An open letter to college football

for coiled intensity.

kev that was hands down the greatest hting I have ever read on your site. I feel exactly the same way. I hate college football so much right now it makes me sick. I sometimes don’t even want to watch the games anymore because none of it matters. We win and we drop. Its like being stuck on a bad ride at the fair and you can’t even get off. I honestly feel like we are just on a track that is on a slow decent to hell most weekends. I really hope you forward this to ESPN, FOX Sports and other media outlets. I am so sick of seeing us punished for winning games. I can’t wait till we beat San Jose by 50 this week and we fall behind Oklahoma. That will be the crowning moment of utter stupidity for the BCS. Going to go throw myself into traffic now.

Let the healing begin, until they pour more salt in the wounds.

…to not fret too much about polls. I really wanted to try and enjoy the ride and not spend so much energy worrying about things that were out of our control.

Of course, the only caveat I had to that was “As long as we remained the highest non-BCS team.”

BYU self destructed. Woo!
Houston wasn’t up to the challenge. Right on!
Utah’s got a loss. Yes.

Not so fast… TCU you sons-a-bitches. We’ve held a comfortable lead in the polls on them all year and now they pass us. They are good. Real good. I fully expect them to win out. Which means, unless a miracle happens, they will remain ahead of us and go to a BCS bowl.

Anger…

This all screams PLAYOFF!! in my opinion.

Mark Schalabch is down on the season because the normal powerhouses don’t look like powerhouses. Maybe it isn’t that the normal powerhouses aren’t up to snuff, but rather the rest of Division I is catching up with them.

That couldn’t possibly be it, right?

Iowa, Cincinnati, TCU, Boise State, Houston, Utah, BYUnevermind, are non-traditional powers that are currently ranked. Give it time…

We not be forced to watch Ohio St. get monkey stomped by ( insert any SEC, PAC-10, or BIG-12 team ) in a BCS or the NC game every year. Because that never gets old. Why not let BSU, TCU, Utah or even BYU beat them in a BCS game? I am so freaking sick of seeing the same damn teams play every year in the NC and BCS games and now that the rest of us are catching up they have to find new and more exciting ways to F*** us over. If I didn’t LOVE BSU I would probably stop watching college football compleatly. The BCS is so bad the even Bernie Madoff thinks its a scam.

anarchyanarchyanarchyanarchyanarchyanarchy!!!

Not recieved.

As far as I’m concerned, there is no national title in college football.

Once I realize that, then college football is fun again.

Amen!

USC is ahead of us because they ONLY lost by one point to a 3-5 team. If Boise State would’ve done the same, we’d probably be ranked 60th right now.

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Or was that complaining? either way, the quote still works.

 Great vent, Kevan. thanks for saying what I’m feeling, only saying it in a much more coherent and humorous way. My feelings are more short-and-sweet, and unprintable.
  I tried to ignore the polls and the hype and just enjoy the games for the sport they were meant to be. I really tried to stay out of that loop! But, just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. (Intern, know what movie that line is from?)
  From what I’m seeing, that much argued point about strength of schedule doesn’t hold water. Look, if BSU had played Oregon State, instead of UC Davis, and had played Arizona, instead of Miami of OH, our OOC SOS would be as good as any, and we would still be undefeated. AND … we would still have been ranked no higher than 4th in the BCS. So, up to the Hawaii game, we had hit the glass ceiling. So, it doesn’t matter who we played. once we showed we could beat a top team, Oregon, and then stayed undefeated. ( Yes, I know I’m typing “we”, like I’m a part of the team. It’s just shorter and more convenient for me.) The pollsters can’t go back two or three games and give you a new ranking based on past performance! Well, they SHOULDN’T be allowed to! So, BSU dropped because they blew out Hawaii. It’s that simple, and that unreasonable.
 I think TCU is a great team. I think TCU could win the NC, if they had the chance. But, they didn’t deserve to move over BSU, based on this week alone, and BSU did not deserve to be moved down. And Iowa and USC should NOT have moved up, at all! This is crap!

Oh, they will just rank BSU below Virginia Tech and OSU, because they played a tougher team, in us, than we played, in them. C’mon, man, you gotta use BCS logic!

…Gene Bleymaier doesn’t. TCU scheduling UVA and Clemson gave them the nudge over us. In the next 6 years, TCU has 10 BCS opponents scheduled, with more on the way. Quick, name the BCS opponents on BSU’s 2011 slate. Hint: It is between -1 and 1. Our schedule has failed us now and will in the future. Time for a change in tactics.

NCAA Football 2005 for the Gamecube wasn’t good, but it was the best the li’l Cube had to offer.

Although it’s difficult to see when your consistently ranked team is rolling through undefeated season after 12-1 season and so on, but the more teams shut out of the BCS and National title game the better it is for the final goal. A Playoff. If TCU goes undefeated and doesn’t get a national title bid, that’s another senator who pushes the playoff notion. If Boise State gets picked for a national title shot next year over a two loss SEC team, that will cause riots in the football crazed south. The system sucks and it’s certainly not fair, but every injustice, every undefeated Auburn shut out of the title game, every 12-0 Boise State getting passed over for Utah, every Oklahoma/Pitt/’bama skull that the mid-majors hold up after the BCS bowls makes more people take notice and get angry.
And only when enough Americans get angry about something does progress ever result.

it doesn’t bother me quite as much. If you aren’t allowed to account for margin of victory, then plenty of other teams had better wins than we did, so it wasn’t surprising or rage-inducing, just disappointing (we didn’t really drop in the human polls). But just winning games is more important than specific poll position, at least until the very end of the season.

lmbfao

don’t fret … from four letters:

“This week, Boise State and TCU could swap places again if both win and the human polls stay the same. Boise State’s opponent, San Jose State, has a Sagarin strength of schedule of No. 7. UNLV, TCU’s opponent, is No. 94.

As the weeks go by, it’s becoming increasingly clear that that the Broncos might not be able to stay high in the BCS standings based on what they do on the field. They’re going to have to rely on Oregon, their best win, to continue to keep them high enough in the computer rankings.

"Whether Boise State is going to be able to stay close to TCU in the computers is going to depend on what Oregon does," Edwards said. "One of the things the computers look at is who was your best win against? What is your best win and how good is it? And whenever you beat a team that hasn’t lost to anybody other than you, that’s as good as it gets as far as that element of the computer program. … As long as Oregon hasn’t lost to anyone other than Boise State, it has a chance to help offset a lot of the weakness of the WAC. But if Oregon loses to USC, and especially if it loses again, then I think TCU could end up blowing by Boise in the computers."

This is a tough situation for Boise State, with its fate tied to another team. All Boise State can do is beat the teams on its schedule and hope for the best, and as we’ve seen in past seasons, sometimes the Broncos’ best isn’t good enough in the BCS’ eyes.

"Probably more so than any other team in the top 10, I think style points matter more for Boise State," Edwards said. "I don’t think they can afford to play a close game."

that said, coach pete plays this b-s game just right – play your best every game and don’t pay any attention to the polls. when the season’s over you get to see where you get to play and against whom. i think the only thing you get from worrying about the polls on a weekly basis is the possibility of developing an ulcer.

of course it isn’t fair; but as bankssz said in another post:

“If we were to run the table next year, get into the NCG, AND win, I think it would be one of the last support beams to fall in the BCS big house. This is heady stuff I realize, but Boise State has an opportunity to go the path less trodden, fight the good fight, and beat the bully. If BSU takes the MWC invite, much of the bite will be take out of the anti-BCS argument.

Besides, regardless of percieved SOS, cupcakes, small stadium, and so called smaller talent, BSU is accomplishing it’s goals and rising in national prominence under the current system. The question could be asked why mess with a good thing?

As a fan, I would much rather see BSU take the moral high ground and do it’s part in bringing down the BCS than take the free meal ticket and disappear into BCS and MWC obscurity."

mikrino added:

“You have epitomized my exact thoughts on why Boise State should stay where they are.

They ARE impacting college football now. They don’t NEED the MWC, the MWC needs them. Why pander to the BCS when its the very institution that says you’re not worthy with all the propaganda and mainstream media backing it? Win a National Championship from the outside by giving the pollsters and computers no choice but to pick them for the game.

Viva La Revolucion!"

of course, they were addressing bsu joining the mwc, but with regards to the bcs, let’s hope bsu beats the socks off the remaining teams on their schedule, get’s a worthwhile bowl invitation and wins, and sooner or later the bcs will have to pay attention and hopefully mend their errant ways.

The schedule is an issue and bose knew they had that 13th game and could have scheduled a better opponent then UC Davis. But I dob agree waxing an opponent one can not change and then dropping is a joke

Corruption. Plain and simple.

Thank you for an excellent article Kevan. I have been walking around in a daze today. Sick to my stomach. I think about the remainder of TCU’s schedule and feel totally helpless. The Mtn West conf outside of TCU really is a grease fire. BYU and Utah are jokes. BYU proved as much and Utah is smoke and mirrors. What really sucks is that by the time TCU gets their chance to throttle Utah, the Utes are going to be ranked around #12-15. After TCU lights Utah up, that will be the end of Boise St.’s BCS dreams.

What TOTALLY blows about the BCS (I mean besides EVERYTHING about the BCS) is that TCU and BSU are LEGIT top 10 teams. Both teams actually deserve to be in BCS bowls. Here’s a novel idea BCS: JUST PUT THE 10 BEST TEAMS IN YOUR DAMN BOWLS. Wow… so simple. So fair. So not ever going to happen. Instead we will all be treated to another Cincy vs Va Tech Orange Bowl (YAWN) and Penn St vs USC in the Rose. Exciting, except we saw it last year.

A lot of what you wrote mirrors how I feel about boxing. I am a HUGE boxing fan, but in order to do so, I have somehow been able to develop an ability to completely block out all the extracurricular BS and just focus on the matches. I hate everything about boxing except for the boxing. I realize that is now how I need to feel about CFB. As much as I love it, I need to find a way to just enjoy the match ups. I’m not sure if that is possible, but I’ve got to try because this is driving me nuts.

I can’t say that I know how you feel because the team I support is a BCS conference. I agree that the BCS is BS. It is the system that contols CFB right now and we can like it or not. It is all driven by money and it always will be, whether there is a playoff or not. That is why you guys (and other schools) get called mid-majors. You don’t have the enrollment (read: income, including alumni money) that the BCS schools do, so therefore, they are less likely to sling the high-dollar bowl games your way, even if you earn it on the field.

It’s easier said than done with regard to following the rankings. I think that Chip Kelly has brainwashed me not to care until they matter (which is not right now). Take care of things on the field and it will all work out in the end. Sadly, that might/won’t be the case with BSU because of their conference affiliation and the schedule that the computer doesn’t like.

I really wish/hope that BSU gets into a different conference in the near future. I would be exicted to see what they can do in another conference with better talent than what they have faced this year (Oregon included. I think we both agree that neither team was not on their top game on Sept. 3rd.). Coach Pete is doing great things there and I truely do hope for your success.

Try not to get too riled up, Kevan. You guys have the talent and just keep racking up those WAC conference titles, until you have the chance to hang some other conference’s banner. We have to be fans of our teams and support them no matter what. We can control little else in the world.

That’s the question I received at work about 239 times today when they asked where Boise was now ranked and I responded “#7”. Even idiots that give two-shits about football understand the idiocracy of the rankings. “No, they didn’t lose, idiot…they blew Hawaii back to the Continental United States!”…“Why’d they drop from #4 to #7, then?” “FUCK YOU…I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE…ASK YOUR F’ING CONGRESSMAN..or your ‘coach’/Media Poll voter…JUST DON’T ASK ME ANYMORE!!!!”

What else was I supposed to say? Yes, Iowa is the best team and I can tell you why? TCU has played a much harder schedule…Virginia losing to a 1-AA team is much better than us…I’M DONE!

The worst part about this BCS system is that it pits the fanbases of undefeated non-traditional conferences against each other. Instead of only rooting for my team to win and for humiliating defeats for 0U, Texas Tech and USC I have to worry that we looked better beating Mormons than some Blue people who we’ve played in two bowl games looked while playing Hawaii. We should be directing our rage at the idiotic BCS rather than at eachother and some idiotic pollsters.

I think you forgot a 1. This was priceless. Thanks for the laugh today Kevan.

 . . . were underwhelming previous two games, TCU has landed on more folks’ radar.

Early season wins and losses never help as much, unfrotunately. Oregon is making you guys look great, pray for them to keep winning and Utah to knock off TCU.

Someone here said it though: the big money does not want to share.

Settle it on the field, only fair way.