Boise St. finally made it...

[Pogo27]

Quote: Originally Posted by Trelvis

It also doesnt help that none of the so called big boys dont want to play us.

And now TCU fans are using this argument?


Anyway... look guys, if you're not going to read my posts, then I guess I just need to leave this thread. You find one line out of one paragraph you want to reply to and don't even both reading the rest of the paragraph at least?

I made a comment about Boise State's $1 mil asking price and someone brought up the fact that Auburn is paying Arkansas State $1 mil. Clearly this someone didn't read the rest of my paragraph in which I discussed this point (and I guess chances are that same someone isn't going to read this paragraph in its entirety). Is $1 mil a lot to pay a team to come play you? No. Is $1 mil a lot to pay a team to come beat you? Absolutely. When teams in the Sun Belt, and other "cupcake" teams get paid $1 mil to go play somewhere, it's because the team shelling out the cash is trying to "buy a win."

When BCS teams play each other as part of the non-conference slate, they work out some other agreement. Home-and-home deals, or two-for-ones, or neutral sites.

I already know Boise State fans are going to hop on here and start claiming that no one will make these deals with them. Is there any evidence of how hard they've really been trying?

How much money do you think Boise State pulls in on a home game? A good home game against a BCS opponent. Could they get $5 mil? If they could get $5 mil, they could schedule a 4-for-1 deal with someone and make $1 mil per game for those five games, which is what their asking for with their one game deals.



And the argument about Washington State and Minnesota not being good enough? I'm sorry, but that argument is just flat ********. Washington State and Minnesota are unquestionably better than most of the bottom end of the WAC. Fresno State and Nevada? It'd be close. But we're talking about the teams I guess are 2nd and 3rd in Boise State's conference and comparing them to the bottom teams in BCS conferences, and I still think that WaSt and Minn can beat these teams (maybe not every time, but I'd say at least 6 times out of 10). But that's not really the point. Boise State has non-conference match-ups with Wyoming and Toledo. Washington State and Minnesota are unquestionably significantly better than these two teams, and if they were in these slots, that'd give Boise State a 4-team BCS non-conference schedule.

It may not be the best BCS teams, but hey, it's a heck of a lot better than what they have now. And it gets Boise State's schedule at least closer to that of a BCS schedule, where you're playing tough teams every weak. Boise State already has 8 cupcakes on their schedule from their conference games. Can Boise State change that? (Well, yes, they're moving to the MWC, which still has a lot of cupcakes.) No. But does Boise State need to schedule TWO MORE cupcakes on top of the 8 they already play? Absolutely not.


If Boise State wants to get themselves into a BCS conference, if they want more respect from fans of BCS conference teams, they can start by scheduling ONLY BCS conference teams for their non-conference schedule. Even if that means they're scheduling the worst of the worst with the likes of Duke and Vanderbilt, that's better than Toledo and Wyoming.




And for those still stuck on whether or not Boise State is a big, important game for Virginia Tech... I really don't understand how you don't get this...

Is it an important game for VaTech? Sure. Does Virginia Tech's entire season sink or swim on the result of this neutral site game? Unquestionably, absolutely, not even close.

How about Boise State? It's the single most important game of their schedule. If Boise State loses to Virginia Tech, they could go 11-1, win their conference again, etc. etc., the season would be considered an absolute failure. There'd be no National Championship game, and to be honest, there probably shouldn't be a BCS bowl even, as I'd hate to see a team that went 1-1 finish in the top 15.

Does Boise State handle their weak opponents? Yeah. But it doesn't mean anything. How many players in the WAC are going to be in the NFL someday? The quality of the talent on the field isn't anywhere close between the WAC and the BCS conferences.

What some of you aren't getting is that it's not about how tough opponent X on week A is... it's about how tough opponent X is on week A, which is immediately followed by opponent Y on week B, opponent Z on week C, etc. etc. etc.

While players may not be listed as injured, when you're playing against high quality teams, you're going to get dinged up, bruised, sore, etc. When you're playing tough competition week in and week out, you're almost never playing at 100%. Those tough opponents take a toll on you, and with the exception of bye weeks, you usually don't have a week opponent to play more carefully (from an individual perspective) so you can let yourself heal back up and get back to 100%.

This doesn't really apply to a week 1 game, as both teams should be at 100%. But it's more of a comment about Boise State's strength of schedule in general, as well as their ability to win bowl games.

Boise State starts the season on Monday, September 6th against Virginia Tech. Then they have a bye week, then they play Wyoming, then in week 4, they play Oregon State. Their toughest two opponents are two weeks apart, separated by a bye week and a cupcake. Moreover, that September 25th match-up against Oregon State is the last truly tough opponent Boise State plays until their bowl game, in January.

Let's just compare their schedule to another national title hopeful, Alabama.

September 4, vs San Jose State
September 11, vs Penn State
September 18, at Duke
September 25, at Arkansas
October 2, vs Florida
October 9, at South Carolina
October 16, vs Ole Miss
October 23, at Tennessee
bye week
November 6, at LSU
November 13, vs Mississippi State
November 20, vs Georgia State
November 26, vs Auburn
potential SEC championship game

Now look, there's 10 BCS conference opponents with Penn State and Duke from the Big Ten and ACC (there's also an FCS team, which BSU doesn't have...doesn't make BSU's schedule tougher by any stretch of the imagination). Oh yeah...and there's a WAC team...

Now, no one is contesting that the WAC conference schedule is anywhere near as tough as the SEC. But I'm trying to illustrate a point that I think a lot of people just aren't getting.

From September 11 to November 13 (10 weeks), Alabama plays 9 games, starting with Penn State, ending with Mississippi State.

Penn State will be bowl eligible (high chances of a BCS bowl).
Duke is a bad BCS team...but still a BCS team.
Arkansas will be bowl eligible (some chances of a BCS bowl, very outside chances of playing for nat champ).
Florida will be bowl eligible, and likely win the East division.
South Carolina will be bowl eligible, probably finish 2nd in the east, but may topple Florida.
Ole Miss will be bowl eligible.
Tennessee...Duke aside, this may be the easiest opponent in this stretch, but it's a rivalry game. Tenn may or may not be bowl eligible.
Mississippi State, hard to say, but wouldn't be that surprising to see them bowl eligible.


The point is, Alabama plays a 10 week stretch with 9 opponents, 8 of which have good chances for winning seasons.

The absolute closest Boise State gets to this is their first 4 weeks of the season, which feature VaTech, bye, Wyoming, Oregon State.


The point is... it's not hard to win one game against one tough opponent. What's hard to do is win 8 games against 8 tough opponents across a 10-week span, which is what most teams in BCS conferences have to do. And the closest Boise State comes is 2 tough opponents across a 4 week span.

Boise State's strength of schedule is miles apart from ANY team in ANY BCS conference.

[Dos Peninsulas]

Quote: Originally Posted by Noble Evildoer

Pull what same thing with Idaho? Schedule them? For one, Boise has to play them since they're on the conference schedule. Boise hasn't moved to the Mountai West yet. If thy do keep playing Idaho when they move I wouldn't have a problem with it. They're in-state rivals. You may as well trash Texas, USC, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. For playing inferior in-state competition

I love it when schools play the midmajor teams in their state. It helps those schools with both travel costs and a payday for their athletic departments.

Boise State on the other hand wants to give the finger to Idaho:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ate/index.html

[Pogo27]

Quote:

"It's a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn't give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team," Kustra said, according to the paper.

When I read this... I was kind of confused as to how Boise State expected their rivals to treat them... and then I read this:

Quote:

Heck, Kustra described 11 of the 12 fan bases in the SEC.

and laughed. Because it's absolutely right.


Though I'm not sure who the 12th is...maybe Vandy.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

You mean like Utah did in 2008? Where was Utah's title shot?

That has nothing to do with Boise State. I also agree with a lot of what Pogo is saying. Boise is a good team, but they look so good because of how easy they have it each year. Yea, there is a reason they play the game, but even if Miami schedules all FCS teams for their OOC, they'd still have a tougher schedule than Boise would if they schedule 4 ranked teams OOC.

If Boise wants to start getting legitimate shots, they need to start traveling to Oklahoma and winning by at least two scores, then heading to Penn State and doing the same.

They can't slip by VT and then win by 2-3 scores every week after against bottom 40 teams. Sure, I I don't doubt some teams won't play Boise State, but I don't believe they can't get anyone to play them.

I am sure f they would be willing to travel to Texas, then Texas would play them. Boise State needs to win big games on the road before they even try to schedule home games against anybody. Just like in College Basketball, you have to earn your right to host big schools like Duke and UNC and even an average school in the sport like Miami.

[BlastX21]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

That has nothing to do with Boise State. I also agree with a lot of what Pogo is saying. Boise is a good team, but they look so good because of how easy they have it each year. Yea, there is a reason they play the game, but even if Miami schedules all FCS teams for their OOC, they'd still have a tougher schedule than Boise would if they schedule 4 ranked teams OOC. If Boise wants to start getting legitimate shots, they need to start traveling to Oklahoma and winning by at least two scores, then heading to Penn State and doing the same. They can't slip by VT and then win by 2-3 scores every week after against bottom 40 teams. Sure, I I don't doubt some teams won't play Boise State, but I don't believe they can't get anyone to play them. I am sure f they would be willing to travel to Texas, then Texas would play them. Boise State needs to win big games on the road before they even try to schedule home games against anybody. Just like in College Basketball, you have to earn your right to host big schools like Duke and UNC and even an average school in the sport like Miami.

You're telling me that if you were Texas, losing your top 4 players, you would schedule a team that went 13-0, won a BCS bowl the previous season, and returns 21 starters? Call me chicken but I sure as heck wouldn't. They dont need to beat Boise to make the NC again anyway, which makes it pointless.

[Pogo27]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlastX21

You're telling me that if you were Texas, losing your top 4 players, you would schedule a team that went 13-0, won a BCS bowl the previous season, and returns 21 starters? Call me chicken but I sure as heck wouldn't. They dont need to beat Boise to make the NC again anyway, which makes it pointless.

A lot of games get scheduled farther in advance, so this isn't always a scheduling issue as far as who is leaving, who is coming back, how good they were last season, etc.

[BlastX21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pogo27

A lot of games get scheduled farther in advance, so this isn't always a scheduling issue as far as who is leaving, who is coming back, how good they were last season, etc.

Boise wasnt trying to schedule big matchups a few years ago though so that could really only apply to the present.

[k2thaz]

they won it year 1 aswell against alabama in mine.