I've been pondering a Big Important Question lately: How good is this Boise State football team really? My conclusion: It doesn't matter.
That's probably the easy answer. You can't exactly get away with "it doesn't matter" when you're answering just any question like a math story problem or what's the capital of Alabama. But in the Broncos' current place in college football today, being a good team doesn't really matter all that much. Boise State simply needs to win three more games and be considered a better team than Marshall (and considered so by 13 specific people in the whole world, that's all), then they'll be playing in a major bowl and raking in tons o' money and exceeding pretty much all expectations we had for this team at the start of the year.
How good is this Boise State football team? It's not worth my breaking it down scientifically. I'd rather sit back and enjoy the ride - because the ride is terrifying and exciting and amazing and satisfying from week to week. I need my full attention to be on this ride, not wondering about this team's place in the pantheon of college football teams or what might happen to it if it ends up playing Georgia or Ohio State in a major bowl.
We're guaranteed two more fun weeks and possibly a third. Let's have a ball.
Game facts
- Time: Saturday, 8:15 p.m. MT
- Location: War Memorial Stadium, Wyoming, The ice planet Hoth
- Weather: 30 degrees, 20 percent chance of snow, 30mph winds
- Odds: Boise State is a 12.5-point favorite
- TV: ESPN2
- Commentators: Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway
Other facts
1. Boise State has trailed at some point in each of its road games this year.
vs. Ole Miss - trailed 7-6 entering the fourth and lost 35-13
@ Air Force - trailed 28-0 and lost 28-14
@ UCONN - trailed 10-7 until late in the second quarter and won 38-21
@ Nevada - trailed 21-16 in the second quarter and held on to win 51-46
@ New Mexico - trailed 28-14 in the second quarter and won 60-49
2. One of the college football playoff committee members is Lieutenant General Mike Gould, former superintendent of the Air Force Academy, so you'd better believe he watched the Boise State - Air Force game and has some opinions. Not sure if he's seen (or anyone else has seen, for that matter) Marshall play yet.
3. Look at this weird dog
Keys to victory
Score more points than the other team.
Win the turnover battle.
Everything else is meaningless! But just in case, it'd be nice to jump out to an early lead (for a change), stop Wyoming on third down, get some early momentum on offense, and win special teams.
Score prediction
Boise State 31, Wyoming 10