Penalizing the Ponies: Iowa, USC Undeservingly Pass Boise State in BCS

(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

At Aloha Stadium on Saturday, the Boise State Broncos struggled to win a road game against the lackluster Warriors.

On the other hand, Iowa destroyed Michigan State and USC annihilated Oregon State.

These notable wins, along with the Broncos' unimpressive victory against Hawaii, led to a shakeup in the BCS standings: Boise State fell from fourth to seventh, Iowa jumped two spots to fourth, USC rose from seventh to fifth, and TCU, ranked eighth last week, launched ahead of BSU in the sixth spot.

Based on the latest rankings, one would assume the games played out as mentioned above.

In fact, the exact opposite happened. 

Boise State travelled a couple thousand miles to face the Hawaii Warriors in a trap game. The Warriors are no dynasty by any means, although they did defeat the Washington State Cougars on the road, but considering the distance and time zone change, it easily could have been a close game.

Instead, the Broncos controlled the whole game on both sides of the ball. Boise State pounded Hawaii 54-9.

Once again, Iowa had an unimpressive victory. Earlier in the season, the Hawkeyes barely squeaked out wins versus two lower-tier opponents, Arkansas State and Northern Iowa. On Saturday, it took 59 minutes and 53 seconds for Iowa to take the game away from the middle-of-the-pack Michigan State Spartans, 15-13.

USC was almost upset by Oregon State, winning 42-36. The Trojans are known for their stifling defense, but they gave up nearly 500 yards to the Beavers. After losing to a decent Washington team earlier in the season, USC nearly slipped up again versus Oregon State.

Yes, Iowa and USC won their games, and no matter how sloppy the victory was, it still shows a W in the standings. But in the current BS, er, BCS system, human voters base a lot of their rankings based on "style points." Beating mid-level conference teams should not have boosted their BCS ranking so high.

The Broncos did nothing wrong on Saturday. They made a statement by demolishing the Warriors. BSU dropped three spots for doing exactly what they were supposed to do: Cream the opponent. Even though the opponent wasn't as strong as Iowa's or USC's, the BCS unfairly penalized Boise State.

Since they play stiffer competition, I expected BSU to be passed by Iowa and USC—just not this week. If Iowa beats Ohio State at the Horseshoe, then they most definitely deserve to be ahead of the Broncos. The Penn State and Ohio State victories are more impressive than Oregon. Same with USC if they win out in the competitive Pac-10.

Boise State did not deserve to be jumped by Iowa and USC the week of a dominant win while the other two had unconvincing victories.

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