Five Thoughts About Boise, Fresno, and The WAC!

[50's PONY]

2004
Five Thoughts ...


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By Pete Fiutak

1. Are Fresno State and Boise State really that good?
The short answer is yes. Oregon State seemed mentally and physically cashed against Boise State thanks to the LSU loss, but it doesn’t matter. It was still a fantastic win for Dan Hawkins and the Bronco program proving that it’s the most imaginative and exciting offense outside of Lubbock. Oregon State got outplayed and outhustled as the Broncos captured the emotion of the biggest game in its history to put a pasting on the team that came within a few missed extra points of knocking off LSU. It doesn’t matter that there aren’t any real pro prospects on the roster outside of OT Daryn Colledge, this team outthinks and outexecutes teams and didn’t buckle when the Beavers got up by 14 early.

This is the best team Pat Hill has ever had at Fresno State with the strongest defense yet and a slew of talented offensive players. There isn’t a David Carr under center, but Paul Pinegar did a more than fine job in the stunningly easy win over Kansas State. It doesn’t matter if Washington and the Wildcats need a while to jell, going into their houses and winning easily is still impressive. Yes, these two WAC powers could beat just about anyone in a one-game shot and deserves credit for being among the most consistent in college football for the last few years, but …


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2. ... it’s still not right to assume that a WAC team belongs in the BCS if one goes 11-0.
Would you put California in the BCS just based off a 53-34 win over Oregon State? Of course not. So why would you assume that Boise State, based off one impressive win over a good Pac 10 team and a potential 11-0 record thanks to a ridiculously horrible schedule should automatically deserve the same respect? The Fresno State/Boise State showdown will be great, but it’s not the same as playing in a decent conference and the week-in-and-week-out slate of good teams. It’s one thing to get up for a game of the century like Oregon State, but it’s another to have to play the Beavers, and then Arizona State, and then Washington State, and then USC and so on. The WAC isn’t the Mountain West or Conference USA; Utah and Louisville at least play three BCS conference teams each to go along with their tougher conference schedules. In the end, Boise State is like Texas Tech. It’s a team with a fantastic, imaginative offense that could certainly get to a bowl game and be a top 25 team if it played in a big league, but it wouldn’t finish unbeaten if it played in any other of the BCS conferences. Fresno State is a different story after beating Washington and Kansas State, but it’s possible that those two aren’t going to be near the top five teams in their conferences.

3. Yet another BCS formula idea
With the changes to the BCS formula putting more weight on the human polls, there’s going to be a shift over the next few years with big teams looking at getting out of playing teams like Boise State, Fresno State and Troy (at least on the road.) The formula needs to be changed now so BCS teams won’t be afraid to go on the road to face non-BCS teams, and it’s one little switch adding strength of schedule to the formula and make it count for a third. There has to be a way to compare apples to oranges and know just how tough the path to an unbeaten record really was. Something has to be done to prevent top teams from making the “our conference schedule is too tough” excuse for why they schedule four DI-AA teams and beg to get out of good games and avoid the good non-BCS schools. Sure, schedule Montana State, Texas State and Florida A&M, but then don’t whine when you’re not in the BCS mix. Also, there should be a special emphasis placed on road wins with a little extra sweetner attached rewarding a team for getting a win in someone else’s house.

4. Follow college basketball’s lead on scheduling
Sorry for the obsession on schedules, but it means everything in college football and non-conference games will be worse and worse as the years go on. There’s talk of teams permanently going to a 12-game schedule, so there should be some sort of uniform setup of challenges between conferences. The ACC could also have a “challenge” with the Mountain West or WAC so teams like Utah, Boise State and others would get their chance to play someone they’d never play because of normal alignments. Obviously there would be some sticking points because the conferences have different numbers of teams, but there would be a way to work around this by having the odd teams out from various conferences playing each other. It would be good for fans, the players and college football in general providing better matchups and more exciting games. Oh yeah, and no more games against DI-AA teams. Those don’t do anything for the game.

5. The surprise, disappointment, and best moment of the weekend were…
The surprise was how the upsets rolled out one week after every thing went according to plan. Sure you might have seen Notre Dame coming up with an inspired performance against Michigan, but you didn't see that coming and Troy beating Missouri and Fresno State beating Kansas State and Southern Miss beating Nebraska and New Hampshire beating Rutgers and Indiana beating Oregon. The disappointment was how the Big XII looked so lousy. The losses by Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas State might have slipped the league as a whole to number five behind the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Pac 10. The best moment was emotion showed by Tyrone Willingham admitting how big the win was for himself and the program. Here was a guy who right or wrong was feeling some huge heat and needed to beat Michigan to get a little bit of a break. Always the calmest and coolest cat around, Willingham showed some fire that has been missing from the Irish head coach for a while.