Is Boise State a top football program

[cb1954]

Boise St 1999-2010

 

If you look at FBS winning percentage for these years Boise St easily has the best 1999-2010 Winning %

 

When you look at winning percentage vs. teams ranked in the top 25 at game time, during those years, they are still at #17 VS Ranked Teams But when you see where they rank in # of games vs. ranked teams they drop to #85 out of 120 teams Total # of Ranked Teams Take out the bowl games and its even worse Without Bowl Games coming in at #108.

 

The Broncos actually have the best winning % vs. top 10 teams Winning % VS Top 10 Teams But again when you see where they stand in number of games vs. top 10 teams for those seasons, they are only at #97 Total # of Top 10 Teams with 5. Oregon St. played that many last season alone 2010 Games vs Top 10 Take out the bowl games and they drop to #112 Without Bowls

 

Their winning % vs. FBS teams comes in at #54 VS FBS Teams - to be fair they have won 6 of the last 7. Of course not being in a BCS Conference they will not have played as many BCS teams and are at #114 # of Games Played Take out the bowl games and its lower yet Without Bowls at #117

 

Also if you rank teams during those years by their opponents winning percentage (without bowl games) they come in at #95 Opponents Winning %

 

The question is with a game or two during the season against better teams, do they really deserve to be in the NC game if they have the best record at the end of the regular season?

 

How many teams from BCS Conferences would like to trade their upcoming schedule for Boise States? I think there are 2 teams on their schedule that are ranked in the pre season top 25, neither in the top 10. If they run the table or even lose to Georgia in the first game and win the rest, some people will say they deserve to be in NC game if there are no other undefeated teams left.

 

Boise State (MWC) 2011

 

9/3 Sat vs. Georgia @ Atlanta, GA

9/17 Sat @ Toledo

9/24 Sat vs. Tulsa

10/1 Sat vs. Nevada

10/7 Fri @ Fresno State

10/15 Sat @ *Colorado State

10/22 Sat vs. *Air Force

11/5 Sat @ *Nevada-Las Vegas

11/12 Sat vs. *Texas Christian

11/19 Sat @ *San Diego State

11/26 Sat vs. *Wyoming

12/3 Sat vs. *New Mexico

[Scarlet Overkill]

I know people don't think they deserve to be, but they haven't shied away from any preseason competition. They've played Oregon, VT, now Georgia, and all on the road. They've been to BCS games and have won them. Why the heck shouldn't they at least be in the conversation? They can't control how good their conference is, but can control their OOC games, and have done well against very good opponents.

[AR Husker Fan]

What the hell - I'll say, "Yes". After all, look at the Big 12 - Oklahoma/Texas will probably the only real test for either team.

 

Yeah, I'm bangin' on the Big 12...

[cb1954]

What the hell - I'll say, "Yes". After all, look at the Big 12 - Oklahoma/Texas will probably the only real test for either team.

 

Yeah, I'm bangin' on the Big 12...

 

Oklahoma plays at Florida State

They also play Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, who are both in the preseason top10, Mizzu and Texas are both ranked in top 25 in one of or both of the polls.

[okaive]

So what your saying Carl is since they play 1good team a year and have a crappy conference, they should be ranked with the conferences that actually know how to play?

 

That conference should even be this division. If we had that schedule, we would be a laughing stock of the U.S.

[redblooded]

I know people don't think they deserve to be, but they haven't shied away from any preseason competition. They've played Oregon, VT, now Georgia, and all on the road. They've been to BCS games and have won them. Why the heck shouldn't they at least be in the conversation? They can't control how good their conference is, but can control their OOC games, and have done well against very good opponents.

 

Umm they shy away from preseason competition plenty.

 

VT was a last minute deal and that same team got beat the next week by a 1AA team. They were calling Nebraska out to play that game too if memory serves (as long as NU payed them 1 million dollars) while NU was in turmoil with the coaching changes, but we didn't hear a thing about it other then them turning down a 2 for 1 once they saw Nebraska was competing for championships again.

 

They are smoke and mirrors, they find an overrated BCS team to schedule early and hope they can pin an entire season on it. The only two actual games they play a year are bowl games one with a fall camp lead-in another with bowl practices after they run over their joke of a conference... (Except when Nevada foils that plan, lol).

[badger79]

For some reason they refuse to schedule 2-for-1 deals with anybody, like they're too good for them or something. They prefer those neutral-site games where ESPN arranges the deal and ponies up the cash. Thus last year's game against Virginia Tech and this year's game against Georgia.

 

Their program is still riding the coattails of that big win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. FOUR YEARS AGO.

[The Dude]

King of the intramurals. They would be average in a real conference. It's one thing to get up for a decent team once a year. It's something completely different to have to face stiff competition week after week. They're a joke.

[flatwaterfan]

I also think they would not do well in a BCS conference over time. Like others are suggesting it's a lot easier to get the kids up for 1 or 2 games. It's pretty hard to keep kids focused for an entire season. When you play 8 other cupcakes it doesn't really matter. That OU win was a case where OU didn't get focused and BSU did much like the Holiday bowl last year.

 

They do have a good QB and are a good team. They are in a good cycle but I think that ends next year.

[irafreak]

After Boise Beat OU I thought that was a solid win...granted OU came out flat and turned the ball over repeatedly....I still gave credit where it was due...but then Boise started demanding respect. They're a solid program in the WAC now MWC. Big whoop. Sorry but when Central Michigan was tearing up the MAC I wasn't thinking they were ready for BCS talk. Same with Utah. Now Utah will have a chance to prove themselves.

 

Bottom-line is this. We've had undefeated teams from major BCS conferences not end up with the national championship or even a share (04 Auburn didn't get a share of USC's title, penn state in 94) so I don't really see what their beef is. It happens to true big time programs as well.

[gratefullred]

I would like to see what they would do playing good teams week in week out. Until they do we will just continue to speculate.

[Husker_x]

Boise State is an example of why the entire BCS system blows. No team that goes through a cupcake conference schedule sprinkled with one or two ranked teams should even be considered for a top ten ranking or a BCS bowl bid. No one can seriously say that an undefeated Boise State team deserves a shot before a one or even two loss SEC team. The argument that they beat ranked teams now and again or 'would succeed if they played in a stronger conference' are ridiculous and moot. They don't play in a real conference, so we'll never know. The fact is they have about as good a sweetheart deal as Notre Dame. They never have to go through the grind of an SEC, B1G, or Pac 12 schedule, playing well recruited teams week in and week out.

 

This is what blows my mind about the college football postseason. We have 119 teams vying for a national championship, no postseason playoff, and a computer could theoretically put these clowns in a National Championship game. It's an injustice to the real teams that play in real leagues against real opponents week in and week out. Giving out BCS berths to Boise is like giving one of Michael Phelps's medals to someone who competed in the special olympics.

[VA Husker Fan]

 

 

This is what blows my mind about the college football postseason. We have 119 teams vying for a national championship, no postseason playoff, and a computer could theoretically put these clowns in a National Championship game. It's an injustice to the real teams that play in real leagues against real opponents week in and week out. Giving out BCS berths to Boise is like giving one of Michael Phelps's medals to someone who competed in the special olympics.

FWIW, the pollsters had BSu higher than the computers last year. The computers look at the schedules without bias. The voters are going to have to rank BSU in the top 2 or at the very least a close 3rd to get them in. Remember that each human poll gets 1/3, and the computers get the other 1/3.

 

They are far from an average team. But even in their best years, in a major conference they would've had a loss or two unless they got extremely lucky.

 

This is just part of the reason why the system is so flawed. The non-BCS schools can rightfully say that they have virtually no chance of getting in a championship. The BCS can rightfully say that you shouldn't be able to take such an easy route to the championship game. You really need to even up the schedules better, and pare down those 119 teams.

 

Or maybe it's not so flawed. You want in the championship, do what Utah and TCU are doing and join a big conference and earn your way in. Otherwise, settle for an occasional BCS bowl when the chips fall right.

[broganreynik]

While I agree that they don't face much competition, they can only win the games that they're scheduled to play. And they don't shy away from non-con games. Virginia Tech also went on to win how many games after that FCS loss? If we're going to write off 5 conferences from the get go, then they shouldn't even be part of the FBS, because they truly have no shot at a title. Now if they're having games like we had against Iowa State last year, then that's one thing, but if they're thoroughly dominating every game, then I say why not. Now I'm not saying put them in over an undefeated SEC team or anything, but if there's two undefeated teams at the end of the year, and Boise happens to be one of them, hell let 'em play. What's the worst that'll happen? They'll prove everyone right that they didn't belong? Maybe they win the MNC? Can't say it's because the other team didn't get up for that game. If a team with a loss has a beef with them being left out in favor of Boise, tough, you should've won all your games. Much like I believe you have no argument to be in the MNC if you didn't win your conference, you have a significantly weaker argument to be in it if you lost a game. Hell, everyone thinks that Oregon should've been in the MNC in 2001, they lost to an unranked team for crying out loud.

[Lil' Red]

I think Boise has beaten enough good teams to earn recognition as a top team. If we had a playoff system though we wouldn't be having this debate as it would be pretty evident on how good Boise was by how it fared in the playoffs.