http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1127203 What if ...? Now that people are more agreeable to the thought of Boise State making it to the national championship game, here's a hypothetical question. If a Pac-10 team (Oregon?), a Big Ten team (Ohio State?) and Boise State go undefeated, who should play in the national championship game? Landon in Atlanta Even Boise State's harshest critics had to be impressed by the Broncos' 33-30 season-opening victory over then tenth-ranked Virginia Tech ... well, that is until Virginia Tech lost to James Madison the following week. Still, even though a lot of college football followers won't admit it, Boise State is a bona-fide top-10 team. Every time Boise State faces a major obstacle, the Broncos seem to overcome it, whether it's Virginia Tech this season, Oregon and TCU last season or Oklahoma in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. That said, in the scenario described above I'd think the Broncos would be -- and should be -- on the outside looking in at the national championship game. A perfect record is a tremendous accomplishment and should be acknowledged with respect, regardless of the overall strength of the conference in which a team resides. The Western Athletic Conference is by no means a grind, although Fresno State, Hawaii and Utah State aren't the cream-puffs some may dismiss them to be -- just ask Cincinnati, USC and Oklahoma. But an unbeaten team coming out of the Pac-10 or the Big Ten would have a better resume than one coming out of the WAC. And the BCS standings largely are based on a team's resume. An unbeaten Ohio State would have posted victories over Miami, Wisconsin, Penn State and Iowa -- four teams that entered the season ranked in the top 20 and could finish there. Boise State will play half that many -- Virginia Tech and Oregon State. Maybe unbeaten Boise State would have a better chance to be chosen ahead of an unbeaten Oregon. After all, the Broncos beat the Ducks last season. But an unbeaten Oregon would have victories over USC, Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford, Washington and California. Any way you slice it, that's more impressive than posting victories over Oregon State, Virginia Tech, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah State and Idaho. Now, if Boise State was one of just two teams to finish unbeaten, a great argument could be made for the Broncos to be included in BCS championship game. I might agree unless, say, Alabama had a regular-season loss to Florida but avenged that loss in the SEC championship game. Then, my vote (if I had one) would go to Alabama, which would have faced a much more demanding overall schedule than Boise State. And what if Nebraska lost to Texas in the regular season, but then beat the Longhorns (or Oklahoma) in the Big 12 championship game? It would be hard to leave Nebraska out. At least Boise State would have a chance in that scenario. But if there were two unbeaten teams from "Big Six" conferences, those two would play in the BCS championship game.
I think that it's hard to argue that BSU would deserve it over an undefeated team from a true top-tier conference (SEC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 10). The ACC and Big East could potentially turn out undefeated teams that aren't better than BSU IMO. Ed O.
Agreed....mostly....somewhat.... I cannot wait for a Nevada-Boise State matchup. Either Cal is REALLY bad, or Nevada is very good!
