JMak wrote:USC has played
San Jose State
tOSU
Washington
tOSU has played
Navy
USC
Toledo
VaTech has played
Bama
Marshall
Nebraska
Boise State has played
Oregon
Miami (OH)
Fresno State
Based on games played and results does Boise State fare so much worse than these teams? No.
By the end of the year, yes, they will have fared much worse. Once we revisit all those same schedules, only to discover that Boise had already played their toughest game in week one, and it was all downhill from there, yeah, it'll be quite obvious.
USC will have played @ Ohio St, Cal, Oregon and ND, plus a home game against potentially troublesome UCLA.
With Oregon playing in Boise in a season opener, there isn't a single game on Boise's schedule that is as tough as any one of those games. In fact, USC's game @ OSU was already more difficult than any regular season game Boise has played in the history of their program.
Ohio St? They had to play USC - in a big game for USC - plus they play Penn St in a night time "White Out" game in Happy Valley. They also four time defending Super Bowl champs Iowa, and they play Michigan on the road.
Do you really want to compare their schedule with Boise's? Ohio St's schedule sucks, yet it's still ridiculously tougher than Boise's.
Va Tech has already played a virtual road game against Bama, which is a more difficult game than anything on Boise's schedule - ever- plus they've played a decent Nebraska, and they haven't even begun their BCS conference schedule.
No contest there. Va Tech's schedule is massively more difficult than Boise's.
Boise's schedule? It's a fucking joke. After the Oregon game their most difficult games are Fresno St, in which Boise looked positively awful, and...
Tulsa. When Tulsa is your second toughest game of the year, behind only a home game against Oregon, just go ahead and STFU. You shouldn't get to go to a BCS bowl game, no matter your record.
There are at least a half dozen teams on Boise's schedule which would be forty point dogs to any real BCS bowl game team.
Now, a few points here...
Dins is wrong about Utah beating Bama and Boise beating OU due to the wear and tear Bama and OU suffered throughot their tougher conference seasons, versus the wear and tear Utah and Boise
didn't suffer while sailing through their weaker conference seasons.
That argument holds up during the season. It holds water when the discussion centers on the question of whether Utah or Boise would in fact earn the right to play in a BCS bowl game if they had to play in the SEC or Big XII. Yeah, it's a fair question to ask: Would Boise still go 12-0 and thus earn a BCS bowl game bid, if they played in the SEC?
I think we can all agree that with their lack of depth the answer is clearly no. They'd end up losing some games, and they'd end up playing in a lesser bowl game. They're compiling their BCS bowl game-worthy record on the back of an entire schedule of cupcakes. Many teams across the nation could run the table with Boise's schedule.
That's a different question, and it's also a different question where Utah or BYU are concerned, since their schedules are significantly tougher than Boise's. Their schedules are as tough as those of many BCS conference teams.
That wear and tear argument though, it goes out the window in a BCS bowl game. These teams have a month or more to heal up and prepare for the game. Bama didn't lose to Utah because of the wear and tear of the SEC season. Bama was healthy going into that game. Fatass Smith wasn't injured, he was merely stupid. OU had AD and their usual cast of characters all lined up and ready to go when they played Boise.
They lost because they got beaten that day. Shit happens, and on any given day Utah and Boise are good enough to beat anybody, including Florida, Texas or Bama. Florida lost at home to Ole Miss, so Utah and Boise sure as hell are capable of doing Florida too. Texas lost to Taco Tech; same deal.
We already know what Utah did to Bama, and there is no reason whatsoever to suspect this year's Bama team is even as good as last year's overrated squad.
On any given day, fuck yes Boise or Utah could beat
anybody.
That's not the same thing though as saying Boise
deserves and
earned the right to play in a BCS bowl. They don't, because they haven't.
Doesn't matter what they do, once they get there. A lot of teams might also fare well, if given the chance. Those other teams aren't given the opportunity, due to their records. Boise's record is a sham, so it shouldn't afford them the ability to be rewarded on such a high level.
That team has played precisely ONE highly ranked team in Boise, during their entire run this decade. Just one, and it was this year's season opener against Oregon.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that there are quite a few teams who would be compiling amazing, BCS bowl game-worthy records if they played in the current WAC, and their OOC schedules were the same as Boise's have been over the years.
As to Jsc's point, yeah, of course there's something to be said for a disappointed team from the SEC or Big XII getting 'stuck' with having to play a Boise or a Utah rather than a USC or a Texas. Everybody here constantly rails against Pete Carroll for not
always having his team fired up to play games in which they're favored.
What, you think that doesn't apply to other favored teams as well? You think motivation doesn't come into play with 18-22 year old kids? You think Bama and OU were as sky high to play those bowl games as they were to play Florida and Texas?
Of course they weren't. For Utah and Boise those games were their Super Bowls. Those were Statement Games; watershed moments for their programs. For Bama and OU those were bitter consolation games, following seasons in which they failed in their main objectives.
That's just reality.
Reality is also the fact that it's still on Saban and Stoops to get them up for those games, as there's no excuse for laying an emotional egg in a BCS bowl game, but the Hangover Effect
is at least part of the explanation there. It's not a valid excuse, and it doesn't explain everything, but it does at least partially explain a flat performance.
