There has been much hand wringing and angst about Boise State’s presence at 3rd in the AP Poll, as well as 5th in the Coaches Poll.
On one side you have the “give the little guy a chance" camp, that cites Utah’s win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl 2 years ago and Boise’s own epic win over Oklahoma as evidence the non-BCS schools deserve a shot.
On the other side you have the “traditionalists” who think that, absent a schedule of sufficient merit, the Boise States of the world never deserve a shot at the BCS title.
I’m looking at it a little differently – as in its time to resolve this nonsense once and for all.
Anyone who has read my writing before knows I’m not a big fan of the BCS. College football is the only sport where approximately ½ of its teams are eliminated from “national” title contention prior to the first kickoff. Sure the mid-majors don’t play the schedules the “big boys” do, but the BCS conference teams seem to have no problem counting both the wins against them and the gaudy statistics that result from those wins. For instance, imagine if you took away all the touchdowns Tim Tebow had against non-BCS teams in his Florida career (he wouldn’t have that rushing TD title, for one.) Somehow it is fundamentally unfair that BCS teams count the stats and wins against these teams yet shut them out of title contention.
What I would like to see this season is the evolution of the journey that began with Boise’s win over Oklahoma come to a conclusion. I want Boise, or TCU, to play in the BCS title game.
Here’s my thinking – there can be really only two possible outcomes if a non-BCS team gets at “national” title shot:
1. They acquit themselves admirably by either keeping it close, or winning.
2. They get totally destroyed.
How I would like to see it happen would be a team like Boise plays a one-loss major conference team. If scenario 1 occurs, it is pretty clear that current opinion about how non-BCS teams fit into the overall title picture is due for rethinking.
And if scenario 2 occurs, as far as I am concerned that-is-that. The question is answered, and the non-BCS teams role as perpetual homecoming opponents can be cemented for at least a decade.
Is scenario 2 necessarily fair? No, it’s not, but the current system is about as unfair as conceptually possible. It’s a mighty burden to place on a Boise State or TCU – one game for the future of the non-BCS conferences. But it was a burden that was going to exist regardless (and already has), and it’s time to get some resolution to this issue.
So step up Boise or TCU, and let’s find out what you really have.
2 comments:
Boise St. being ranked 3rd is a joke. Are they are good team? Absolutely. They are well coached both offensively and defensively (although they are breaking in a new DC this year). However the question shouldn’t be can Boise St. beat Alabama or Florida or Texas in a national championship game, because anyone can win on any given Sunday. The question should be does Boise St. deserve to be in the game while playing the opponents they play? Don’t tell me that they beat Oregon and TCU last year because that argument holds no water with me. They had the whole summer to prepare for Oregon (just like Va Tech this year) and then they don’t play anyone worthwhile for 4 months. You tell me one team in the top 25 that wouldn’t want that schedule? It is worse than an Independent’s schedule in early ‘90s.
You sure Tebow would not have that record? You took out his non-BCS touchdowns and compared it to the non-BCS touchdowns of the person he passed?
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