Boise State 33, Virginia Tech 30 (final)

[BB73]

Boise will lose to someone they shouldn't. Mark it down

In other words, they'll lose before they get to a bowl game this year.

 

[3074326]

People who use the cupcake schedule, or mid-major, as an excuse...i don't see you saying the same thing about college basketball. If you're complaining about Boise's schedule, then shouldn't you be up in arms about Butler making the NC game? What about George Mason making the Final 4 a few years back, or UNLV winning it all 20 years ago? Playoff/tourny or not, it is the same concept.

..what?

It isn't even remotely the same concept. I honestly have no idea how you could even say that.

Unless for some reason I was not made aware of Butler and George Mason completely skipping the tournament that they had to get through to get where they did.

They played good teams in that tournament. That's why the tournament is so great.

Not even remotely the same. The season is basically the tournament in football, and they play high school teams while the rest of the top 10 plays D1 schools.

 

[Bucklion]

Not even remotely the same concept. Basketball has a huge playoff field and gives teams with much smaller rosters the chance to win their way to a title. Boise plays nine cupcakes a year and has one or two early-season games as their only basis for earning a quality bowl berth, which is the polar opposite of the college basketball setup.

This. In fact, here's a little challenge for all of the people with the Boise State fatheads on their bedroom walls... (yes this is over-the-top smart-assedness)

Let's say the SEC braintrust meets today, and they decide "Ole Miss sucks, their coach is a moron, their cheerleaders smell bad, they lost to Jacksonville State...drop 'em...now." And they then decide to immediately adopt Boise State at 1-0 and give them the final 11 games of Ole Miss' schedule.

@Tulane
Vandy
Kentucky
@Alabama
@Arkansas
Auburn
LA-LAF
@Tennessee
@LSU
Mississippi State

Does anyone REALLY think they are going to beat Alabama and Arkansas and Auburn back-to-back-to-back to go undefeated and/or with the SEC West? Well guess what, such is life for teams from real BCS conferences every year, so if they want to be considered in the same breath, they had better figure out ways to play better opponents on a more consistent basis. I imagine even De-Nutt could figure out a way to give 'Bama a run for their money if it was the only good team they played all season...try recharging the batteries in 6 days...twice...to play 3 in a row...then come talk to me.

 

[OSUScoonie12]

you say 4-1 vs top 10 teams. What's the breakdown of when they played those teams?

2001:
W 35-30 at #8 Fresno St

2004:
L 44-41 vs #8 Louisville (Liberty Bowl)

2006:
W 43-42 vs #10 Oklahoma (Fiesta Bowl)

2009:
W 17-10 vs #3 TCU (Fiesta Bowl)

2010:
W 33-30 at #10 Virginia Tech

Bowl game or not, 4-1 vs top 10 teams is still impressive, regardless of the team.

I feel like any team that goes undefeated, doesn't matter the conference, should have the same chance of playing in a national championship game as anyone else. Boise St or Alabama or Ohio State...if they all go undefeated, they should each have an equal opportunity to play for all the marbles.

The best case scenario for this year, is that BSU goes undefeated, doesn't make the NC game, and and both teams in the NC game have 1 loss, or at least one of the teams has 1 loss. If that's the case, there are going to a lot of very angry college football fans. Which should hopefully lead a playoff...and no i'm not trying to start a playoff thread

 

[TheIronColonel]

2001:
W 35-30 at #8 Fresno St
Fresno finished the season unranked.
2004:
L 44-41 vs #8 Louisville (Liberty Bowl)
Louisville finished the season ranked 6th.
2006:
W 43-42 vs #10 Oklahoma (Fiesta Bowl)
Oklahoma finished ranked 11th.
2009:
W 17-10 vs #3 TCU (Fiesta Bowl)
TCU finished ranked 6th.
2010:
W 33-30 at #10 Virginia Tech

Bowl game or not, 4-1 vs top 10 teams is still impressive, regardless of the team.

I feel like any team that goes undefeated, doesn't matter the conference, should have the same chance of playing in a national championship game as anyone else. Boise St or Alabama or Ohio State...if they all go undefeated, they should each have an equal opportunity to play for all the marbles.

The best case scenario for this year, is that BSU goes undefeated, doesn't make the NC game, and and both teams in the NC game have 1 loss, or at least one of the teams has 1 loss. If that's the case, there are going to a lot of very angry college football fans. Which should hopefully lead a playoff...and no i'm not trying to start a playoff thread

They are 1-1 vs teams that actually finished in the top ten. Beating a Fresno St team that was unranked to end the year isn't really a big deal.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

This. In fact, here's a little challenge for all of the people with the Boise State fatheads on their bedroom walls... (yes this is over-the-top smart-assedness)

Let's say the SEC braintrust meets today, and they decide "Ole Miss sucks, their coach is a moron, their cheerleaders smell bad, they lost to Jacksonville State...drop 'em...now." And they then decide to immediately adopt Boise State at 1-0 and give them the final 11 games of Ole Miss' schedule.

@Tulane
Vandy
Fresno State
Kentucky
@Alabama
@Arkansas
Auburn
LA-LAF
@Tennessee
@LSU
Mississippi State

Does anyone REALLY think they are going to beat Alabama and Arkansas and Auburn back-to-back-to-back to go undefeated and/or with the SEC West? Well guess what, such is life for teams from real BCS conferences every year, so if they want to be considered in the same breath, they had better figure out ways to play better opponents on a more consistent basis. I imagine even De-Nutt could figure out a way to give 'Bama a run for their money if it was the only good team they played all season...try recharging the batteries in 6 days...twice...to play 3 in a row...then come talk to me.

Boise beats Jacksonville State, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Fresno State, Kentucky ... loses to Alabama ... splits Arkansas and Auburn ... beats Louisiana-Lafayette ... splits Tennessee and LSU ... beats Mississippi State ... 9-3 record, top fifteen in the polls, nice bowl game. But how many Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, Pac-10 teams would do better than that? Certainly not Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, probably not Penn State ... Iowa and Wisconsin go 9-3 or so ... Ohio State probably drops a game somewhere to finish 11-1.

So what you're saying is that Boise State would be a top-tier Big Ten team?

 

[Bucklion]

Boise beats Jacksonville State, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Fresno State, Kentucky ... loses to Alabama ... splits Arkansas and Auburn ... beats Louisiana-Lafayette ... splits Tennessee and LSU ... beats Mississippi State ... 9-3 record, top fifteen in the polls, nice bowl game. But how many Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, Pac-10 teams would do better than that? Certainly not Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, probably not Penn State ... Iowa and Wisconsin go 9-3 or so ... Ohio State probably drops a game somewhere to finish 11-1.

So what you're saying is that Boise State would be a top-tier Big Ten team?

What I am saying is that this is the type of schedule that other teams have to navigate to make the title game at 12-0 or 11-1. So for Boise State to "belong" in the NC game, this is the type of performance, week after week, they would have to produce. Anyone can play one good game. But grind out 60 minutes against Alabama and then play Arkansas in 6 days...and then Auburn in another week. Boise plays in a conference where their starters only have to play 1/2-2/3 of the game for about 2 straight months. No team from a "real" conference has such a luxury.

Top tier as in the top 4 or 5 in the conference? Sure. On the other hand any...ANY...Big Ten team could finish top 2 or 3 in the WAC EVERY year. And that's assuming Boise State is in the WAC (and I'm not removing them to add said Big Ten team). Take whoever you want...Indiana maybe? Let them play in the WAC, as is, for 5 straight years (40 conference games). What would their record be...32-8? 30-10? 28-12? 25-15? Hard to believe they would average worse than 5-3 a year in the WAC. Indiana's Big Ten record in that span (the past 5 seasons)? 9-31. Penn State had some trouble when they joined the conference (after 1994 anyway), because they weren't playing Maryland and Temple for 2/3 of the schedule. Boise would be no different, except they don't have the facilities or tradition Penn State has.

 

[Muck]

My objection to Boise State is that they don't have to rise to the occasion as often as the other contenders.

And the bar on those occasions hasn't really been that high to begin with.

These guys are classy, and they're legit. If it was Brian Kelly bitching for a shot as the coach of Cincinnati, maybe my opinion changes. But Chris Peterson has never complained, and always acknowledged their position in the college landscape.

The BSU President is constantly complaining about BSU's 'lack of respect'. The newest call for NCAA mandated home & away series is just the latest example.

So from the above list, you've got two middle-of-the-road Big East teams (UConn, USF) and a bunch of whipping boys that routinely get thumped by major programs (last week, for example: Ohio State 45, Marshall 7; Clemson 35, North Texas 10; Auburn 52, Arkansas State 26).

How soon we forget how Marshall was portrayed as the new power on the block when they moved up with Randy Moss, Chadd Pennington & Co.

What Boise State has accomplished in just 15 years is quite amazing, and they are for real.

I just don't see hammering the Little Sisters of the Poor week in and week out as all that amazing.

 

[southcampus]

Boise beats Jacksonville State, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Fresno State, Kentucky ... loses to Alabama ... splits Arkansas and Auburn ... beats Louisiana-Lafayette ... splits Tennessee and LSU ... beats Mississippi State ... 9-3 record, top fifteen in the polls, nice bowl game. But how many Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, Pac-10 teams would do better than that? Certainly not Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, probably not Penn State ... Iowa and Wisconsin go 9-3 or so ... Ohio State probably drops a game somewhere to finish 11-1.

So what you're saying is that Boise State would be a top-tier Big Ten team?

I'd say that in their best year ever (this year), they would be the 4th best team in the conference. They'd still be a darn good squad, but I don't think they'd be on the tip of anyone's tongue when discussing the NCG, similar to how Wisky isn't mentioned much at all either.
I'm not even gonna say I wish we had a playoff or something to resolve this. Get a new conference, schedule some new people, and we won't bitch about your pansy schedule Boise. I think they are on the right track in this department, but until they are in a respectable conference, they deserve nothing more than a fiesta bowl.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Get a new conference, schedule some new people, and we won't bitch about your pansy schedule Boise.

Not that easy to do. Which conference is going to take them? If they can't get into the Pac-whatever, then they are probably doomed to have a "pansy" schedule for the foreseeable future.

 

[TheIronColonel]

Not that easy to do. Which conference is going to take them? If they can't get into the Pac-whatever, then they are probably doomed to have a "pansy" schedule for the foreseeable future.

WAAAAA we put all of our money into football instead of actually building a college that grants degrees that you would think twice about before using to wipe your ass. If Boise weren't a rotten turd at the end of the Earth, the PAC 10 might consider granting them membership. But they are, and the PAC 10 wants nothing to do with them (and the Big Ten doesn't, either). Boise is the epitome of new money: they've done virtually everything half-baked and tacky (right down to that fugly gimmicky turf), and they want respect for it. Well, tough [censored].

Edit:

You know what, this post comes off really mean and pissy. LJB makes a good point, but I don't happen to be sympathetic to his viewpoint. Boise St has tried to get into a better conference, and failed. The reason that they failed is because they have failed to build their university into a big boy institution. They're a glorified community college with a good football team. I simply don't believe that trying and failing to get into a better conference makes up for having a bad schedule. In college football, you have to play a tough schedule and win all of your games. One of those things alone isn't enough, and nobody cares if you intended to play a tougher schedule (see: failure to get into a tougher conference). Either play tough teams and win, or get out. That's all it takes, and everything else is just decoration.

 

[southcampus]

Not that easy to do. Which conference is going to take them? If they can't get into the Pac-whatever, then they are probably doomed to have a "pansy" schedule for the foreseeable future.

I'd say the Pac 10 is a nationally accepted conference when it comes to the national championship discussion. You run the table in that conference and you'll see much less criticism from me. As it stands, BSU schedules a middle of the road Pac 10 school and people look at that as like their 2nd toughest game! And it's on the smurf turf! Put them in the Pac 10 and let them play USC, travel to Oregon, play 'zona, play stanford, etc and you would see no complaints from me about putting them in a NCG should they go undefeated.

I do recognize that it's not that easy to just join a conference, and I also know that it's not easy to schedule top tier opponents. That doesn't make me feel sorry for them though and it certainly doesn't make me want to grant them essentially a free ride to the NCG.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

WAAAAA we put all of our money into football instead of actually building a college that grants degrees that you would think twice about before using to wipe your ass. If Boise weren't a rotten turd at the end of the Earth, the PAC 10 might consider granting them membership. But they are, and the PAC 10 wants nothing to do with them (and the Big Ten doesn't, either). Boise is the epitome of new money: they've done virtually everything half-baked and tacky (right down to that fugly gimmicky turf), and they want respect for it. Well, tough shit.

Well, Florida State started out as a nursing college, didn't have football until 1947, didn't hit the big time until 1979, and now they are one of the most renowned programs in the sport.

Same thing with Boise State - maybe they are not quite "there" yet, but they are well on their way, and ahead of schedule. To dismiss them so cavalierly is short-sighted, to say the least.

 

[Gatorubet]

Well, Florida State started out as a nursing college, didn't have football until 1947, didn't hit the big time until 1979, and now they are one of the most renowned programs in the sport.

Same thing with Boise State - maybe they are not quite "there" yet, but they are well on their way, and ahead of schedule. To dismiss them so cavalierly is short-sighted, to say the least.

Leave us not forget the talent-rich Idaho recruiting base, much like FSU's in Florida. :p

 

[woofermazing]

Boise beats Jacksonville State, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Fresno State, Kentucky ... loses to Alabama ... splits Arkansas and Auburn ... beats Louisiana-Lafayette ... splits Tennessee and LSU ... beats Mississippi State ... 9-3 record, top fifteen in the polls, nice bowl game. But how many Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, Pac-10 teams would do better than that? Certainly not Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, probably not Penn State ... Iowa and Wisconsin go 9-3 or so ... Ohio State probably drops a game somewhere to finish 11-1.

So what you're saying is that Boise State would be a top-tier Big Ten team?

9-3 is really generous. Boise doesn't have the depth behind their starters that top-tier Big Ten teams have. They would do what Michigan did last year and probably will do again this year, start out strong but finish the season badly as their starters run out of gas.

The Boise State D looked exhausted at times against VT, and their coaching staff did not take advantage. They were snapping the ball with 20+ seconds left on the play clock with the lead and 2-3 minutes left in the game FFS! There's no way Tressel would lose that game with the VT roster.

I see 2 or 3 wins in conference on that SEC schedule. Now if they had a couple months to prepare for each game, and came in completely healthy, maybe 8-4.