Boise State

[Big Hoss]

ESPN is predicting that Ohio State gets an at-large birth to the Fiesta Bowl to take on Texas. Personally, I would rather see Boise State get the nod, since they are undefeated, and since Ohio State's recent bowl record is pretty shoddy.

You can make the argument that Ohio State is in a better (cough cough) conference than Boise St, but I would more interested to see Boise get a chance to take on another BCS school.

[SMU21TCU10]

How about VIrginia Tech. Some rankings didnt even have them ranked going into the championship game today. They wont be in the top 16 which means they can be left out. And SHOULD

[expony18]

i would rather see boise state to try and prove they can hang with th big dogs... however watchig pryor willbe exciting

[jkflamebo]

texas will win by 14+. ohio state sucks, would rather see boise in there too. it'd be a better game

[Big Hoss]

How about VIrginia Tech. Some rankings didnt even have them ranked going into the championship game today. They wont be in the top 16 which means they can be left out. And SHOULD

Tech or Cincinnati, but they get the automatic picks since they are in BCS conferences. So that sucks too, but that's the way it goes for now.

When there is an opportunity to pick a higher ranked team vs. a BCS school for one of the at-large picks, that will be an even bigger slap in the face to non-BCS conferences.

[huskerpony]

Won't happen.

While I agree completely with keeping Ohio State out, and that the Big Ten is awful, bowl games--and yes the BCS games too--are all about money. (Otherwise the Gator Bowl would not be Nebraska vs. Clemson!)

And how do you think Notre Dame kept getting in when they haven't won a bowl game in over 15 years????

Ohio population/fanbase >>>>>>>> Idaho population/Boise fanbase. It is all about TV money and establishing ad revenue for future years, Boise St. will not be involved.

The thing I don't understand is how the Big East got into the BCS. There is not a team in the conference that has a large following. WVU maybe, but WV is a pretty small state. I lived on the East Coast for a while, and there aren't many college football fans out there (north of DC at least). Maryland was looking good for the first time ever, and I had to watch the Big 12 games without sound in the Baltimore bars because 3 people were watching the Maryland game. AND they had $1.50 beers all day! Pretty sad.

However, considering the system we have, an undefeated WAC team still doesn't say much to me. I know Boise St. beat OU last time around so that weakens this argument, but if you are in a weak conference (Ohio St, Penn State, Cinncinati) you should be going out of your way to play big non-conference games--instead of Eastern Kentuky, Akron, Coastal Carolina, Temple, Youngstown St., etc.--in order to prove your worthiness. Granted, Boise did at least play Oregon this year, so they are probably more deserving this time around, but why are they more deserving for a multi-million dollar payout than Ga Tech who has already beaten an SEC team this year, or TCU (can't believe I just wrote that) who laid their chips on the table during the regular season and only lost to teams that are in the BCS? Or BYU and Utah who at least attmepted to schedule big games with Washington and Michigan (who were respectable 5-10 years ago when they scheduled them)?

All that being said--why not just have a playoff? It would bring in far more money than an Ohio St./Texas or a Boise St./Texas Fiesta Bowl with no consequences. And be far more interesting. But I am not in charge.

[huskerpony]

I may be about to eat my drunken rambling words immediately after I wrote them...............

If Hawaii takes out Cincinnati, Boise St. probably deserves the shot over Ohio St./Penn St./Cincinnati/Va Tech no question!

(Although I still think the MWC teams have bigger cajones for attempting to schedule tough non-conference opponents and should be rewarded for it over WAC/Big Ten/Big East teams who don't play anyone.)

[Big Hoss]

Won't happen.

While I agree completely with keeping Ohio State out, and that the Big Ten is awful, bowl games--and yes the BCS games too--are all about money. (Otherwise the Gator Bowl would not be Nebraska vs. Clemson!)

And how do you think Notre Dame kept getting in when they haven't won a bowl game in over 15 years????

Ohio population/fanbase >>>>>>>> Idaho population/Boise fanbase. It is all about TV money and establishing ad revenue for future years, Boise St. will not be involved.

The thing I don't understand is how the Big East got into the BCS. There is not a team in the conference that has a large following. WVU maybe, but WV is a pretty small state. I lived on the East Coast for a while, and there aren't many college football fans out there (north of DC at least). Maryland was looking good for the first time ever, and I had to watch the Big 12 games without sound in the Baltimore bars because 3 people were watching the Maryland game. AND they had $1.50 beers all day! Pretty sad.

However, considering the system we have, an undefeated WAC team still doesn't say much to me. I know Boise St. beat OU last time around so that weakens this argument, but if you are in a weak conference (Ohio St, Penn State, Cinncinati) you should be going out of your way to play big non-conference games--instead of Eastern Kentuky, Akron, Coastal Carolina, Temple, Youngstown St., etc.--in order to prove your worthiness. Granted, Boise did at least play Oregon this year, so they are probably more deserving this time around, but why are they more deserving for a multi-million dollar payout than Ga Tech who has already beaten an SEC team this year, or TCU (can't believe I just wrote that) who laid their chips on the table during the regular season and only lost to teams that are in the BCS? Or BYU and Utah who at least attmepted to schedule big games with Washington and Michigan (who were respectable 5-10 years ago when they scheduled them)?

All that being said--why not just have a playoff? It would bring in far more money than an Ohio St./Texas or a Boise St./Texas Fiesta Bowl with no consequences. And be far more interesting. But I am not in charge.

I realize that it won't happen, and I realize why. Still sucks the life out of me in terms of interest in a game that includes Ohio St. I'm not talking real world here, I'm talking what I would want to happen.

And as far as Boise State scheduling tougher teams, I imagine they would have a tough time getting bigger opponents because (a) I doubt that many top 10 teams want to risk losing to them during the regular season and (b) if the opposing team did beat them, they wouldn't get the same level of respect as losing to a BCS school. If you are, say, Texas, and you schedule Boise St during the regular season and win, then it was assumed all along that you should. If you schedule and lose to USC, then you get the benefit of the doubt because they are a tougher team.

And this is not a question of "we should have a playoff vs. the BCS" because Lord knows there are already enough threads about that on PonyFans now. It's basically taking the rules as they are today, and saying that it's still a crock because Ohio St will get the nod because they travel better and they are from a BCS conference (even though no one wants to see that matchup happen except for Buckeye fans).

[huskerpony]

Can't disagree with any of that.

My ideal BCS (based on how the Big 12 and SEC actually played out):

NCG: Oklahoma-Florida

Sugar Bowl: Texas-Alabama

Fiesta Bowl: Utah-Boise (or TCU or Ga Tech)

Rose Bowl: USC-Penn St. (We will leave them their traditions!)

Orange Bowl: Cincinnati-Va Tech (Not really, actually a Ga Tech-TCU game would be interesting combined with a Utah-Boise Fiesta Bowl)

That won't happen either. Last year's match-ups were the worst possible concoction they could have come up with with those teams. I'm sure there is collusion between the games to dump the lower money teams off on each other. (Sugar Bowl: we will take Hawaii and give you Kansas if you let us keep Georgia, and you can give WVU up to the Fiesta Bowl if you let them keep Oklahoma.)

[Pony Soup]

I agree. THe BCS matchups always blow. I cant talk about it right now...today is the worst day of the entire season.

[orguy]

Its hard for Boise to get opponents to play up there on that blue field. Why would they? they have not lost a game since 05

Boise will probably end up in the MAC and start winning it consistently.

They are 12-0 vs MAC teams in their history.

Ohio State always gets favored. Its about the money and TV revenue. It will be kinda of fun watching UT dismantle their sorry [deleted] team.