Boise State: An Elite College Football Power

One of the things that endears people to BSU on a subliminal level, imo, is their approach to hard work…it’s correct.

Boise State prepares itself the right way, they don’t slack off and they don’t just “get by” on their athletic talent. They, work very hard, they apply themselves, they prepare themselves physically and mentally to be as good at this chosen endeavor as they possibly can be…and they do this with a remarkable amount of consistency. That is correct and it rings true with everyone even if they don’t consciously know it.

I’m voting no for now.

I don’t consider USC elite right now and neither UT nor UF look to be ranked in this year’s top 15 after just one bad year. But I am looking strictly at the result being put on the field.

My criteria includes intelligent recruiting, talent development, strength/athletic/position training, film study, overall prep for an opponent, and playcalling/execution…all the things that would have a direct impact on the scoreboard. I did this b/c I interpreted the title, “Boise State: An Elite College Football Power”, as pertaining to what happens on the gridiron.

I can see, however, how it may be viewed in terms of hoopla, tradition, pagentry, and other less tangible signs of an entire University that has established itself in both ability to win and influence.

I guess my line of thinking is that, while a place like Tennessee is going to pack it’s stadium year in and year out, bring in a ton of money for the school, and have more than it’s fair share of 4 and 5 star recruits annually, that is not translating into success on the football field. What Boise State is doing is they are changing the recipe for success, and that scares the bejeebus out of people.

It used to be that in order to have great football teams you had to have a name, some long term consistency, you had to have the boosters, the donors, and the bigtime recruits…all of these things made sense and there was no thought given to the possibility of there being another route.

Enter Boise State/TCU/Utah etc.; they haven’t had to build their name over 150 years of struggles, walking to school…in the snow…uphill…both ways. They haven’t needed the 5 star recruits and hence, they haven’t needed the hidden incentives, boosters, or alumni base.

In fact, it’s my opinion that in the back of many old CFB veteran fans, they’ve “cheated” in a manner of speaking, particularly Boise St. I’ve seen AQ fans write that they’d rather see TCU or Utah in a NCG than Boise St. b/c at least TCU and Utah have some semblance of history and success over time. You can almost hear the unspoken accusation; “How dare Boise St. not have to cut their teeth like we did, IT’S UNFAIR!!!!”

I think that, more than anything else, is the thing leading the criticism of BSU while withholding the credit due. So yeah, whe I think “Elite CFB Power” I’m thinking on field results vs. ability to throw your weight around on a board deciding if there should be a playoff or packing our student section (which we totally need to do but we haven’t won for long enough to build up credibility with the students…if that makes sense, I could talk for an hour on tha tsubject) or winning a recruiting battle on a 5 star athlete because our campus life is extraordinary, we’re 12 miles from the beach, and there’s six boosters that want to slip you a $100 bill everytime you crack 100 yds rushing.

Now we are starting to seriously compete for 4 stars now and I don’t think our first 5 star is far away. But a recruit is much more likely to come here b/c he knows he can win, he has a fair shot at starting early, and he’ll learn a skillset here that transitions very well to the pros where he can make 3 million a year.

You know who is on their way to an easy 10 win season?

- TCU, next year in the Big East
- Possibly West Virginia, this year in the Big East
- UCF is on their way to dominating Conference USA

Seven years ago, when Boise St. wasn’t even sniffing a BCS bowl, much less the NCG, there were no complaints. Why? because they weren’t taking up a slot. Why weren’t they taking up a slot? because they weren’t ranked high enough by the end of the year.

Now, Boise St. has a high starting position. Why? They have demonstrated they’re a consistent Top 10 football team.

Same thing with TCU. There won’t be any complaints if West Virginia domnates the Big East this year and goes on to a 10 win season. Why? They’re an AQ team for one, but also, their preseason ranking and subsequent rank ups from wins probably won’t allow them to go past the Orange Bowl.

If UCF begins to dominate Conference USA and gets their “easy ten wins” there won’t be any complaints. Why? Their preseason ranking and rank ups from season wins won’t allow for it.

In the 1990s and early 2000s Miami consistently challenged for the National Title. Why? They began the season in a position to challenge and then did not lose any games, winning one or two big games a year while sweeping the dismal Big East, widely considered a “basketball only” conference.

Well, where’s the outrage, how come no one complained? Because, it’s not about your schedule as much as it is about the credibility your team has earned itself on the field. Everyone in the country knew Miami was one of the most loaded teams in the country, well coached, and tremendous on the field. No one in their right mind was going to preseason rank them #23 because of something so preposterous as their conference affiliation. Everyone believed that if Miami could compete against anyone in the country. Your entire logic base is focused down to an indicator and you are pushing the big picture aside with disturbing consistency.

The polls are voted on by a ton of people that are randomly selected by a computer and that conglomerate, which is loaded with AQ school graduates, coaches, and analysts has disagreed with your assessment for the past two years. Case closed.

Let’s take an SEC team, for instance:
- Arkansas: 1. Tenn Tech 2. Louisiana-Monroe 3. Ole Miss 4. Vanderbilt 5. UTEP
How about a Big 10 team?
- Ohio State: 1. Marshall 2. Ohio 3. Eastern Michigan 4. Illinois 5. Indiana
Let’s find a Big 12 team:
- Nebraska: 1. Western Kentucky 2. Idaho 3. South Dakota State 4. Kansas State 5. Iowa State 6. Colorado (Might even including Kansas and Washington)

Everyone has cupcakes. The main difference between Boise State and bigger conference teams is that we don’t have much choice in scheduling them. Big conference teams have 2-3 cupcakes in conference then litter their OOC schedule with 2-3 more.

Haterade. You are drinking it.

I understand your confusion and what I’m saying is that there’s a sizable amount of ppl that think it’s a non issue.

Butler did not play an ACC or Big East basketball schedule when they hacked their way through the NCAA tourney to play in the big game. The 1980’s San Francisco 49ers played in what of the NFL’s weakest divisions by far and yet that did not stop them from being football’s most dominant team of that decade.

Your whole theory is loaded with assumptions. You assume that just b/c a school has 5 star athletes and a multi-million dollar budget, that it can also develop that talent and put a tough team in the field. I disagree…Tennessee, UGa last year, Michigan St., Boston College, NC State, Louisville, West Virginia last year. It’s ridiculous. Having the resources guarantees you nothing and that is proven year in and year out in all kinds of sports and competitions.

Additionally, the rankings are subjective themselves. It took 4 losses for God’s sake before UF fell out of the Top 25 last year. Every time they got beat before that, it counted as a “quality win” against a ranked opponent for whoever beat them. Ditto for Texas. You’re telling me that’s fair? It’s not about fair or unfair, nothing can ever be perfect…even if we all played the same schedules, different teams on different days would play differently and we’d argue about that.

Boise St. has, with tremendous consistency, won the games it is supposed to and won the games they weren’t expected to win. No one on this board is saying “give them the trophy”. We are saying they deserve a chance, just an opportunity. I told you last year that you were behind the curve in your thought process.

Clearly you disagree with that but you are also quickly becoming the old guard in your thinking…I’m guessing you have missed this, but national thinking is shifting towards Boise St. and you’re just going to get washed over like a HELP message written in the sand during high tide.

They are opening with Michigan State. Otherwise, it is just an MWC schedule and with BYU. And it will likely be a BYU team that had at least 3 and quite possibly much more losses in 2011.

If BSU doesn’t ATTEMPT to schedule at least ONE decent opponent for those two games (as opposed to filling them with Fresno State and Nevada as it did last year for 2011), then yes, it is fair for people to bring up the SOS argument. Butler PLAYED in to the final four or finals.

Yes, BSU doesn’t get that option. So, force the situation. Scheduling the Spartans is great. Now schedule a Pac 12 school or a Big 12 school or a Big East school. Hell, schedule Vanderbilt or Iowa State. Just schedule someone who isn’t comparable to a bottom feeder.