In hopes of remedying the nagging "weak conference" catcalls, the Broncos have joined the rising Mountain West Conference, but do not play a MWC schedule until 2011. For now, the Broncos remain in the WAC; a conference with a reputation as a doormat league. Said reputation is rather well-earned, as they have gone 1-47 against the Broncos since 2006. It's not pretty. So, in an effort to garner more national recognition, and, hopefully, enough early votes for an outside shot at a title game appearance , the Broncos have beefed up their schedule with the likes of Virginia Tech and Oregon State (who missed the Rose Bowl by a hair last year, as you'll likely recall). But will it be enough to make the Broncos Glendale-bound to play our Buckeyes? If they leave the east coast with a win on opening weekend, an undefeated season, at the very least, seems all but assured.
Offense
Those that have not followed Boise much lately may remember a bruising ground game not unlike the one favored by our Buckeyes, spearheaded by Ian Johnson. You know, the guy who proposed. That offense is a thing of the past. With the arrival of Kellen Moore, the Broncos have opened up the offense, going from the 6th-ranked rushing attack in 2006 to the 13th-ranked passing attack in 2008. Boise is now a fairly wide-open offense, with experienced receivers in Titus Young and Austin Pettis. Jeremy Avery is a solid option at running back, but not spectacular. These guys should tear up the WAC. Virginia Tech, however, might be a problem.
Defense
Here's the part where we all point and laugh at Boise State's finesse style of play, what with their high-falootin' offense, no-defense antics. Wait, what? You're telling me they've finished in the top-25 in total D for four years in a row?
It's true, though: while the offense is one of the more dangerous ones in the country, the Broncos have kept things respectable on the other side of the ball. Make all the WAC jokes you want; that's an impressive streak for a team that supposedly picks up the everyone else's recruiting left-overs. Boise certainly has established some form of consistency on this side of the ball, and 9 of their top 10 tacklers return to what was a top-15 unit in the upcoming season.
How do they match up with the Buckeyes?
About as well as any BCS team returning 21 starters would. This is a veteran team, with the capacity to hit the Buckeyes where they're most questionable: in the secondary. The silver lining here is that Boise State, much like Oregon, has a few defensive skeletons in their closet. While the Oregon game in 2009 remains one of the most impressive defensive displays this blogger has seen in quite some time, the Broncos have struggled to put away teams like Nevada, who boast a mobile quarterback and ample running back depth. It's doubtful that the Buckeyes would run all over the Broncos, but a winning game plan would probably be built on the back of a solid outing from Pryor, Herron and Saine.
The Schedule
| Date | Opponent |
|---|---|
| September 6th | Virginia Tech |
| September 18th | @ Wyoming |
| September 25th | Oregon State |
| October 2nd | @ New Mexico State |
| October 9th | Toledo |
| October 16th | @ San Jose State |
| October 26th | Louisiana Tech |
| November 6th | Hawaii |
| November 12th | @ Idaho |
| November 19th | Fresno State |
| November 26th | @ Nevada |
| December 4th | Utah State |
Can it happen?
All that has to happen is for Ohio State to go undefeated, and for every other BCS conference team to suffer a loss. Then, that has to be piled on top of a lop-sided victory of Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech team, a title contender in their own right. No pressure, guys.Why am I excited?
Because Ohio State playing Boise State in the title game would be a clash of two of college football's most dominant entities in the last decade; while the ESPN storylines would be about how one or the other would get "exposed", I would expect nothing less than an instant classic.Why am I not enthused?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.That's a quote from the end of the novel 1984 (I went to high school too, guys!), and while I'd love to be the boot doing the stamping, a title game victory over Boise State would represent the end of an era. So-called "mid-majors" would not be allowed with 200 miles of the title game until the Bowl Championship Series is dismantled. Like them or not, the Broncos have been one of the most interesting annual storylines in college football for quite a while now, and I personally don't want them to go away. If the Buckeyes stumble somewhere along the way, I'll be rooting for Boise - as I did last year and the year before that and so on - to pull off a college football junta in Glendale.
Comments
I wanna see the Buckeyes play on the Blue Field... Home and Home with Boise St. would be awesome!
Man, I hate, hate, hate that effing blue turf...stooopid!
I can't stand that blue turf. It gives me a headache. If they ever play football on Mars, maybe.
I hope the Toledo Rockets do to the Broncos what they did to the Crapperines.
As a Boise state fan I would love to see us go to the national championship game, but I am also a realist. I don't think the BCS wants a midmajor in the national championship game, I understand that Boise state plays a powderpuff schedule in the WAC, but they have proven they can play with the big boys (when Zabransky is not our QB). That said I would love to play Ohio State, you guys are an awesome football team.
Excellent article .. and not because it gives props to Boise State. I love your writing and how you assume Ohio State is in the NC game (no, again, not being sarcastic)! You have love for your team as it should be. With the exception of giving a little too much love to Nevada (past 2 games really haven't been close, unless you count the scoreboards).
I hope what you say here happens, as it would be fun to have Boise really, REALLY be tested. No team across the field in a BCS title game is going to make excuses that they didn't prepare for their mid-major opponent.
As far as the blue turf hurting some of the commenter's eyes, good news: It's already been replaced this summer ... with more blue turf!! However, this time they're trying to get rid of that nasty glare that made it look disgusting on TV. maybe not what you wanted, but lets hope it'll remain a clean looking Boise State traditional gimmick. :)
Thank you again for the excellent read. Biased but honest and clean, the way it should be for any fan!
I'm one of the doubters. Boise being 1-9 on the road against the "big six" teams since 1998 combined with their less-than-stellar bowl record do it for me. I know they beat OK in '06 and TCU last year, but they also lost to Boston College (on their home blue turf mind you) in '05, East Carolina in '07 and TCU in '08.
I also feel 20-30 BCS teams, if they played in the WAC, could pick one off a win against another BCS AQ team early in the season and run the table in that conference. Because they don't get this "luxury", they don't have the "opportunity" Boise has. It's just as unfair to snub these teams for their much more difficult normal BCS schedule as it is to snub Boise who runs the table against a slate of MAC-level teams. It goes both ways.
I can still vividly remember what happened to high-powered Hawaii when they met Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Not pretty. Boise has a better team than that, but how much better?
As far as playing on their turf, no way. Not unless they change their field. It's clearly done for a competitive advantage and I don't think the Bucks should cater to that, not that OSU couldn't win. Additionally, playing them in regular season or post doesn't add much credibility and brings with it too much risk if the Bucks lose. If they are going to take a great risk, it should come against an SEC team where the reward is infinitesimally higher.
you do know that infinitesimally means barely, right? I think you meant infinitely
nice piece. very fair to us broncos.
just for the record, bsu recruiting no longer gets by on the pac 10 leftovers. in fact, more often than not, as soon as a pac 10 school finds out bsu is looking at a kid, they make him an offer.
that epic fiesta bowl with oklahoma, all the press that we got for that, and now with usc swirling around the drain... bsu is arguably the premier program out west, and our recent recruits reflect that. (suck on that, bcs.)
if you wanna see how it's done west of the great divide, the broncos are the team you wanna watch. the team is full of future nfl players (particularly on the defensive side)... and nobody knows it. yet.
we're going to party... caramba... FIESTA... FOREVER....... ALL NIGHT LONG!
join us! :D
You think the blue turf is bad? Check out what Eastern Washington U. is planning for their new stadium, no joke:
http://www.sportsgrindent.com/...
Ohio State DOES NOT LOSE to teams like Boise State, no matter how "strong" or "pesky" they seem to be. One might say that Oklahoma's loss to them was a fluke, but the Sooners just lost to BYU last year. I'm a huge Boise State fan, and I would really like to see them get their shot. But, I think Kenny Guiton could beat Boise State without ever throwing a single pass. Maybe that's exaggeration. I just don't want Boise's shot to come against Ohio State...win or lose, it doesn't help our reputation.
"As far as playing on their turf, no way. Not unless they change their field. It’s clearly done for a competitive advantage and I don’t think the Bucks should cater to that, not that OSU couldn’t win. Additionally, playing them in regular season or post doesn’t add much credibility and brings with it too much risk if the Bucks lose. If they are going to take a great risk, it should come against an SEC team where the reward is infinitesimally higher."
I crack up every time I hear this whole blue-on-blue "advantage" our team has. C'mon, dude, the game isn't played like on NCAA 11 where you're looking DOWN at an agle on the field. The players are looking across it. So unless the turf is 6-7 feet tall, there's no camoflaging, no "advantage". Do you guys use the "advantage" excuse when your team loses to a team wearing green and playing on green turf? No. You'd sound half-retarded if you did. Just like there's no advantage playing a green-wearing team on a green field, there's no advantage for BSU when they play on the Blue. Aside from that comment, I can somewhat see your point on the risk portion, although it's smaller than what you realize. Considering we're still a non-AQ team, yeah there's that risk. But if you lose to a ranked team, non-AQ or not, the loss isn't quite as bad due to the non-AQ team being ranked. Sure, if tOSU is ranked and loses you might drop a tad more due to the whole non-AQ moniker, but as long as the non-AQ is ranked you won't drop like a rock. BUT if the non-AQ isn't ranked...yeah...picture a rock down a mine shaft. LOL The only other issue I have with your post is the road-record of BSU. You bring it up like it's relevant, which it's not. Most of those losses came against BSU teams with players that are all graduated. Just going off the top of my head, BSU, since Coach Petersen became HC, is 2-1 on the road vs BCS teams, well actually 3-1 if you count the first Fiesta Bowl. The bowl losses you list are valid, but you make them out like we got curbstomped by those teams. None of those losses were by more than 6 points. BC beat us by 6, I believe; ECU beat us by 3; and TCU beat us by 1. Losses sure, but not as exposing as you want people to assume.
Props to the writer of this article. Very nicely done and without overzealous bias.
Exactly. Fingers moving faster than the brain there.
I want this too. I'm sick and tired of how marquee programs will agree to home-and-homes with each other, but are afraid to travel to Boise early in the season. I don't personally think OSU is afraid, as our schedule is pretty well occupied for the next few years. Still, I'd like to see Boise in Columbus and OSU in Boise sometime before the end of this decade.
Well, as I tried to explain in the first post in this series, this is a hypothetical match-up; I allowed for an Oregon-OSU rematch in the Rose Bowl as a possibility last year, but the only other possible Ohio State-BSU game is, I dunno know, the Fiesta Bowl? That'd be a fun game to watch as well.
LSU is going to Purple Turf this year. It's pretty egregious.
Comparisons of BSU to '07 Hawaii aren't very proper. '07 Hawaii was the worst BCS team of all time; they had two 1-AA squads on the schedule, struggled against Utah State and San Jose State, and played one team from a BCS conference (Washington), which ended up going 4-9. Boise State, on the other hand, has at least some big game credentials.
Last year = last week, when I wrote this article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/...
Thank you. You cannot compare any Boise State team to the '07 Hawaii team. That team was built around one thing, Colt Brennan's ability to sit in the pocket and complete passes, which Georgia completely took away from him. Hawaii had no business being in that game and got what they deserved.
Uh, you do know that all of the LSU articles about going to purple turf were published on April 1, 2010, don't you?
Just to clarify some points you made, the Boston College loss was as close to intentional as it could be. The final offensive play of the game for BSU was an interception deep in BC territory. And when you look at the replays you notice on small but critical thing, there were no BSU players within 15 yards of that ball. Why you might ask? Because there was a lot of known animosity between Coach Dan Hawkins and QB Jared Zebranski. This was also Hawkins' last game as the head coach, so most BSU fans think of it as a send off for Dan, and kind of a curse to the CU. Also that was the last loss on the home turf for BSU. That means they have gone 4 years without losing at home, and they were technically the away team for that bowl game.
Also, BSU being 1-9 against the "Big Six", as you put it, since 1998 is not relevant anymore. BSU was in the Big West back then and that was only 3 years of BSU playing in Division 2. When you look at how fast and how well they have matured as a program, its remarkable. This is a program on the rise and the players there know one tradition, winning.
The problem being that tOSU would lose boatloads of cash by playing on the smurf turf. Move the game to a larger stadium (say Husky Stadium) and I would think you would have a chance of seeing it. Premier programs don't dodge home and homes with mid majors because of fear. Its all about the benjamins. 30,000 fans is a loser of a proposition for the Buckeyes. The last time it happened (Boston College) the AD said that can never happen again.
"As far as playing on their turf, no way. Not unless they change their field. It’s clearly done for a competitive advantage"
========
Actually, it was clearly done for marketing, as we were still a Div 1-AA school when it was installed in the 80's. And it was a bright blue, then.
The competitive advantage the Blue gives is mostly unfamiliarity and intimidation. Much like 102,000 capacity the Shoe has as an unfair advantage to the smaller schools of New Mexico State and other D1-AA schools you invite there. It is proven that no played blends in with the turf -- well, unless they are wearing turf and lay down in a small dip in the field. If you say so, then you should be ashamed for making such an excuse for your athletes.
Just to clarify a few things :)
If Boise St. wanted respect, they should have joined the Pac-10. Either that or go indy and schedule a lot of games against BCS conference teams like ND does. In boxing, you can't rise to #1 contender by fighting stiffs every week. Only in college football does it profit a team to schedule a bunch of cupcakes.
But I have to give them credit: at least they're not whining about not getting into the title game last year.
Everyone has no idea what there talking about.
The Blue turf is something that when you see it your eyes just light up.
its the coolest thing ever. Being on it is like nothing else, its totally different.
Boise State deserves to be in the big bowl or at least play a "big boy" team in another BCS bowl game.
They have the best coach in the nation and the best Quarterback in the nation.
There line is also very good. Are freshman linemen kept Jerry hughes out of everything and he is definetly a NFL type player and D-end.
Teams like Florida and USC and oklahoma will schedule other teams in the WAC, Oklahoma plays Utah state there first game, a WAC team, Florida last year played Hawaii there first game, a WAC team.
No one will play on the blue turf with boise state, ask oregon, Its hard to do and hard to beat the broncos.
Virgina tech didnt want to play on the blue.
Oregon state as guts cause the broncos are going to make a grave of the whole state of oregon in the state of Boise, Idaho
And they are going to dominate the Mountain West conference.
BCS, Watch out the Boise State Broncos are HERE BABY!
About a BCS team trading places with Boise State in the WAc and being able to do the same thing:
1) Boise State is a WAC team and they've only been a 1A team for 13-14 years. You would need the hubble telescope to spot their athletic budget compared to most major BCS schools. As was mentioned in the article, Boise State has been left with the recruits that the majors didn't want or overlooked. With the success that the Boise coaches have shown in finding talent, now when a recruit goes from having no offers, to being offered first by Boise State, you'll all of a sudden find 2-4 BCS schools offering a scholarship, attempting to steal the recruit away. My points are this: If Boise were in a BCS conference as a major school you would expect a similar athletic budget and the ability to recruit 4-5 star players (we normally get maybe one 4 star player/year now). Considering Boise State has accomplished what it has with what it's got speaks volumes.....it's not an apples to apples comparison. Secondly, if you put a team like Va Tech, Ohio State, Oregon etc in the WAC you would pretty much expect a record of something like 61-2 vs WAC competition right? Exactly the record of Boise State over that time period.
Having said all that, don't get mad, i'm not trying to offend anyone or call anyone's team out...just trying to defend mine. :)
2)I have no #2. Nothing, I got nothing!
Boise State can not just "join the Pac-10" they have to be invited and I guarantee you if an invite was sent it would of been accepted immediately. And about going indy and scheduling a lot of games against BCS conference teams like Notre Dame does that won't work. Boise State does not have the finances of Notre Dame. Going independent would ruin the program and I am sure the schedule would end up either being a bunch of road games against BCS teams or a schedule that is weaker than what they currently have.
To be fair, I think we would have whined had we not been leapt by TCU. So... the nation had that going for you.
Good luck, Bucks! Even though I'm one of your biggest haters, I still admire your tradition and sweater vests! If Terrell Pryor doesn't screw things up for you this year, you're going to be a serious threat to the nation.
You, a Boise fan, are going to come on here, probably the top Ohio State football blog, and tell the fans that they don't know what they're talking about? Bold.
Your field, however, is a novelty, and should be illegal in D-1 football. I'm all for traditions, but football is not played on water, it's played on grass. Even on artificial surfaces, it should look like grass. I don't even agree with people who say that it's a competitive advantage for the Broncos...it's just not a football field.
However, that's not why people don't do home-and-homes with Boise St.. Bronco Stadium is 35,000 seats. Northwestern's Ryan Field, which is the smallest in the Big Ten, is 47,000. No big teams play Boise State at their field because it's a financial loss. Ohio State would only play Boise State at a stadium that held at least twice its current capacity.
Nevertheless, you cannot expect to get a lot of respect playing their current schedule. The pollsters should be factoring that into the equation, although it's questionable whether they actually do. Getting rid of the strength-of-schedule component was the lamest thing the BCS ever did, but we can't have USC getting the short end of anything, can we?
Haha, whoops
*twirls bowtie*
*slips on banana*
*fart noise*
...Well I was enjoying and welcoming all the Boise State fans to our little discusion here.
I have a solid level of respect for Boise State. Most of the mid-major contenders come and go in spurts -- Utah, TCU, Nevada -- but Boise State has performed at a high level. They schedule tough teams, and they made the move out of the WAC because they realized they will never get to the next level within the MWC. BSU clearly wants to elevate their program to higher planes and, so long as the fan base remains loyal, I think they will continue to improve. Although I am not familiar with their academic situation, I do not think a PAC-10 invite will be forthcoming because of those issues. Moreover, I doubt that BSU fields a solid basketball team, but again, I'm ignorant about that issue.
That being said, I would not want to play BSU because I do think it presents a lose-lose situation. That's not BSU's fault; it's the fault of both the national OSU haters, and the fault of OSU itself for shooting itself in the foot for so many seasons. A win against BSU will get OSU almost nowhere in terms of validating OSU as king of the castle. A loss against BSU would be fairly devestating, although I think BSU has enough respect now that a loss is not so far outside the pale.
OSU's win over Oregon was an excellent start, but we need to capitalize on that momentum. We need to handle Miami at home, keep the fight up against a resurgent Big 10 conference slate, and then meet up with the SEC conference champion in the NCG. A victory against the SEC champion will bring things full circle -- in January 2007, Ohio State was riding the crest of its wave, and SEC champion Florida demolished the Buckeyes. Four years later, the Buckeyes should return to Glendale to finish what they started and redeem Tressel. Here's hoping it'll be a season to remember.
Voters should NOT factor that in strength of schedule. The BCS formula works best when voters vote on the intangibles, how they think that team is performing and how they should line up in the polls. The computers are the ones left with statistical analysis and Strength of Schedule. Boise is burned every year by this. There is no need to double dip.
You've never heard of bluegrass?
I'm not particularly a Boise State fan, but I think arguments against their blue turf are stupid. If you don't like artificial turf and prefer real grass, that's a valid argument. Once you're on board with artificial turf, though, color is totally arbitrary. There is no natural color for artificial turf. Blue may be less common than green, but it's no less arbitrary. I like the Broncos' Smurf Turf because it seems more honest. The field isn't grass, and they're not pretending that it is.
I have tremendous respect for what Boise State has done, but I put them at about the same level as, say, TCU. It's not true that midlevel BCS teams would do what Boise has done in the WAC, but 2nd/3rd tier programs like Wisconsin, V Tech, or Georgia would have feasted on similar competition.
At its best, Boise is always capable of winning a BCS game but not the NC. In the last 6 years, what NC team would Boise have been able to compete with: Bama 2009, Fla 2008, LSU 2007, FLA 2006, Texas 2005, U$C 2004? Granted Ohio State had a rough time with two of those clubs, themselves, but that only underlines the point - they should be careful what they wish for.
Will 2010 Boise take it to an altogether new level? I guess we'll see whether their 10/1 odds on winning the NC pays off. But I'd sooner put my money on Nebraska at 15/1, LSU at 25/1, or Wisconsin at 40/1 - all three of which figure to be about level in talent/coaching/etc. as Boise.
what is in the water in the northwest? a football team from up there is mentioned and all the fans seem to assemble locust style and swarm.
do members our drunken army do the same thing?
Blue field, its no different than Marshall,Michigan State on a green field. Green uniforms on green field blue uniforms on a blue field. No different. Stupid excuse to lose in Boise. Its the loud fans. Have you every been there? A good friend of mine has been to Penn State and Boise State games a number of times. They have 90k plus and he says it is real close to the volume of Boise State because the way the stadium was built.I wish people would stop saying people lose because the field is blue. Same game on different color field. Believe it or not, Boise State wins games on a green fields. lol
Believe it or not, yes. I posted a link to this article on the best BSU blog online (www.obnug.com) because I thought it was well written and a fair assessment. Several of the BSU commenters are from there too.
You talking about the wisconsin team that needed OT to beat Fresno at home? That team would dominate the WAC for a decade? I think the last time Boise played Fresno at home they beat them by 60 points.
Very well said!
Meathead: (discussing the Nixon administration) "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, Archie."
Archie: That's where I got you, college boy. Denmark ain't no state; it's the capital of Colorado."
Everytime I hear the name Boise St., I think of that quote from All in the Family.
Wisconsin has had a few down years under Bielema - I was using them more as an example of a certain level of program that would generally demolish WAC-level competition, rather than specifically comparing, say, the 2008 Wisc. v. 2008 Boise teams. Since 1998, Wisconsin has the 12th best overall win percentage in the country while playing out of a BCS conference, but yes Boise has been a better program than Wisc the last 5 years. Still, if the two teams had swapped schedules last year, Wisc would have had a great chance of going undefeated in the WAC (Fresno usually plays well in the early season non-conf game, btw) and if they played on a neutral field first game this year, the line would be about Wisc. -2.
I say do a home and home with BSU, only 30k seats in their stadium? If they want to play with the big boys then they need to figure out how to get them on the schedule. Put up or shut up!
LOL Don't let one bad apple ruin the basket for the rest of us. The more realistic of us BSU fans know that we have areas that NEED to improve, like SOS. Unfortunately not much can be done about that. We're in a damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don't situation. We could have all 4 of our OOC against top 25 teams and there'd be those BCS detractors saying our schedule ain't strong enough. Meh...we go with the hand we're dealt.
I seem to recall reading last year that Boise State's AD put an open offer out there to travel anywhere and play anyone and not require a home game in return... At the time we still had an opening in OSU's home schedule but it got filled with freaking Eastern Michigan (?!!) instead.
I will say (as a diehard Buckeye fan) I respect Boise State's willingness to play anyone, and until programs like Ohio State start accepting the challenge of bringing them to town to play a football game this talk of BSU "deserving" a shot at the title will continue... rightfully so.
If anyone needs to "put up" it's perennial powerhouse programs like ours.
A bounty of internets for this man
If I am not mistaken, I believe BSU wanted a $1M paycheck for bringing them to town.
Yes they were asking for apporox 25% higher guarantee than the average one timer gets from tOSU. That open offer wasn't quite as open as everyone thought.
'If anyone needs to “put up” it’s perennial powerhouse programs like ours.'
Um..."put up" what? A bunch of big wins on our way to a BCS title? Stay tuned...
Who's idea was it to put blue turf in there to begin with? That sounds like maybe some fired CEO of some auto company came up with that idea.
Thank God the idea hasn't caught on elsewhere. How about orange turf in Neyland Stadium? Or gold turf in South Bend? Or...
They'll have to change that cliche, "The grass isn't always BLUER on the other side(unless one is in Boise, Idaho)."
Tell me you're kidding.
I agree Bucksfan. Blue grass is hideous. I can't look at it with a hangover. It's like staring at the sun. I'm afraid I'll go blind.
BTW, the Toledo Rockets stadium holds 30,000, it's closer to Columbus(less expenses), and the Rockets have a winning record vs. BigTen teams(not Ohio State of course). Oh yeah, and the artificial GRASS IS GREEN!
Call me old fashioned, but I just think blue turf is absurd, artificial or otherwise. My daughter, when she played INDOOR SOCCER, the artificial turf was green. Why? Why didn't they make it PINK, or CHARTREUSE, or PURPLE, or POLKA DOTS?.
"I like the Broncos’ Smurf Turf because it seems more honest."-->> Heywood.
Huh? I've never seen "honest" grass.
I don't speak for everyone in here, but I believe I reflect most of us midwesterners in saying that grass should be green.
Yes I do. LOL
25% more than we pay YSU or Eastern Michigan... worth it, I say. Boise State is a game a lot of people would love to see. As a season ticket holder I feel the value is seriously lacking when we schedule games with meaningless patsies. I would respect Gene Smith, President Gee, the Board of Trustees, and Coach Tressel even more if they accepted the challenge of playing Boise State ASAP.
put up what? how about 40k more seats in the stadium
BSU has responded better and represented most admirably as compared to many other teams that have been mentioned in this OSU blog. Kudos for that. I certainly wouldn't mind playing them in OOC scheduling. I concede that I believe that it would be a lose-lose to play them in the Championship game. No doubt that they are a good team. In the eyes of automatic qualifiers and specifically the SEC, a victory for us would be considered tainted. (Don't get your feelings hurt BSU, I spew no hatred. If any other team outside the SEC made it to the championship game, and we won, they would be protesting the same.)
Here's my issue with BSU and other mid-majors clamoring for BCS pole position. It's one thing to schedule a couple OOC games to boost your schedule. But it is something else entirely to run the gauntlet of a real conference schedule, against despised opponents, who know your program inside and out and have the athletes to take you down.
Boise State doesn't do that. They'll play a couple OOC matches that they can key up for, then jog through their parade route of a conference schedule into the BCS party. But they don't have to get up and play Penn State, Wisconsin and Iowa three weeks in a row. And they don't have to deal with the raw attrition that comes from playing real opponents almost every week.
Until Boise is playing real opponents week in and week out, I will remain, at best, highly skeptical of the program. They may have good or even great teams, but until those teams show they can be great over weeks and months, rather than over 60 minutes, I ain't buying what they are selling. College football greatness isn't about winning one big game. It's about winning every game.
Unfortunately, Boise doesn't play enough real games to qualify.
agree
"I know they beat OK in ‘06 and TCU last year, but they also lost to Boston College (on their home blue turf mind you) in ‘05, East Carolina in ‘07 and TCU in ‘08."
The above IS true however the Boston College game was by 6 pts. while the East Carolina was by 3 and the loss to TCU was 1 pts. in 2008.