Boise State is again The Little Team That Could in college football, but Bill Livingston wants to see what the Broncos could do playing a Big Ten or SEC schedule. Not as much, that's for sure.
View full sizeQuarterback Kellen Moore and Boise State are very good at preparing for one big game ... but it's doubtful they could hang tough through an entire season in the Big Ten or SEC.COLUMBUS, Ohio — How about a word in favor of Goliath?
Wilt Chamberlain, who should have known, said nobody roots for Goliath.
But the big guy in college football has a rich set of warring personalities, who go after each other on Saturdays with malice aforethought. Goliath can be Ohio State, or Alabama, or Florida, or Texas, or Oklahoma, or any other traditional power in the BCS leagues that can really play. That includes everybody but the Big Least and the ACC, depending on what Miami does Saturday at the Horseshoe against Ohio State.
Most college football fans love to see some plucky David bring down the traditional bullies.
Boise State, with quarterback Kellen Moore slicing up the Virginia Tech secondary Monday night like a kitchen product dicing a spud, is a particular favorite. TCU, another team that sounds a fanfare for the common man, won earlier over the weekend, next door to its campus at Dallas Cowboys Stadium against good -- not great -- Oregon State.
There is no question Boise State is one great one-game team. So is TCU.
That's the problem with them, too.
Give Boise coach Chris Petersen a month to prepare for an opener or a bowl game, and he can turn Oklahoma's defense into so many Homer Simpsons saying "D'oh." Boise State built its name on trick plays in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against the Sooners.
Additional appeal came from a national fascination with the way deluded birds kamikazed into the Broncos' blue field, thinking it was possibly a rectangular fork of the Snake River.
The Broncos play one BCS league intersectional opponent early, switch to auto-pilot (would that the birds were so lucky!) and are next seen validating themselves in their other competitive game in a bowl.
Last year, Tulsa of Conference USA lost to the Broncos by only 28-21. League play was another story. No Western Athletic Conference opponent held the Broncos below 45 points, and one (Louisiana Tech) held the final margin to two possessions, losing, 45-35. Otherwise, Boise plays patsies (also Cathys and Bettys).
The objection is that a non-BCS league team can only play its schedule.
But the caterwauling about the BCS oligarchy has led to the hyperinflation of Boise State and TCU. It's unclear what great truth was validated when Boise beat TCU in the most recent Fiesta Bowl. TCU lacks the signature victories of the Broncos over Oklahoma and, in last year's opener, over Oregon, the Pac-10 champion.
By the way, Boise's epic victory over Oklahoma in 2007 was made easier after the Sooners threw starting quarterback Rhett Bomar off the team before a game had been played. Oklahoma's star running back, Adrian Peterson, while he played, was returning to action against Boise for the first time since breaking his collarbone in midseason.
As for Virginia Tech, the Hokies are the Michigan State Spartans of the ACC -- a team that is annually less than the sum of its individual parts. That has been true at least since Michael Vick was promising, not notorious.
Said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel: "Because we were open this weekend, I had a chance to see a little bit of the TCU-Oregon State game. Those are two good teams. [I saw some] of the Boise-Virginia Tech game, those are two good teams. So all four of those teams are going to be making noise all year, and it's a long year. It's like I'd like to believe that Ohio State and Miami are both good teams, but it's a long year."
The "long year" part is the key. When do the Broncos have to be at their best in two games in a row? Ohio State has to run a gauntlet of Penn State, Iowa and Michigan at the end of the season. Attrition in the Buckeyes' lineup is almost inevitable during that stretch.
Boise State can beat anybody in one game. But in the Big Ten, the Broncos probably lose two or three games. In the SEC, they might be a second-division team.
In lieu of a playoff format, college football used a system that was rigged against the non-BCS schools for years. The resulting outrage led to changes. But now it cheats the big ones as well as the little ones.