But don’t you think they forgot about Westwood ( just ask BN ) their the best ever. I mean they think their offense is better than USC

Paragon, I’ve always had great respect for this site, especially both your writing and opinion. I have been steadfast in my support for the Trojans as I have constantly raved about Both USC’s performance and level of competition in the Pistol Pete era.

But…I both agree and disagree with your statement regarding Boise State.

Yes, if we are looking at the last decade, Boise State’s record against the BCS is abysmal. But compare Boise State’s 4-12 (.250) mark against the BCS with the following programs:

1) Texas A&M: 3 – 13 (.187)
2) Alabama: 4 – 9 (.307)
3) Arkansas: 3 – 8 (.272)
4) Oregon St: 5 – 4 (.555)
5) K-State: 7 – 6 (.538)
6) Auburn: 8 – 10 (.444)
7) Washington: 7 – 11 (.388)

Why do we shill for these other BCS programs listed above who are performing at or below Boise State for the past decade, and woefully below the Broncos in the last 5 years specifically?

I will admit, Boise State does not have the tradition that most of these other programs have, especially considering they have only been playing at the Football Bowl Subdivision for a little over a decade.

However, tradition in my mind is a little over-blown and over-rated. When I take a team in to play a program with great tradition, I generally stress that we are not playing every great team this opponent has had for the last 10, 20, 30 or however long the sterling tradition has glowed for. We are playing against this years team and this years team only, and in many circumstances, we may in fact have a tremendous advantage at key positions in terms of experience. This was was the general theme when TCU, who is 14-7 in BCS non-conference games, shocked Oklahoma in 2005. Boise State beat an 11-2 TCU team in 2003, 37-34 in a season ending bowl game.

Although I agree with the general statement that Boise State is lacking in tradition…you cannot discredit this team, specifically in the years 2004 and 2006.

Consider in 2006, Boise beat a good (10-4) Oregon State team who beat USC and Missouri (8-5) 39-38 (Sun Bowl) that year as well. Boise’s 42-14 victory over the Beavers was similar to California’s 41-13 victory over the same team led by Mike Riley, who again, beat Missouri and USC that same season.

In 2004, Boise State defeated a (7-5) Oregon State team 53-34, while also beating a very sound (9-3) Fresno State program 33-16. Fresno State beat (4-7) K-State 45-21, Virginia (8-4) 37-34, and Washington (1-10) 35-16. The same Fresno team that a year later nearly derailed perhaps one of the greatest teams in the history of college football (USC) in the infamous 50-42 (Reggie Bush Show) in the House of Troy.

My point is that Boise State really began to emerge during the 2004 season in which they went 11-1, losing to a very good (11-1) Louisville program in the Liberty Bowl, 44-41 in an outstanding and very under-rated bowl game. Louisville has been very much on the rise as well, much like Boise State, TCU and Fresno State, yet they are constantly frowned upon because they are not in the BCS bowl infested Yacht Club Fraternity.

Consider that within the BCS era, Louisville (20) ranks 3rd in total number of BCS non-conference victories behind USC (23) and Florida State (21).

Just so we understand each other, I do agree with your assessment on tradition, but tradition doesn’t mean jack shit inside a competitive battle. It does, however, amount to incredible significance in terms of television hype which sways pollsters, which opens up the whole BCS bullshit bag of worms since these teams rarely face each other on the actual playing field.

If we are constantly asked to keep Boise State’s BCS performance in perspective, lets at least keep Alabama, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Kansas State’s BCS performance in perspective as well.

As always Paragon, it is a pleasure to interact on this site and I hope you did not take that the wrong way. Here is the Top-25 for total number of BCS wins in the last decade known as the BAD Championship Scenario.

1. USC 23-7
2. Florida State 21-17
3. Louisville 20-9
4. Miami 19-8
5. Nebraska 18-7
6. Georgia 18-5
7. TOSU 17-7
8. Boston College 15-6
9. Wisconsin 15-4
10. TCU 14-7
11. Texas 13-8
12. Utah 13-10
13. VTech 13-10
14. Tennessee 12-9
15. Clemson 12-12
16. West Virginia 12-15
17. BYU 12-18
18. Fresno St (12-19)
19. LSU 11-4
20. Oklahoma 11-8
21. Oregon 11-8
22. Penn State 11-9
23. UCLA 11-11
24. Florida 9-13
25. Arizona St 8-10

Now consider that even though Utah, Fresno State, BYU, TCU and even Boise State in the last 5 years have outperformed Alabama, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Virginia and a host of other SEC, ACC, Big 12 and even PAC-10 programs…why does much of the nation still adopt a tradition laced pecking order when it has no bearing on the actual playing field today? I’m not implying that you do this all the time, but I am implying that the national media and pollsters do in fact apply this tradition laced pecking order that is outdated and full of fraud most of the time. The game would be significantly better off if we wouldn’t apply preconceived notions about certain teams,especially before a single game has even been played (This statement was directed at the national media).

In the end, I do agree that Boise should not be ranked number one, but I would include them in the Top-25 since most of their seniors have been around since 2004 when they began their improbable rise!

My problem isn’t with Boise State. My problem is that this writer picked one group of stats and came to the conclusion that they are the #1 team over the past 10 years. That analysis is too incomplete, I am not a stat guy and even I could throw that against the wall to see if it sticks.

BSU is a solid program and they could be destined for even bigger things if they can get into a BCS conference, not likely. They have been fun to watch and I would agree that they deserve to be in the top 25 over a 10 year period just not #1 when its based simply on W-L.

Who, When, How, and Where you beat an opponent on a consistent basis is just as important. We all marveled at their win against OU, it was simply stunning but that is a snapshot in time. I would love to see SC play them UP there just for the experience.

as part of a regular season bracketed playoff to determine the bowl match-ups, by eliminating the bogus September non-conference match-ups. Not everyone plays an SC schedule (my point is that USC has played the most difficult schedule of any program in college football throughout the BCS era, and they have the number one rating in total non-conference BCS wins and win percentage also at 23-7).

My other point is the fact that Boise State should have been a part of the championship equation in 2007 based upon their perfect season. Do I think they are the best program in the 10 year era of the BCS? NO! But in 2007 they should have played for all the marbles. The reason they were not given that chance is that we continually look at the Fresno’s, TCU’s, Boise’s and BYU’s of the world as lesser programs and even when they are perfect we grant a supposed traditional power school like Alabama with a higher ranking even though a Boise has outperformed them in the last 10 years in most statistical categories.