Boise State Gets No Love

[CH David]

I figured since this is for the future it wouldn't go into the College Football thread, but move if necessary.

RUSTON, La. – Is it cowardice or collusion?

Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier is all but begging for a major opponent – any major opponent – to play his Broncos, particularly in 2011. He can hardly get his calls returned. Not by the SEC. Not by the Big Ten. Not by anyone.

Bleymaier is making a nearly unheard of offer in college football scheduling – Boise will bring its popular, high-profile, top-10 team to any stadium in any town to play any big name team in America in 2011. And they don’t have to return the date in Idaho.

So far, no one has bit.

ESPN has even become involved trying to broker a deal that will almost assuredly be nationally televised. Still no luck.

Here is the rest of the article.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-boise110709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

So basically, once the 2011 College Football season hits, Boise State won't really have any big non-conference opponents to play. The athletic director is sending out open invitations for Boise State to actually travel to a big non-conference opponents, whether it be Big 12, Big 10, SEC, any team. And they aren't getting any responses.

Boise State gets screwed out of BCS Bowl games because of their schedule and the conference that they play in. In the article it is said that “Some of those schools that are saying ‘let them play our schedule’ won’t play us". And later on in the article they would even accept an invitation to play in the Big 12.

So, with Boise State pretty much begging any big non-conference opponent to play, and those same teams don't want to play them, does Boise State have a true gripe for why they can't play in the National Championship game, or even in a big BCS game? Are the big teams scared to play Boise State?

I think that they are scared. Answer me why teams wouldn't agree to play them if they weren't worried about the games. Boise State is getting screwed because they can't play tough opponents, even though they are offering to travel to the other stadium, just to play. We can't see what they can truly do, because they aren't being allowed to play quality teams. They steamroll the shit teams of their conference, also beat Oregon for their only loss of the season, and beat Louisiana Tech as well.

So what are your thoughts?

 

[Theo Mays]

I'm a big fan of the big blue from Boise. Love the field, love the team, love watching them play. And I think the big schools are a wee bit worried if they would have to play Boise. These guys can hang in with the big guns and they really deserve some national credit. I'd love to see Bama, Florida, Texas, and all the other undefeateds go down and see a Boise St/TCU national championship. Won't happen, but I bet that would be a fantastic game. And one of the big dogs went down today in Iowa.

 

[Big J]

Boise State has nothing to lose by playing the big schools and the big schools have nothing to gain. If a big school beats boise, they were expected to and if they lose then they lost to a lesser school and would lose ranking.

Maybe the ncaa could install a lottery for top 10 teams each year and have them draw names and FORCE them to play the top teams in the smaller conferences.

The whole bcs is crap and they need a playoff system(look at that I agree with obama--I must be wrong) and have conference winners play each other.

 

[FromTheSouth]

This is a publicity stunt. For once, all the non conference games for the big time programs are contracted years in advance. Texas will play Cal in a home and home in like 2014 and 15 for instance. Boise is trying to draw attention to the program because the BCS analysts have noticed that if Oregon would have won out, they would have passed Boise State in the BCS based on strength of schedule in the computers, even though Boise would have had the better record and a head to head win.

Boise State is doing nothing more than trying to draw some attention and say "Woe is us." Woe is the small conference. The problem in the BCS isn't that Boise has a weak schedule, it's that they keep squeeking by those weak opponents with six and eight point wins.

When Texas, Florida, and Alabama play weak teams, they win by 30, 40, 50, but Boise wins by 10. Win all your games, be impressive, and you will get more love.

 

[CH David]

This is a publicity stunt. For once, all the non conference games for the big time programs are contracted years in advance. Texas will play Cal in a home and home in like 2014 and 15 for instance. Boise is trying to draw attention to the program because the BCS analysts have noticed that if Oregon would have won out, they would have passed Boise State in the BCS based on strength of schedule in the computers, even though Boise would have had the better record and a head to head win.

Boise State is doing nothing more than trying to draw some attention and say "Woe is us." Woe is the small conference. The problem in the BCS isn't that Boise has a weak schedule, it's that they keep squeeking by those weak opponents with six and eight point wins.

When Texas, Florida, and Alabama play weak teams, they win by 30, 40, 50, but Boise wins by 10. Win all your games, be impressive, and you will get more love.

September 3* 8:15 PM #14 Oregon #16 Bronco Stadium • Boise, ID ESPN W 19–8 34,127
September 12* 6:00 PM Miami (OH) #11 Bronco Stadium • Boise, ID KTVB W 48–0 32,228
September 18 7:00 PM at Fresno State #10 Bulldog Stadium • Fresno, CA (Battle for the Milk Can) ESPN W 51–34 35,637
September 26* 5:00 PM at Bowling Green #8 Doyt Perry Stadium • Bowling Green, OH KTVB W 49–14 22,396
October 3*† 6:00 PM UC Davis #5 Bronco Stadium • Boise, ID KTVB W 34–16 32,497
October 14* 6:00 PM at Tulsa #6 Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK ESPN W 28–21 30,000
October 24 9:00 PM at Hawai'i #5 Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI KTVB W 54-9 37,928
October 31 1:00 PM San José State #5 Bronco Stadium • Boise, ID KTVB W 45-7 31,684
November 6 6:00 PM at Louisiana Tech #5 Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA ESPN2 W 45-35 23,240

So winning 48-0, 51-34, 49-14, 54-9, and 45-7 are not considered blowouts anymore FTS? I may not be as good at math as I used to be, but I think the closest game of those games was a 17 point win over Fresno State. The rest of those I believe are over 30. But only an 11 point win over Oregon to start the season, even though Oregon was #14 and Boise State were #16. Tulsa was a 7 point win. UC Davis was 18, and Louisiana Tech was a 10 point win. Yeah, those wins just can't cut it in the big conferences FTS.

Seriously, they are in a weak conference, and want to play tougher opponents. I trust you read the article, but if not, Nebraska has an open date on September 3, 2011. That puts a small dent in your advanced schedule argument. Doesn't tear it apart, and I wouldn't expect it to, but a dent nonetheless. If Nebraska would be expected to win, then why don't they take it?

I say move Boise State to a different conference, give them competition. If they end up being a bottom dweller in a better conference then there is no reason they can claim they should get respect. I may be out of my mind for suggesting that, I don't care. Let them actually prove themselves against tough teams. I don't see how it would hurt anyone. Just give them a quality opponent, and if they tank, they can't complain. If they succeed, then there is a new true powerhouse in the NCAAF.

 

[jmt225]

Boise State has to be the most overrated team in sports.

I watched them the other night against Louisiana Tech, and I was not impressed in the least bit. That's where FTS's comment came from, David (the Tulsa game as well). Sure, they've blown out some weak teams, but not all of them. And they haven't played anyone halfway decent outside of Oregon, who were overrated as fuck to begin with. If Boise State were in the SEC, they'd finish 6-4 at best; I would put so much money on that. But unfortunately, they're not and they have to pay for it when it comes to competing in the BCS. Whenever you're in a weak division, you just have to face the facts of you ever winning National Championship is very, very slim, especially when good teams like Florida, Texas, and Alabama are handling business like they currently are.

But honestly, while Boise has looked good these past couple of years, do people really think that's going to last? I mean, seriously... they have a good team now, but that doesn't mean all of the sudden they're going to start recruiting the best high school players in the nation. Soon this team they have now will be gone, and Boise State will be right back to where they were a few years ago, just like most of these smaller school teams who end up having a good year or two for themselves end up.

 

[gd]

Isn't Boise playing someone big next year? I think I heard an analyst say something along the lines of Boise is just trying to make a BCS bowl this year, and go for the national title next year with a lot of returners and a stronger schedule.

Personally, I think Boise deserves a shot at a national title. Not over an undefeated SEC or Big 12 team, but definetly ahead of any one loss team. It's been proven when Boise beat Oklahoma and Utah kicked Alabama's ass. Sure, there are always teams like Hawaii that get blown out, but you'll never know how good the team is unless you give them a chance.