.... gotta give them some props. After watching them play Fresno last night... and their game the week before... I was wondering how many teams could go through their less than stellar conference schedule and beat every team by 30+ points... week after week. They get bashed for their schedule.... rightfully so... but, man, they do the only thing they can, which is smoke everyone they play. They may not thrash Nevada next week, but it's hard to discount the way they win. If you look at most of their games, they're done by halftime... Boise average about 37 points in the first half against conference foes.... they average around 10 4th quarter points.... so it's not like they're pouring it on at the end of games.
Have you thought about it from their position? They like this situation, period. Their head coach is comfortable being the fly. He never gets angry in interviews, never indignant at the process and continues to tell the world these are our cards and we have to play them. Boise State may very well be good enough to go to the next level and sustain it. They don't want to. Not the Pac 10, not the big east, not the big 12. Did I mention, they don't want to. I'm going to go out on a limb hear and speculate, they like their kindergarten schedule. They like being considered a top 10 program and still get all these road kill teams. Every year that goes by, it seems to be less offensive then before. Boise St. is taking the long run approach and today more and more are saying, ya their schedule stinks, BUT. It doesn't take much of a gambler for them to bet we're going to get a crack at the NC if we just continue to beat down the cripple children institutes of the world and wait on that BCS team to lose a game. The long run, is looking pretty good and not that long.
I see them getting trashed here on the forum all the time. "They'd be SEC bottom feeders", "They never play anybody", "They don't deserve the recognition", yadda yadda yadda. Every single time I've watched them play all I've ever seen is consistent stellar play. They're always prepared and extremely well coached. They play disciplined football. They dominate every game and put every opponent away early and decisively. I think they may move up one day to a tougher more prestigious conference, and they will be ready for it. If they moved to the Pac 10 would they dominate in the same way? No. But they'd compete and be in every single game. I speculate that if they'd played LSU's schedule this season, they'd only have maybe one more loss than we have (Bama).
I would bet my last dollar that BSU would not make it out of the SEC in the West this year with anything less than 2 losses. Thats a stretch when you factor depth and attrition. Yes, pound for pound their starters can play with the best of them, but try to tell me when every game is on the line like it is in the SEC that they have enough players to sustain they "consistency" that people cling too...
Just finished reading your post. My first reaction, "Huh?" :huh: Then :dis: You do understand they have to be INVITED to a BCS conference before they can join one? You don't just walk in and say, "Here we are, hand us the schedule." It just doesn't work that way. You have to be INVITED to join the Pac-10 (soon to be Pac-12) and believe me, Boise State would KILL for that invite but it's never coming and they know it. The Pac-10 is elite private schools, public colleges that think they are as snooty as private, and land grant big state U's. They have no room in their league for an upstart BCS buster that, 40 years ago, was still a (GASP!) community college. As blue as their field is, their blood ain't blue enough for the snooties in the Pac 10/12. When the expansion list was first put together a few years back, Boise State wasn't even on it. The Pac-10 takes more into account for their expansion calculus than who's kicking tail in football at the moment. Big East? Take a school in Boise, Idaho? I know the latest rounds of conference re-alignment have kinda stretched the traditional geography of conferences, but their are limits. The Big East probably meets theirs at the Rockies, if not the Mississippi (maybe they'll prove me wrong and take TCU). They've done what they can. They are going to the Mtn. West next year, which won't have the Utah schools, but will still be an overall upgrade. They have tried to schedule real OOC games that help their SOS, with limited success. They are NOT going to prostitute themselves out for money anymore though. You wanna play Boise? You will be making at least one trip up to the blue turf or work out a "neutral-site classic" deal with them. They don't do body-bag games anymore. And why should they? They no longer need the money, and I think they've earned the right to act like a big boy program in at least some respects. You don't like it? Tell your AD that, instead of road trips to Duke (Duke? Seriously?) and a series with a program that hasn't been relevant in 20 or so years, that you would like to see your beloved Red Elephants at least midly challenged once in your OOC schedule. Or somebody else maybe? Does anyone in the SEC (even us, mighty LSU) have the stones to fly up to Idaho, put it down for the self-proclaimed "toughest conference in the land", end the nation's longest home winning streak, and restore order in college football? I'm waiting.
Your fixation with the Pac 10 matters little to my point. Any BCS conference will do. But as long as you're being specific, the Big 12 minus 2 is looking for volunteers. Not mentioned in your scenario. Got some articles that would reflect all this sincere effort to be just one of the "Big Boys, like hey, big 12, take us?" Much too busy negotiating with the Mountain West and just in time to take Utah's place. Atleast that puts TCU and Boise in the same pen. OOC games vs Alabama and the best you can do is Duke. Clemson, VaTech, Penn St, Florida St, just the last few years and if you google (try it) much more to come. LSU stands a very good chance of being on the receiving end of this Boise gift that just keeps giving. The argument is not the quality of team, but rather the quality of SCHEDULE. Your argument won't fly in this meat grinding, tree shredding, SEC schedule plus championship game we endure. The fact the Pac 10 and Big 10 have been making the NC game without a CCG is wrong. So working up any sympathy for the folks from Idaho would be more than a reach. Last year, when Alabama beat VaTech, they knew they had better improve if they were going to get through their schedule. Much tougher stuff was coming and did.This year when Boise beat VaTech, they knew they just beat the toughest team on their schedule. The toughest thing they've been doing since September is trying not to fall asleep at the wheel.
Boise and Georgia will open next season in Atlanta so we'll see who's who and what's what in that situation and my fantasy is for LSU and Boise to both make it down to NOLA this year for the Sugar Bowl.
(1) Neither does a fixation on the SEC. (2) The BCS system is about the quality of the team, not the conference. The "tough schedule" part is relevant only to the media or a fan who thinks his team's schedule is tougher than someone elses. The Boise State's and TCU's are already penalized for their schedule, otherwise one or the other could easily be #1. Both need to win all their games and have the other conference champs lose a game or two. When that scenario happens, why are they still less worthy? When the cards are already stacked against them, why is it necessary to stack the deck even more? What's more biased than wanting a system that almost always ensures your conference champ gets to play in the big game? It's the ultimate self-serving argument.
i will give Boise credit for dismantling every cupcake they play. i just looked at their schedule and results. against teams not currently bowl eligible: their closest game was 29 points. they have never trailed other teams currently in top 10 of BCS who can say that? zero do i think this is deserving of a NC shot? of course not. but to go out and win by 30 + every time you're supposed to is not as easy as it looks.
