H 32°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°Boise State should reach the BCS Championship Game.
In fact, if Boise State does not reach the title game — even if they earn yet another BCS bid — it would be the biggest disappointment of the season.
Even worse than Wisconsin going from as high as eighth in the nation through three games last season to an embarrassing 42-13 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl.
I don’t say this because of the way Boise State played Friday against Fresno State (their run defense was beyond shaky) or because they are the best team in college football. In fact, I am not even sure they deserve their current ranking as the eighth best team in the nation.
Still, though we have only just finished the third week of the season, with the Broncos’ win Friday night over Fresno State they finished the toughest stretch of their schedule 3-0.
Imagine that. Play two tough teams in your first three weeks and cruise to an undefeated regular season at 13-0. That is exactly what the Broncos are poised to do over the next 11 weeks.
And though they remain just eighth in both the AP and USA Today coaches’ polls, Boise State has by far the easiest road to an undefeated regular season of any team in the Football Bowl Subdivision — and that’s an understatement.
Just look at their remaining schedule: at Bowling Green, UC Davis, at Tulsa, at Hawaii, San Jose State, at Louisiana Tech, Idaho, at Utah State, Nevada and New Mexico. Of the Broncos’ 10 remaining games, three teams — Tulsa, Hawaii and Idaho — have 2-1 records while all others have either one or zero wins.
All told, the 10 teams have a cumulative record of 8-16. One opponent, UC Davis, was blown out 51-0 by the same Fresno State team the Broncos just beat 51-34. Another, Nevada, was shut out 35-0 by a Notre Dame defense that has struggled to stop both Michigan and Michigan State.
And unlike last season, Boise State does not play at Nevada’s Mackay Stadium, a place the Broncos barely escaped with a 41-34 win in 2008.
Look around at the other teams in the polls and it becomes clear Boise State should have no trouble making its way to the top of the media and coaches’ polls. And if this week’s games are any indication, no team in the top 10 is safe from upset … except perhaps Boise State.
Third-ranked USC lost to a much-improved Washington team and No. 7 BYU never had a chance in a home game against an underrated Florida State squad. Throw in a near-upset of Texas at home by Texas Tech and it was quite the wild weekend.
And we have not even reached conference play for a lot of teams.
To think Florida, Texas and Alabama (the consensus top three) have a good chance of finishing with unblemished records is na�ve. Even Penn State, whose toughest challenge could be Michigan in the Big House, is unlikely to make it to 12-0 without some luck.
And California, who has become the odds-on favorite for the BCS bid in the Pac-10 following the USC loss, will have to beat the Trojans in Berkeley and go into Seattle to face the same Huskies that made Pete Carroll look silly this weekend.
LSU and Mississippi? Talk about tough schedules. They both face each other and Alabama, (though both are home for Ole Miss while both are away for LSU) and the Tigers have a date with Urban Meyer’s Gators on Oct. 10.
That leaves two teams in the top 10: No. 9 Miami and No. 10 Oklahoma. Even if the ‘Canes survive this week’s game at No. 11 Virginia Tech, they face the Sooners next week. That leaves one of the two on the outside looking in — and neither team has it much easier in the weeks following their matchup in the Sunshine State.
So that leaves one team: the eighth-ranked Boise State Broncos. And wouldn’t that be the perfect revenge after finishing last season 12-0 and being left out of the BCS altogether?
They survived a season-opening test against Oregon. And they were strong against a Fresno State team that may be better than most people think. So, while they are clearly not the most talented team in the FBS, they might be the best suited to win the BCS title.
Imagine that. A non-BCS school winning the BCS Championship in Pasadena. That would be one for the ages and might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, bringing a playoff to the FBS.
IP hash: 702697d7
I couldn’t agree more with you. BSU may not have the toughest schedule left in the season, but just like President Obama said on his campaign trail, it’s about time that every college football team gets the same shot at the title. I think a lot of people underestimate or simply dislike the Bronco’s, the folks in Oklahoma probably the most since the Fiesta Bowl upset in ‘07, but I believe they are capable of raising to just about any challenge thrown at them, no matter where and no matter who. They have this almost arrogant faith that no matter what, they can play ball because they’re all on the same page, no matter how big their opponents name may be. Let them compete against the ND’s, UCLA’s or Penn State’s, they’ll stand their man and show the nation that the old saying holds true, “don’t judge a book by its cover” or in this case the size and schedule of the program.
IP hash: d3b20880
Who better than BSU to stir the pot and persuade the nation that a college football championship series is needed?
IP hash: 35b57176
I’m a huge BSU fan. Even an undefeated regular season does not warrant a championship game. The WAC is weak, and besides Oregon, they have weak competition out of conference.
However, with that said, it should be noted that if one where to take say, Florida or Alabama or USC, and give them the same schedule as this year’s Broncos, then most people would predict a similar undefeated schedule. What this mental experiment indicates is that current BCS structure denies a championship caliber team (Florida, Alabama, USC) the chance at a championship title merely based on their conference.
There is a simple solution. No team outside the BCS conferences should be able to be ranked 1 or 2 at the end of the regular season unless they have beaten at least 3 opponents who were ranked when the games were played. This would ensure that a team is not prevented from a shot at a national title merely because of their weakness of their conference. This would also force BSU to work harder to improve the strength of their schedule.
IP hash: 24d0664b
BSU has been begging for games with tougher opponents for its open dates. Guess what? No takers. The BCS teams all want to pooh pooh BSU’s schedule but none of them are willing to step up to make it tougher. The BCS teams are effectively locking BSU into a “chicken or the egg” riddle.
Guess we can see who the chickens are. If BCS conferences won’t provide BSU a quality opponent for open dates, they shouldn’t be able to argue that BSU has a weak schedule.
IP hash: 60a2325e
Ok, how can there be a simple formula change to a system that measures performance by opinions and computers? Why don’t we just play the games on Nintendo? The reality show called BCS college football needs to end it’s season, once and for all. Until we solve it on the field, it will always be argued by non-players with opinions, not players on the field! Is that the way the legit leagues play? NFL,MLB,NHL, etc.
IP hash: 0918d667
Im not guaranteeing a BSU win, but as a bsu student and a fan, you have to look at it from our perspective. We our Known as the number one, thats right number one team in the nationin the last ten years. we have the highest winning percentage in the nation in the ten year stretch, second is Oklahoma. The year we played the fiesta bowl could have easily have been the year that OU was playing for the national championship, had it not been for one of the most contorversial comeback games in NCAA history by oregon. We are a trap team, lets say Oregon who happens to be what 4-1 this year remains undefeated and wins the pac-10, by far the toughest division in the NCAA, by pure stats as of last year who went undefeated in bowl games, no other confrence came close. Oregon would not get there chance at a National Championship just because they lost to us.
Also you have to consider this, how fair was it for us an undefeated team to not play in a BCS bowl last year when a 8-4 virginia tech team gets to play a 10-2 Cincinatti that could barely beat Hawaii, the second worst team in the wac last year. Instead both TCU and BSU get to play eachother, a damn good game, that TCU team had one loss last year to the OU sooners, but that team isnt good enough to play in the BCS, wow, look at this year VT barely beats duke lost to GT and goes ahead of bsu. Y. because their VT. For many years college football has been based off the past and its wrong since players are better than ever and since there is this thing called a five year max, where teams are completely new every five years. Look at Miami they beat 3 teams, Florida state 2-3, GT 4-1, and after two weeks of football they move up to number 8 based on oh they got their swagger back, then they get embarassed. the football system isnt perfect but if you ask me Boise State, TCU, BYU, and Utah can play with any team any game. Lets face it Utah should have got their chance at a National title last year, and BSU two years before. This yeah has been a season that is proving that even the AP poll isnt as good as it could be and that the college football field is leveling out, anyone can win any day of the year.
BTW non BCS teams are 3-1 in BCS games in the last four years.