Get serious. BSU’s stadium holds about 33,000 people. Name a major power who doesn’t have at least double that. There are quite a few who can more than triple it. Say you’re Michigan. Do you say, “Hmmmm… should I play in Boise in front of 33,000 or in Ann Arbor in front of 109,000+”? Of course you don’t consider it- you MIGHT do a 2 for 1 but for BSU to ask for parity is preposterous.
What, and Big 10/SEC schools don’t play OOC road games? What’s so hard about making BSU your road game for a particular year?
But you’re arguing about the system now…and I agree. I want to see a tournament for several reasons. 1) It’s the only truly fair way to determine a champ. Put 'em on the field and let them play. 2) More college football for me to watch! Yay! 3) The BCS is grossly corrupt. Even the computers are not unbiased. 4) MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL! AW YEAH.
But in the system we have now (may the fleas of a thousand camels infest Mike Slive’s underwear), 1) Yes, if Boise State wants to play big AQ schools (and thus build their reputation), they are going to have to sacrifice. As the article states above, BSU has a 32,000 seat stadium. Alabama put THREE TIMES that many butts in seats just for last Spring’s A-Day game. Where’s the up side for Bama? For a home-and-home with BSU, BSU gets a minimum of $1.25 million to come to T-town and rock out with one of the finest traditions in college football, and over 100,000 screaming fans. Bama gets diddly shit for going to Boise. And BSU won’t play a neutral-site game. 2) Again, referencing the first clause in this paragraph, if BSU wants to go to the Championship, eight creampuffs aren’t going to do it, not when Bama (or whoever) is playing hardcore rivalry games and grudge matches against ranked opponents who have a chip on their shoulder all season.
Ryan Mallett and #14 Arkansas? We crushed them last year. This year, he’s an early Heisman fave with a big arm and an intense desire to victimize our young secondary. Big game.
#18 Penn State and JoePa? Renewing a decades-old rivalry, the last iteration of which produced one of the legendary wins in Bama history (for a national title) and one of the most iconic sports photographs of all time (thanks, Barry Krauss!) Big game.
#8 Florida? Need I say more? One of the finest, most competitive modern rivalries in the nation. For the last two years, this game has decided the SEC championship, and has been a de facto playoff for the national championship game. BIG game.
#24 South Carolina, coached by the former HC of Florida, at the beginning of the SEC Championship rivalry between Bama and FL? We barely scraped by them last year, but Mark Ingram victimized them in a performance that some say eventually won him the Heisman. Their QB, Garcia, got crushed all game long, but played gamely, and this year, is much improved and much tougher. Big game.
Tennessee? They may be in a down year, but this is a game we anticipate all year. TN and AL hate each other with a passion rivaled only by that of the Iron Bowl. We eked by them last year on the strength of two blocked kicks. You can bet your ass they’ll be out for revenge. They’d love to be the ones who spoil Bama’s title run. Big game.
#19 LSU? They still feel like we stole their championship-winning head coach from them. They now feel like we stole big-time Louisiana-born recruit Eddie Lacy from them. They are our perennial competitors in the SEC West. They think we stole the game on a busted call last year. Big game.
#21 Auburn? Nuff said. They hate us. We hate them. We barely beat them last year. HUGE GAME.
Yeah, there’s San Jose State, Duke, and GA State. But that’s three should-wins in a gauntlet run in which six (SIX) of our rivals and ranked opponents will have bye-weeks the week before playing Bama.
With schedules like that being played by AQ schools, if they win out, UNDER THE CURRENT SYSTEM, no way should Boise State be considered for the title game.
Unless you’re talking about specific negotiations with Alabama, this is obviously false, since BSU just got done beating #10 VT in a neutral-site game.
Yeah. Brain fart. My bad.
Ouch, man, drag my team Kentucky into it, why don’t ya?
We’re just trying to not finish last or 2nd last in the SEC EAST division. And we opened the season with an in-state rivalry game (and is never an easy game no matter the rankings). The other cream-puffs give us a chance to get our heads above water before the SEC teams take our heads off.
Anyway, if against nearly impossible odds, we won out, i would expect to be in the conversation for the title game.
Boise State are horribly overrated. However, they should still have an opportunity to play for the national championship via an 8 team playoff.
100% correct.
Well, duh.
Sorry. Had a Lee Corso moment.
They just beat the #10 ranked team in the country (#6 in the coaches poll) in what was essentially a home game for their opponent. Where would you rank them if #3 is “horribly overrated?”
I mean in general, not right now. This particular Boise team might be as good as its billing. However, the typical 12-0 Boise teams get there by playing vastly inferior competition. They might play two ranked teams in a season.
A 12-0 SEC team has beaten at least five ranked opponents and two top-10 opponents.
ETA: Which is to say, beating one highly ranked opponent a year is not nearly as impressive or difficult as beating three of them in a row.
Yes, but that has no bearing on how good Boise State is or whether they are overrated. The New York Yankees could play a season in the Long Island Little League, but they’d still be the Yankees.
Have you seen SEC and Big 10 fan boys before? All they do is complain. This at least gives them common ground.
How are they getting screwed? Their revenue from a home game is pathetic. They don’t need butts in the seats - they need ratings and exposure.
Sure they should. No one should get a free pass.
They absolutely do not. They argue that the BCS pits #1 vs. #2, and that’s it.
If they New York Yankees played a season in Long Island Little League, would they make the World Series?
That’s not the point. The point is that your schedule has nothing to do with how good you are. Look at Japan. Their national baseball team consists mostly of players who play in a clearly inferior league to MLB. But in the World Baseball Classic, matched up with teams like the USA and the Dominican Republic, full of MLB players, Japan wins. They’re the best team.
By that logic, William and Mary could be the best team in the nation, and we’ll never know it until we line every college program in country up and let every single one of them play the #1 team every week.
Also, huh? The quality of your opponent doesn’t define how good you are? Of course it does. It’s the only thing that does.
ETA: So let me get this straight: you think BSU should go to the Championship if they win out, no matter what? What if Alabama and Ohio State win out as well? What’s your criterion for cutting a team?
Why so pedantic? If William and Mary loses half of their games, we can safely assume that they aren’t the best team in the country.
Yes, of course. That’s why Kentucky and Northwestern, with their tough conference schedules, are ranked so high. Have your local high school team play an NFL schedule, and according to your logic, they are a great team because of the schedule they played. Never mind that they didn’t get a first down all season, and gave up touchdowns on every single drive.
Given that Alabama and Ohio State are ranked ahead of BSU right now, if they win out they will play each other. I prefer a playoff, but given what we are stuck with, I’d stick with the BCS formula.
Or maybe the fact of the matter is that the World Baseball Classic just goes to prove the old baseball maxim that anything can happen in a short series. 
The bottom line is that BSU plays one good team every year, and no one wants to be that one. When teams like OSU and Miami play, or Alabama and PSU, they are on equal footing. OSU has to worry about PSU, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa later in the season. Conversely, Miami has to worry about FSU, GaTech, VaTech, and a couple other reasonably good opponents. BSU simply does not have to worry about this. They can expend an entire off-season scouting and preparing for one opponent. Other teams can’t.
If BSU wants respect they have to do more than just one game and then cream puffs. They have to find a way to get tougher OOC opponents than Wyoming and Toledo. If that means a road game, then thats what it means. Go on the road and beat a few teams in a year and then they will get some national title talk.