Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

What others are saying: Here’s one good reason to root for Boise State in football

By Matt James

It will be painful, but let’s try to make it through this together. It is not easy defending Boise State. Frankly, I’m sick of the Broncos. I’m tired of the name and the colors and the perfect record and the nice people who live in southern Idaho.

I’m tired of Boise State’s busty athletic budget, and that it gets so many California players, and I’m even tired of the Fiesta Bowl footage.

I’m a football field past annoyed that the Broncos’ leading rusher (D.J. Harper) tearing an ACL didn’t slow them down a stride, and that when a Bronco was finally caught talking trash on camera, an Oregon Duck turned him into a victim. I’m even irked by Kellen Moore’s passer rating, which is now higher than my bowling average. Ugh.

I’m irritated by Boise State’s blue field, but even more that opposing fans keep using it as an excuse, when players say it’s no big deal.

Boise State is the USC of the little guys now, about as fun to root for as the Yankees or smallpox. But every city in America with a non-BCS school should be sickened that the Broncos have no shot at a national title.

That’s what the national analysts are already saying, even though Boise State parachuted in at No. 4 in the first BCS poll. Doesn’t matter, they say, even though No. 1 Florida scraped by this weekend and No. 2 Alabama still has Tennessee, Louisiana State and its worst enemy, Auburn, ahead.

And the way Colt McCoy played Saturday, No. 3 Texas still has five biff-able games left on its schedule.

Still wouldn’t matter, the talking heads are saying. They would all have to lose twice to stay behind the Broncos. Even Iowa would probably have to lose twice, even though the Hawkeyes have only played one ranked team and nearly lost to both Northern Iowa and Arkansas State at home.

USC, LSU and Miami would all have to lose again. Same for Georgia Tech and Penn State. Heck, Oregon would probably have to lose again to stay behind Boise State, and the Broncos beat the Ducks. The solar system is easier to explain than this BCS system.

Cincinnati will have to lose to stay behind the Broncos, and all you have to do is look at the common opponent to know which team is better. Boise State beat Fresno State more handily, and did it on the road.

Even Boise State fans and its local reporters have come to the consensus that the Broncos have no realistic shot, and that the only possibility would be to go undefeated this season, win a BCS game, then win them all again next season. (Which could happen, since the Broncos return pretty much everyone on the roster.) Imagine that, having to go undefeated this season to have a chance at a title next season.

For heaven’s sake. It’s the 2009 national championship, not a lifetime achievement award. At this point, even a regular ol’ BCS game is no guarantee for the Broncos because TCU could go unbeaten and also pass them.

This is the Boise State team that threw a fire blanket on Oregon, the No. 11 team in the BCS rankings. This is the team that went on the road to beat Fresno State and Tulsa, both solid squads. If Boise State can’t do it this year, it can’t be done. A team from the WAC is simply ineligible for the championship. You’d have to so impossibly load your nonconference schedule that no team in America could survive it.

And that’s assuming an athletic director could even put together that kind of schedule, years in advance, and then get lucky enough that all four opponents have good seasons.

Put it this way: If Fresno State had gone unbeaten in 2001, do you think it would have gotten anywhere near the title game? Of course not. It was Miami and Nebraska that year, big-time programs, the ones the talking heads attended, the ones the voters see on TV every week. The voters simply won’t let it happen. Humans, however indirectly, still pick the two title teams, and the BCS is still a fraternity that doesn’t want any new pledges.

Boise State football was a cute story, but there will be backlash when it becomes a real threat. And for those of us buckled by all that Boise success, at least this year’s comes with something to root for; another spotlight on a sham of a system.