The University of Idaho Argonaut

Vandal offense sets for sprints at the end of practice on Tuesday afternoon on the SprinTurf. The Vandals will head to San Diego State University this weekend looking for their second win of the season. Nick Groff Argonaut

OK, so this hasn’t been a very good season so far for Palouse-area football fans.
Check that — it’s been horrific. 
However, there are other things going on in college football out West for fans to pay attention to.
The Pac-10 has been a joke this season, getting spanked by the Mountain West conference, and appears at an all time low. USC is the only ranked team in the Pac-10. The MWC has three teams ranked, while the Western Athletic Conference has two.

The MWC and WAC continue to increase its notoriety on a national level, and the BCS is certainly paying attention.
Most of all, to the dismay of many Boise State haters, this season may turn into another Broncos love-fest.
After defeating the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium last Saturday, Boise State appears ready to challenge for its second BCS game in three years and truly announce its place as a major program within a non-major conference — WAC.
I call them the Gonzaga of college football.

Do not worry, BSU haters. Hope may still be alive for you, and you may get to witness historic crying from Bronco fans.
There is a chance this season that Boise State will go undefeated and not earn a trip to the BCS. I can almost hear Boise sobbing now.
Don’t get me wrong, I root for Boise State to do well as I do the Vandals and the WAC in general. I tip my cap to that football program down there and what it’s been able to accomplish with lesser resources than other big time programs.
I feel what hurts the Broncos or any other non-BCS team is the current system of college football polls.
There are people voting in these polls who simply don’t pay the amount of attention thatthey should when voting. 
Here’s my case and point.

Florida State defeated two FCS opponents — Western Carolina and Chattanooga over the first two weeks of the season to reach a 2-0 record. Then, for some reason I cannot figure out, it became ranked 24th in The Associated Press poll.
How is it possible for a team to defeat two non-division 1 teams and become ranked?
Name recognition and that’s it.
Florida State isn’t even good anymore. Hell, they haven’t been good since 2000 when Chris Weinke won the Heisman.

Thanks to the value of preseason polls in college football, teams like Boise State must rely on others ranked ahead of them to lose. 
For as much as I love the college game. I can’t tell you how many things about it completely irritate the hell out of me.
But that’s another column entirely; back to the Broncos situation.
Right now Boise State isn’t the only non-BCS team in contention. Actually, BYU and Utah, from the MWC, are in a better position to land BCS births. Both are ranked higher in the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls than Boise State.  

For a non-BCS team to crash the party, an undefeated season is an absolute must. So understand that if any of those three teams lose they become instantly eliminated.
We all know the powers that be will never allow two non-BCS schools to participate in BCS bowl games.
So, what we’ve got here is a three-team race for one place in the national spotlight — a BCS bowl game and something for fans to pay attention to during the middle of another tough season locally.
This race will be something to keep WAC and MWC fans interested in.

I think many loyal Vandals will also become BYU and Utah fans this season as they hope Boise State will fail.
BYU is the leading candidate right now and is ranked 11th in both polls.
For Boise State to reach a BCS game, they’ll need BYU and Utah to lose one game each. 
BYU plays Utah during the last week of the season in a rivalry game they call the “Holy War” — a game I’ll be paying close attention to.    
The only teams I see Boise State possibly losing to this season are Southern Mississippi and Fresno State.
If BSU takes care of business in those two, the State of Idaho could have another Bronco Cinderella slurp-fest story on its hands.
For whatever way you look at it, there are still many reasons to pay attention to college football — even when your team is struggling.

Listen to the Johnny Ballgame Show on 89.3 FM or kuoi.org each Thursday at 10:30 am and Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

	1. 26-09-2008 08:57
	Rankings While I agree that the polling system hurts teams from non bcs conferences and I think that it needs to be changed, the problem right now is strength of schedule. The bcs standings put way too much emphasis on sos: and it all comes back to the SEC. Look at BYU, they beat the crap out of UCLA who narrowly defeated Tennessee of the "mighty SEC". The whole idea of BYU being a great team is predicated on the SEC being a power conference, right? But maybe the Vols are a crappy team in the overall scheme of things. For teams like BSU, Fresno, and ECU it means they have to beat their non conference opponents and then hope that the rest of their conference opponents do the same. Then they have to run the table in their respective conferences. That's where they get hurt. With the bottom half of the WAC and CUSA being mediocre at best, the sos gurus will always, ALWAYS, choose a MWC team over a WAC, CUSA, MAC, or Sun Belt team if both are undefeated. BSU's best hopes in the near term are that the top three MWC teams (BYU, Utah, and TCU) cannibalize each other. In the long term, however, the conference needs to improve from top to bottom. That is the only way that any team from the WAC will have an honest chance every year of making a bcs game if they go undefeated. Registered

Rob

	2. 28-09-2008 03:44
	Real problem is that BSU has to play a crap team like UI. Hurts the chances of going to a bowl to play such a horrible team each year. Registered

Thommy_Boy13

	3. 28-09-2008 04:39
	Ha! Do not worry, BSU haters. Hope may still be alive for you, and you may get to witness historic crying from Bronco fans.   There is a chance this season that Boise State will go undefeated and not earn a trip to the BCS. I can almost hear Boise sobbing now.       That is a reason to cry... Stupid Vandals! Registered

Thommy_Boy13