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Here's how Boise State can make it to the national title game
PUBLISHED 1 hour and 58 minutes ago
LAST UPDATED 1 hour and 18 minutes ago
It’s routine now. The season arrives and from the first moment, Boise State isn’t good enough.
Isn’t good enough to beat any BCS school that has decided to chance it and play the team with the best record in FBS over the last decade. Isn’t good enough to deserve a spot in a BCS bowl.
Kellen Moore and Boise State are playing in the Mountain West Conference this year, but they'll get as much respect there as they did in the Western Athletic Conference, Matt Hayes writes. (AP Photo)
Isn’t good enough to deserve a high BCS series ranking because it doesn’t play in a conference that includes the letters S, E and C.
“New year, same stuff,” says Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore.
Same stuff, all right. With one big caveat: This is the year the Broncos could make it all the way to the BCS National Championship Game.
It’s the last great frontier for Boise State, the little program that could—the program that started as a humble little junior college juggernaut, moved to Division I-AA and eventually jumped into the big boy pool, becoming one of the greatest success stories in the sport’s history.
There’s only one step left, and here’s how the Broncos get there:
All hell breaks loose. Every team in every BCS conference has at least one loss. Don’t think it can’t happen.
There’s too much parity in college football—and no clearly dominant team. There is a dominant league, but the SEC is so deep and so talented, it’s going to be difficult for its league champion to escape unscathed.
So Boise State needs to beat Georgia convincingly in Week 1, and then hope the Bulldogs win nine or 10 games (have you seen UGA’s schedule?). And if everyone in every BCS conference loses a game—and Boise State is unbeaten at the end of the season—the road will be paved for a team that has proven time and again it can play with any team, any week (see: Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Virginia Tech). No matter what Nick Saban thinks.
No room for error. A missed chip-shot field goal against Nevada kept Boise State from playing in the Rose Bowl last year, and taking another big swing at a BCS heavyweight.
The Broncos’ new league (the Mountain West) is essentially a carbon copy of its previous league (the WAC). In other words, playing poorly in any conference victory only brings out more of the Sabans of the world—more of those who believe Boise State’s road is easier than that taken by BCS programs because it plays in a subpar conference.
That TCU will spend one more season in the MWC before moving to the Big East helps Boise State’s argument, even though a victory over the Horned Frogs—which won’t be easy—will be seen as one non-BCS heavyweight knocking off another.
The only way to truly eliminate any doubt is to roll through your conference with big victories. The Broncos were one game from that scenario last year, and it cost them dearly.
This fall, with another loaded, experienced roster, that mistake won’t happen. Boise State will be top five in total offense and defense again (Broncos were No. 2 in both in 2010), have a Heisman Trophy candidate in Moore (maybe the leader) and could be the nation’s only unbeaten team.
“When you’re in that situation as a (non-BCS team), you’re battling more than just your opponent,” said Tennessee coach Derek Dooley, who coached at Louisiana Tech before leaving for Knoxville in 2010. “You’re battling something new every day.”
The tainted offseason. After months of numerous teams in the BCS hierarchy exposing every possible wart, college football is desperate for a feel-good story.
Remember, everyone, the BCS poll is two-thirds human vote. After all the garbage of the offseason, after the two teams playing for the BCS National Championship last year (Auburn, Oregon) are both under NCAA investigation, you don’t think voters in the Harris Poll—and even the coaches poll—won’t lean toward unbeaten Boise State in our All Hell Breaks Loose scenario?
Of course they will. It’s a feel-good story that a sport on the brink needs. And if Boise State gets to the coveted BCS National Championship Game?
We’ve all seen what the Broncos can do in a one-game, winner-take-all scenario.
Let’s just say Nick Saban won’t be too happy about that, either.
Here's how Boise State can make it to the national title game
PUBLISHED 1 hour and 58 minutes ago
LAST UPDATED 1 hour and 18 minutes ago
It’s routine now. The season arrives and from the first moment, Boise State isn’t good enough.
Isn’t good enough to beat any BCS school that has decided to chance it and play the team with the best record in FBS over the last decade. Isn’t good enough to deserve a spot in a BCS bowl.
Kellen Moore and Boise State are playing in the Mountain West Conference this year, but they'll get as much respect there as they did in the Western Athletic Conference, Matt Hayes writes. (AP Photo)
Isn’t good enough to deserve a high BCS series ranking because it doesn’t play in a conference that includes the letters S, E and C.
“New year, same stuff,” says Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore.
Same stuff, all right. With one big caveat: This is the year the Broncos could make it all the way to the BCS National Championship Game.
It’s the last great frontier for Boise State, the little program that could—the program that started as a humble little junior college juggernaut, moved to Division I-AA and eventually jumped into the big boy pool, becoming one of the greatest success stories in the sport’s history.
There’s only one step left, and here’s how the Broncos get there:
All hell breaks loose. Every team in every BCS conference has at least one loss. Don’t think it can’t happen.
There’s too much parity in college football—and no clearly dominant team. There is a dominant league, but the SEC is so deep and so talented, it’s going to be difficult for its league champion to escape unscathed.
So Boise State needs to beat Georgia convincingly in Week 1, and then hope the Bulldogs win nine or 10 games (have you seen UGA’s schedule?). And if everyone in every BCS conference loses a game—and Boise State is unbeaten at the end of the season—the road will be paved for a team that has proven time and again it can play with any team, any week (see: Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Virginia Tech). No matter what Nick Saban thinks.
No room for error. A missed chip-shot field goal against Nevada kept Boise State from playing in the Rose Bowl last year, and taking another big swing at a BCS heavyweight.
The Broncos’ new league (the Mountain West) is essentially a carbon copy of its previous league (the WAC). In other words, playing poorly in any conference victory only brings out more of the Sabans of the world—more of those who believe Boise State’s road is easier than that taken by BCS programs because it plays in a subpar conference.
That TCU will spend one more season in the MWC before moving to the Big East helps Boise State’s argument, even though a victory over the Horned Frogs—which won’t be easy—will be seen as one non-BCS heavyweight knocking off another.
The only way to truly eliminate any doubt is to roll through your conference with big victories. The Broncos were one game from that scenario last year, and it cost them dearly.
This fall, with another loaded, experienced roster, that mistake won’t happen. Boise State will be top five in total offense and defense again (Broncos were No. 2 in both in 2010), have a Heisman Trophy candidate in Moore (maybe the leader) and could be the nation’s only unbeaten team.
“When you’re in that situation as a (non-BCS team), you’re battling more than just your opponent,” said Tennessee coach Derek Dooley, who coached at Louisiana Tech before leaving for Knoxville in 2010. “You’re battling something new every day.”
The tainted offseason. After months of numerous teams in the BCS hierarchy exposing every possible wart, college football is desperate for a feel-good story.
Remember, everyone, the BCS poll is two-thirds human vote. After all the garbage of the offseason, after the two teams playing for the BCS National Championship last year (Auburn, Oregon) are both under NCAA investigation, you don’t think voters in the Harris Poll—and even the coaches poll—won’t lean toward unbeaten Boise State in our All Hell Breaks Loose scenario?
Of course they will. It’s a feel-good story that a sport on the brink needs. And if Boise State gets to the coveted BCS National Championship Game?
We’ve all seen what the Broncos can do in a one-game, winner-take-all scenario.
Let’s just say Nick Saban won’t be too happy about that, either.
