LOGAN, Utah -- It's not easy to feel sorry for the winningest football program of the millennium, but let's try.Boise State beat Utah State, 52-21, Friday night to improve to 11-0. For the second straight year it will probably finish the regular season unbeaten.
Who knows? If the Broncos have five or six more perfect seasons, the BCS might invite the Broncos to its title game. Not to play, but perhaps they'll be allowed to valet Alabama's bus or hand out towels in the men's room.
With that vision in mind, I came here to feel sorry for the eternally shafted Broncos. The more I saw, the less sympathy I felt.
It's a conference thing. Boise State made its WAC, now it has to lie in it.
The Western Athletic Conference is the Olive Garden of conferences. Decent enough food, but all-you-can-eat salad is not the stuff your finer Italian restaurants are known for.
"We ate at Olive Garden," said Justin Rino, a Broncos fan from Heber, Utah.
He was making the point that Boise State fans travel and spend money, which bowls value more than wins and losses. Orange-clad Broncos fans certainly took over Logan on the biggest night in modern Utah State football history.
ESPN2 was in town, and the Aggies hadn't been on TV since Chris Berman weighed 180 pounds. It was 1977 as best as anyone around here could remember.
Utah State was inspired enough keep it interesting for a half. Then it turned into the predictable Bronco mash behind Doug Martin's four touchdown runs.
"They are very good and they did exactly what they have done in every game all year long," Utah State coach Gary Andersen said.
It's more like all the time in the WAC, where Boise State is now 54-4. Thanks to that menu, the Broncos have won 109 games since 2000.
That's more than Texas, USC, Florida and the Kansas City Royals. The Broncos have the best winning percentage of any team this decade, and they have arguably the most exciting win in BCS bowl history.
The 43-42 win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl was a game everybody not named Stoops had to love. Liking Boise State became a fashion statement. Now the Broncos have been pushed behind Cincinnati and TCU in your store's Cinderella section.
Both trailed the Broncos in the first BCS poll. Both jumped ahead in the second poll, and all Boise State did was beat Hawaii 54-9.
Forget playing Texas or Florida or Alabama in the BCS title game. Forget if Boise State finishes 13-0 and wins its final two games by 500 points. If Cincy and TCU keep winning, the Broncos might not even get a BCS bowl bid.
That's why I wanted to feel sorry for Boise State. I just couldn't.
"We beat Oklahoma," Rino said.
I'd asked him to make the case that the Broncos could beat the Longhorns or Gators. As epic as that '07 Fiesta Bowl was, one game does not make you a BCS behemoth. Neither do two games.
This year's team opened with a win over Oregon. From there it's been a low-fat diet of Fresno States, Bowling Greens and Idahos.
That's not all Boise State's fault. The Broncos would like to play more BCS-conference foes but not a lot of big-time powers want to schedule Boise State.
Why should they? The Broncos are good enough to ruin an otherwise glorious season. Just ask Oregon. But are they good enough to turn the Pac-10 or SEC into their own personal WAC?
If you believe they are, I have a tropical island in Northern Utah I'd like to sell you.
The 3-8 Aggies gained 363 yards, which was about 350 more than Florida would have allowed. Maybe the Broncos were looking ahead to Nevada or the crowd of 18,000 was intimidating. Or maybe their loyal fans should accept the Broncos aren't quite ready to conquer the BCS world.
"I don't worry about the Pac-10 or the Big 10 or the top 10," said Raul Morin, who drove down from Caldwell, Idaho for the game. "We just take them one game at a time."
The problem is they take them in places like Logan, Ruston and Fresno. The WAC recently hired a public relations firm to spin that Boise State should be ranked ahead of Cincinnati and TCU. It could feed those press releases into every BCS computer, throw in $10,000 bribes and it still wouldn't matter.
Boise State's only viable escape is to join the Mountain West, and there are plenty of rumors that'll happen. Something needs to change because the Broncos' underdog novelty is wearing off.
I'd like to feel sorry for a team that can't win for winning. But when you're feasting on the WAC, all you deserve is crumbs.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Spoken like a true Easterm Elitist which seems to fit AOL profile
I agree, if Boise State was located say in New York State or Pennsylvania the Eastern Elites would be slobbering all over Boise State
Hey, wait! Since the BIG TEN is constantly being belittled around the country, let's put Boise State there as the 12th team. Create two 6-team divisions and a championship game. (Now SEC can quit whining). But no one would respect BS or the BIG 10. If BS does well in the conference, we can say the BIG 10 is bad. If BS does poorly in the conference, we can say they were not good enough to improve the BIG 10! You see, once we decide to DIS someone (be they a team or a conference) they just cannot prove themselves worthy! WAIT - HERE'S A THOUGHT! LET'S HAVE AN ACTUAL BCS PLAYOFF SERIES. 16 top-ranked teams. Let them go at it on the field. Could it be that I've come up with an original idea? Guess not.
As a Big Ten Fan, I really don't care what fans of other conferences say, I just love Big Ten Football. I do think it is an interesting idea for Boise State to join the Big Ten and I agree the Big Ten needs a championship game. This for two reasons. Not all teams play each other, which I think is a shame and also the season ends too early. Boise State is a little far over there, but having beaten OU, have proven they have the power to be a major program, but need to be in a major conference. They would be a fun addition to the Big Ten, since apparently ND is too good for us.
I don't understand the reference to Cincinnati. Their status affects Boise State about as much as Florida's does, since both are in BCS conferences. TCU's status, on the other hand, does affect Boise State, since TCU is not in a BCS conference.
Looking at the computer rankings (I picked Sagarin for no particular reason), we note that BSU's strength of schedule is at 91, despite playing Oregon. Apparently, there are lots of cupcakes in there.
Had BSU been located in the East, they would have an opportunity to play some more of the big boys, since the travel issue would not be so much of a factor. They would have received the same adulation as, say, West Virginia, who had a pretty good run in BCS games (and would have played in an NC game had they not lost their last game in 2007).
The squishy-soft schedule issue can affect a BCS team as well (see Auburn 2004), so it's not limited to non-BCS schools, although Auburn did get to play in a BCS bowl game that year.
Boise's a good team but the author's 100% correct. I said the same thing myself when watching the game last night. Boise can score at will against the opponents they play. No pass rush or speed from the opposition. They've got the best team but their competition is pathetic! After a few seasons in the SEC they'd be lucky to finish with a winning record after the novelty of the trick plays were figured out. They'd get pounded in a real conference,, they're like the Texas Tech of the Big 12,, it's gotta work 100% on offense or you lose!
Oh sure, those 400 lb tractor pullers from the SEC are sooooooo tough and mean. Florida would finish in the middle of the WAC as would Ala-losa
PLEASE PASS THAT JOINT YOU'RE SMOKING
IT'S GOT TO BE GOOD STUFF
Boise State should get out of the WAC if they really want to play with the big boys. Let 'em play the likes of BYU and SMU from now on. Oh, yeah. Ban the Smurf Turf...blue unis on blue turf sucks. No love lost from this UofO and SJSU fan.
One game is not a season. Wade through a schedule of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Kentucky, LSU, Miss State,Arkansas, etc plus a Conference Championship game and then see how your beat up team survies. Note these teams who have losses are 90% from their own conference. Put anyone of them against Boise's schedule and their records would be totally outstanding. Play a big boy schedule and then bid for a BCS bid.
Boise is way over rated and ranked higher than it should. The logical math shows how this is such.
Take in point Boise St ranking vs Ohio State.
Both teams have played 11 games or teams that is.
The combined wins/losses of the teams Boise played is 49 wins/66 losses. The combined wins/losses of the teams Ohio State played is 70 wins/51 losses....greater than reversed. And two of those wins were against a team ranked in the top 15. Yet Boise is ranked several steps ahead of Ohio State. I am sure you could do the same math for teams like Penn State, Iowa, and Pittsburg and still come up with the same finding. Boise plays too many weak teams in their schedule. I doubt they could beat Oregon again. That was an early season game..Oregon is much tighter and improved.
i didn't realize that early season games don't count. it seems to me both BSU and OREGON had the same amount of time to prepare for that game.
I might believe this if the Broncos ran into trouble any time a "real" team came to town. Trouble is, they win those games, too! If the Broncos were in a "real" conference, maybe they could get a shot at the national championship if they lost a few games as well.
They're not perfect, but you bet everyone would tune in to see if they could beat a team like Florida, Texas, or Alabama cause if you don't think its possible, you haven't been watching football...
I didn't realize that Cincinnati and TCU had played tough schedules. Oh wait a minute. They haven't. In fact Boise beat Fresno State (in Fresno) far more handily than Cincinnati did playing at home. I think Boise's victory over Oregon is far more impressive than Cincinnati's victory over South Florida or TCU's win over Utah.
Let's see: "Boise State wins so crushingly that they must be a bad team." Dumbest. Logic. Ever.
Hey jangly, only one logical statistic you left out -- Ohio State lost, twice. Dumbest. Logic. Ever.
I think you have a great team Boise, now paint your field green and quit runnin' gadget plays and we'll all take you seriously.
it seems it will never end.try as they might none of the suppossed power houses will schedual them.they will go anywhere but the invites dont seem to come.remember they beat LA TECH away by more than LSU did at home
"Gadget plays..." Funny, years and years ago, the forward pass was a "gadget." And almost every team in the NFL now runs a version of the Wildcat. Since when is being creative and outsmarting your opponent considered to be a bad thing?
yeah...great article. I noticed how this idiot Whitley commented on the Florida schedule....lets see, Troy, Florida International and Charleston Southern. Make you wonder why Florida doesn't schedule a few local high school teams to pad their schedule. Did you know that Boise State offered to play Florida at Florida this year instead of Charleston Southern. Umm...for some reason Florida choose the 1A school.
I am tired of all these patsys that Florida plays and runs up the score on. Let them schedule home and home games against Boise State, Utah and TCU and see if they are still number 1. Those teams are not even the likes of Southern Cal, Oregon or Stanford. The SEC schedules patsys like this every year to run up the scores and their records. This year, TCU would crush, yes, I said crush Florida. Hell, Florida has almost lost 4 games..not even counting the 3 patsys they soften their schedule with....lol!
Oh..and Boise State this year played the number one team in the PAC 10, Oregon...and beat them. And can you all guess which conference won all their bowl games last year? Yes..it was the PAC 10. And what was the SEC record? If I recall rightly, it was 2 wins and 4 losses. Great article, Whitley. Come out west and see some real football...