General

If Boise State And Fresno State Know What’s Good For Them, They’ll Abandon The WAC

Sep 29, 2009, 8:15 PM UTC

â†µBoise State is currently the No. 5 team in the national polls after anâ†µopening week shiv-job against Oregon, which has earned them some BCSâ†µChampionship Game hype after Utah got stiffed last year and subsequentlyâ†µhammered Alabama. Despite that, Tony Barnhart is right when he suggestsâ†µthat Boise doesn't have the schedule to surpass any one-loss BCSâ†µconference team even if they finish the season undefeated. I mean, lookâ†µat this:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Here are the 12 Division I-A teams on the Boise State schedule forâ†µâ‡¥2009. The Broncos have a 13^th game against UC-Davis, aâ†µâ‡¥Division I-AA team. The teams are listed in order of ranking from a pollâ†µâ‡¥on CBSSports.com which ranks all the Division I-A teams 1-120.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Oregon--21â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Tulsa--67â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Fresno State--69â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥La. Tech--76â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Hawaii--79â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Bowling Green--80â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Idaho--83â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Nevada--89â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥New Mexico State--103â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥San Jose State--107â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Utah State--114â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Miami (Ohio)--118â†µâ†µâ†µYou can quibble with the deployment of an opinion poll this early inâ†µthe season -- opinion polls aren’t doing so hot at reflecting things thatâ†µhappen between the sidelines so far -- but the larger point is that the WACâ†µis going to have a hugely losing record against BCS conferences, and theâ†µremainder of Boise’s schedule is Oregon and some bad MAC/CUSA/Sun Beltâ†µteams. The profile of Boise’s schedule won’t be much different in Weekâ†µ15 than it is now. There are going to be two-loss teams with betterâ†µresumes than a hypothetically undefeated Boise State. â†µ

â†µ

â†µHow is Boise ever going to get out of this? They're not. They can'tâ†µmake San Jose State into a program worth beating. The WAC remains oneâ†µdominant team that's established itself as a relevant program on a national stage,â†µone interesting program that might pull off an upset here or there andâ†µa bunch of programs that will never find themselves anything more thanâ†µdoormats. Maybe you could throw Hawaii in as a program that'sâ†µpotentially interesting every once in a while, but after that, Boise'sâ†µschedule is a collection of schools that would finish dead last in anyâ†µBCS conference not containing Washington State. â†µ

â†µâ†µJust next door, the Mountain West has three programs (BYU, Utah andâ†µTCU) that have established themselves as serious threats to BCS programs.â†µIf Boise could just get into the Mountain West and drag one or two ofâ†µits stronger compatriots along, then we’re talking about a conferenceâ†µthat would at least have an argument for the BCS auto-bid that the Bigâ†µEast is currently in tenuous possession of. This might kill Boise’sâ†µtreasured rivalry with Idaho -- which Boise has won 10 straight timesâ†µby at least two touchdowns -- but there’s no other downside. Boise’s onlyâ†µlost more than one game twice since 2002. They’ve clearly outgrown theirâ†µcurrent situation. It’s time to move on up to the Mountain Westâ†µside.â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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