The Boise State Broncos have won several big games in the past few seasons, yet each one was not a true test of their talent. By this, I mean playing one of the NCAA's top two teams. BCS committee members had a chance to create this matchup in a bowl game last season, by placing them against Florida, which would have proved a major step in the mid-major vs. major conference argument.
Consider one of the last times this scenario played out in 2007-08 for a Western Athletic Conference team not named Boise State. Hawaii was ranked 10th in the BCS standings, with a pass-heavy offense like Boise State, but nowhere near as tough or defensively sound as the Broncos. They faced Georgia in the Nokia Sugar Bowl, a Bulldog team ranked No. 5 in the BCS standings, with talented offensive players like Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno leading the charge.
The end result was a 41-10 victory for Georgia. The Bulldogs finished ranked second in the AP Top 25 and third in the USA Today Coaches Poll. They didn't play in the national title game that year, yet were considered among the top three teams in the country. In 2009-2010, Florida finished ranked third in both polls.
A Florida-Boise State matchup would have been a carbon copy of the aforementioned Sugar Bowl, except with a much more capable team in Boise State. The big question — how the game would have played out — will never be known. On paper, it would have been a game for the ages, and very telling of two high-profile programs.
Instead, the BCS pitted Boise State against TCU and Florida against Cincinnati, robbing the Broncos and college football fans everywhere of a true test of their talent. Florida's rout of the Bearcats surprised very few, and was indicative of the kind of team that could give Boise State a true test.
For a contrary example, take Virginia Tech in Monday's season opener. The Hokies played as poorly as a team can play in the first quarter. It all started with a fumbled snap and turnover on the second play from scrimmage, and a blocked punt with 10:37 to go, the result of an inexcusable missed block.
With just less than 10 minutes left in the quarter, the Broncos had 10 points and 16 yards of total offense. This is not discounting Boise State; they were given opportunities and made the most of them. It's discounting Virginia Tech, because in the first quarter they did not play like the No. 10 team in the country. It is hard to believe a team like the 2009-10 Florida Gators would have played that horribly and spotted Boise State such a lead.
Winning 10-0, the Broncos got the ball back at their own 22 and drove 26 yards en route to a 4th and 1. Just when Virginia Tech appeared to turn the corner, sophomore D.J. Coles was flagged for running into the kicker, and after the play for a personal foul, giving away 20 yards and keeping the Bronco drive alive. Boise State went on to score, taking a 17-0 lead which they held at the end of the quarter.
Virginia Tech outplayed Boise State for most of the final 45 minutes, but could not recover from the first quarter meltdown. The Broncos definitely deserve credit for the win thanks to clutch fourth quarter play, but it would have been interesting to see the game play out with the Hokies in mid season form. It made the victory much less impressive, yet in postgame recaps that fact was overlooked.
According to ESPN.com, the Hokies are now 0-22 against AP top 5 teams away from home, and 1-26 against AP top 5 teams all-time. Not exactly a big game program. Not exactly clutch. Not anywhere near a true test of the Boise State talent.
ESPN.com's headline after the game read: "Boise Statement." Consider the following. The Broncos were ranked third in the nation, and favored until the eve of the contest. They returned 20 starters from a season ago. They have been widely recognized as an elite program for the last three seasons. Those facts do not reflect a Cinderella team. Pair that with Virginia Tech's early performance to get a recipe for an overhyped game with an overhyped result. Such is the fate of the Broncos: They are consistently slated against highly touted teams that fail to give them a good game.
Yet still, well-respected announcers like Brent Musburger speak with childlike wonder about Boise State, as if they had matched the feat of another Bronco team, the NFL's Denver Broncos in 1998. As 11.5 point underdogs, Denver shocked the football world by upsetting the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII.
Musburger also continually referred to Kellen Moore as "Kellen" and Tyrod Taylor as "Taylor," that first name, "term of endearment" type of announcing that Jim Nantz and Phil Simms use for Peyton Manning. The kind that is very irritating for listeners who are not a fan of either team. The kind that in professional broadcast journalism ought to be reserved for local radio broadcasters with a partisan interest in the game. The kind that still treats this team like underdogs, when they have become a force to be reckoned with.
With the exception of the Oklahoma game, each of Boise State's big wins over the last three years has followed the same pattern: Too much is made of the game and too much is made of the outcome, even though the opponent was overrated and underachieving. It is time to give Boise State a matchup that will truly test their talent, and the Broncos can take the uncertainty out of it by running the table and making it to a national title game this season. Alabama or Ohio State. Now that's a matchup.
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