Are We the Baddies?

While watching some of the player interviews from the recent Mountain West Media Summit, a consistent theme has emerged. Other Mountain West teams are tired of Boise State being the “gold standard” and always winning or being picked to win. Nobody likes losing, and that’s understandable, but with such a unified voice among the other teams growing tired of Boise State’s dominance, it may time to ask ourselves...are we the Baddies?

Admittedly, there is no real parallel between Boise State and the truly evil bad guys in the world. If we stick to the realm of sports, however, there is an immediate team that jumps to mind: the New England Patriots. They play football, win often, nobody likes them, and they’re probably the baddies in any football story outside Massachusetts. Let’s take a look.

STATS:

Considering only the years that BSU has been in the Mountain West(2011-2017), a quick comparison of their record with that of the Patriots reveals some shocking parallels:

Both teams are consistently the top performers in their conference, and if you squint a little that 2014 Fiesta Bowl is basically the same thing as the Patriot’s 2014 Super Bowl win, especially considering that they were both played on the same field. Clearly the Patriots have the edge on titles, but you can’t deny that it is an apt comparison. In fact, every time the Broncos or Patriots didn’t make their respective “Super Bowl” or conference championship, at least one of the teams who did had to beat them on their way there.

CONTROVERSIES:

Another notable “baddies” trait of the Patriots is their penchant for questionable ethics while striving for that winning edge. SpyGate, DeflateGate, rumors of jammed radios and stolen plays, the Patriots are dogged by all manner of dodgy practices. Since ESPN has spent countless hours diving into these issues, we won’t bother to go too in-depth here. Suffice to say, the Pats aren’t exactly choirboys.

While you may not immediately associate Boise State with shady ethics, more than one coach has called out the blue field as a “competitive advantage”, so much so that the conference had a rule in place for a short time banning uniforms that matched the playing surface. Beyond that, Boise State is known far and wide for “trick” plays which are designed to lie to and confuse the defense.

PERSONNEL:

A key trait of the Patriots badness is their personnel makeup. If we compare them to the Broncos, some shocking parallels emerge.

OWNED BY BOBS:

Both organizations were (until recently) ultimately controlled by old white men named Bob. Coincidence?

COACHES WHO DODGE MEDIA QUESTIONS:

Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This may be slightly unfair, every coach dodges media questions.

SHORT, AWKWARD QUARTERBACKS WITH EYE-POPPING STATS

From Moore to Rypien, Bledsoe to Brady, the parallels are spooky. (The media intern got tired of finding pictures, but we’re pretty sure you know what the quarterbacks look like.)

CONCLUSION:

This overwhelming amount of evidence has become too much for BSU fans to ignore: Are we the baddies? We may need to finally awaken to the truth, assume the mantle of evil, and embrace our inner darkness as we rule the Mountain West with an iron fist.

Go Broncos.