the same as it did when built in 1892.

Decades earlier, in 1891, the scout, buffalo hunter, horseman, soldier, entertainer and legend Buffalo Bill attended his only football match — featuring the Rangers FC in Glasgow, Scotland.

Bill Cody first came to Colorado in 1859 as a 14-year-old, joining the “gold rush’’ in the creek that is now adjacent to the location of the Broncos’ NFL field. He would return to Denver a multitude of times, including in 1913, when he starred at the National Western Stock Show.

Although Cody toured the world and played The Palace in New York for decades with his “Buffalo Bill Wild West’’ show and was one of the most famous men in Western history, he was severely unhealthy and financially broke at 70, when he last came to Colorado to stay with his younger sister.

His final request was to be buried on Lookout Mountain.

The Buffalo Bills won’t be visiting Buffalo Bill’s grave or the museum on this big business trip.

If he were alive Saturday, William’s request would be: “Go, Bo and Broncos! Beat Buffalo Bills!”

The coach of the Football Championship Subdivision title this season will disagree.

Montana State’s Brent Vigen told me Friday afternoon: “I think the Bills will do it. Winning will be a challenge, and I have respect for the Broncos and (Bo) Nix. I grew up as a Vikings fan, but the loyalty of my sons and me is with Josh (Allen) and Buffalo.’”

Why does the outcome matter to the Bobcats’ best-ever coach, who would be celebrated at a banquet Friday night and a Saturday parade in Bozeman, Montana?

Vigen was Allen’s offensive coordinator at Wyoming. The two were together for three seasons after the Cowboys were the only Division I program to offer Allen a scholarship when he ended junior college ball in California.

“We were going to play Fresno State in 2012, and one of our assistants saw him play. When I looked at his films, I thought Josh could be special and recruited him. He had the size, the weight, the passing strength and the competitiveness. I just had to help him develop.”

“I always knew Josh could play in the NFL, but didn’t realize he could become the best player in the pros,” Vigen said.

As Allen and Vigen once drove to Denver to shop, they talked about the Broncos and John Elway drafting the 6-foot-5, 237-pound possible second arrival of Elway.

“The day of the draft, we were anticipating the Broncos to take him (at No. 5 overall). All of us (including Allen) were surprised. But he wound up in the right place with Buffalo. I’m not surprised anymore.’’

Vigen wants Allen to win his own championship finally. I asked the coach if he could judge Saturday’s game objectively.

“Good question. I’ve spent a lot of years in the West and respect the Broncos’ outstanding defense, but I won’t go against Josh,” he said.

Allen, alas, is undefeated in Colorado. His Wyoming teams beat Colorado State in Fort Collins and Air Force in Colorado Springs — and both in Laramie. In his lone previous Denver appearance in 2020, Josh was 28 of 40 for 359 yards and two touchdowns. Allen is 2-1 in the regular season versus the Broncos and won the playoff game last Jan. 12.

The Broncos’ X-Factor in the game is Bo Ni-X.

He is 15-3 in Colorado. In 2022, when Bo was with Oregon (after three seasons at Auburn), he came to Boulder and blew out the Buffaloes, 49-10. As a 2024 rookie, Nix lost two of his first three at home, then won his final five. His streak of home victories reached 13 this season before the loss to the Jaguars. He finished with a triumph over the Chargers.

Nix is the only NFL QB to have won 24 games and scored 64 touchdowns (54 passing, nine rushing, one receiving) in his first two seasons.

Buffalo Bill would have loved Bronco Bo.

Saturday’s playoff game will be unpredictable and thrilling.

Nevertheless: Broncos, 20-17.