I think many of us had that friend in high school that cruised through all the easy classes. He might have been smart, but he was a major underachiever. While you were working hard to keep up with AP Lit homework, he was enjoying the fruits of advanced gym and reminding you that his GPA was just a little bit higher than yours.
The BCS system finds itself in a similar predicament this year. I’m talking, of course, about Boise State University. Boise’s athletic director does his best to schedule one fringe national title contender every year so that his team can lay the best possible groundwork for an argument that goes something like this: “did you see how badly we beat up on our in-conference competition? Did you see us win that one game against that team that is kind of good? Look, we’re undefeated! You can’t possibly deny us a bid in the national title game now!”
Well… why not?
For the second straight year, Boise State has traveled to the east coast to play a preseason top 20 team that many fancied a quiet contender for the national title. Boise eked out a win last year over Virginia Tech in their first game of the season. Evidently they enjoyed the weather on this side of the country, because they made a return trip just last weekend to beat Georgia in their 2011 season opener. The most notable statistic about both games isn’t something you’ll find in a box score, though- each BSU victim followed up their 0-1 start with another heartbreaking loss. Georgia fell to 0-2 on Saturday when they played South Carolina after turning the ball three times and allowing Marcus Lattimore to rush for over 150 yards. In 2010, our very own JMU Dukes played salt to Boise State’s wounds by capitalizing on key moments and taking advantage of Virginia Tech’s short week in a 21-16 upset of historic proportions. Both JMU and South Carolina have now played key roles in shaping Boise State’s ultimate destination. When you damage their already tenuous strength of schedule, you do real harm to the Bronco’s chances of appearing in the national title game. And you know what? Good.
In the Western Athletic Conference, Boise State played eight conference games a year. Since the 2009 season, they have won their conference games by an average of 35 points. No small amount of credit should go to the potency of the offense that hyperefficient quarterback Kellen Moore runs, but let’s be real. Boise State has been blowing their opponents out because they aren’t good teams. The casual football fan can’t name more than one or two teams from the WAC- that’s probably not a good sign for the strength of that particular conference. So while Boise State knocks around creampuffs and programs that could be mistaken for high school teams, SEC and other AQ teams are beating the crap out of each other and eliminating each other from title contention.
Look, I’m not saying Boise State should be barred from ever competing for the national championship. They actually play a significantly more difficult schedule this year as they have moved to the Mountain West and must host the likes of TCU and other more accomplished teams. But when you’re a team from a non-automatic qualifying league and you want to play for the championship against one of the big boys, I think you should have to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you belong at the table. As for me? I’m not buying in just yet.
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