To Boise, or not to Boise?

There already has been and will continue to be much discussion among those covering college football, and those looking for a topic of conversation at the water cooler, about whether or not Boise State's football team has a place in the BCS National Championship game. Oregon's leapfrogging of the Broncos after their comeback victory over Stanford seems to have fanned these flames. Obviously it's still premature to engage in such conjecture - most teams have only played four or five games - but the debate persists nonetheless, and it seems to me that in recent years, it's getting carried away.

Though not a fan of the BCS, I am a fan of the bowl system. I feel that there are way too many bowls and that they've become too spread out, but I do prefer the sense of desperation created by knowing that you may need to win every game in order to earn a chance to play for a national championship. And, as someone who enjoys a good sports debate, I like the subjective nature of selecting which teams have earned said right. (Note: this is another area where I am disappointed in the BCS as I feel it gives too much weight to the computer polls and not the human polls. I think technological innovation can be used to account for factors such as strength of schedule, but let's allow coaches and sports media to rank the teams and make their rankings public.)

The question of whether or not Boise St., and TCU, will have the opportunity to play for the 2010 National Championship should either go undefeated during the regular season is fascinating to me. The part of me that roots for underdogs say yes - if Boise St. goes undefeated and the contenders from major conferences have losses, the Broncos should be in the game on January 10th (And yes, it still disgusts me that it's January 10th and not New Year's Day). But the more pragmatic part of me feels compelled to admit that if teams such as Alabama, Auburn, Oregon, Stanford, Ohio St. or Nebraska complete the regular season with one loss, they all have a strong case to make that they are more deserving of a spot in that game - after watching parts of the atrocity that was the Red River Rivalry this year, Oklahoma is clearly not talented enough to make this list, and neither are Iowa, LSU or any teams in the ACC or Big East.

As much as I love this debate, I am willing to display patience and wait for the scenarios to play out this fall. I do feel that it's unfair to the players on Boise St.'s team to discuss their worthiness of a place in the National Championship game and act like they've already won their remaining games when there is a lot of football left to play between now and then. For now, let's just enjoy Boise St. as a talented, well-coached, fun team to watch. And those parts of me that find underdogs appealing and like to stand against establishment, will root for a Broncos-Horned Frogs rematch this year, on January 10th.