Okay football fans, let the debate begin today.
Tony Barnhart in today's AJC:
Quote:
But what I want to focus on this morning is tonight’s Boise State-Virginia Tech game. Because who you’re pulling for in this game says a lot about you as a college football fan.
For this game, fans fall into two different camps:
First there is the new wave. This group of fans is pulling for Boise big time because they think the little guy deserves a chance to play for the national championship and feel Boise has earned it with their play over the past four seasons (49-4). They believe the fix is in to take care of the big conferences when it comes to the BCS. They want the college football equivalent of Butler-Duke. More than anything these fans would like for the BCS to blow up and they think Boise is the best way to accomplish that goal.
The other group of fans I’ll call traditionalists. They don’t dislike Boise, but they strongly believe that the Broncos from the WAC play an easy conference schedule and could not survive under the weekly pounding that is the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, etc. To them, Boise is a nice little team, very entertaining and all that. They admire what Boise has done within the context of what it is.
Quite frankly, they don’t want to have to listen for the entire season about Boise and how deserving they are and how the big boys just aren’t being fair to them. They want Boise to lose and get off the radar. Now.
Understand this when it comes to Boise. They start at No. 5 in the coaches poll and that is significant. It’s tougher to enforce a glass ceiling when a team starts at No. 5. But if we get to the end of the regular season and some combination of the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 champs are undefeated, then Boise is not going to get into the big game ahead of one of those champions. The voters in the coaches and Harris polls will look at the overall strength of schedules go with the big conferences. You can take that to the bank.
Here is why: The CBSSports.com poll that ranks all 120 Division I-A teams, reveals that while Boise is ranked No. 3 in the preseason, it plays the No. 100-ranked schedule. After Virginia Tech (No. 11) and Oregon State (No. 17), the remaining 10 teams on the Boise schedule are ranked No. 41 or worse. Five opponents are ranked No. 90 or worse.
Where it will get interesting in Decenber is if Boise is undefeated and there is only one or no undefeated champions in the other conferences.
This question, I think, focuses the argument. Let’s say Ohio State goes undefeated and gets into the national title game. Who gets the second spot: A 12-1 SEC champ, a 12-1 Big 12 champ or a 12-0 Boise? That is when the argument will get interesting.
What say you?