Creature vs. Creature: Oregon Should Be Ranked Higher than Boise State

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With Oregon sitting right behind Boise State in the BCS, the question will inevitably be answered soon; who should be ranked higher Oregon or Boise State?  

Since losing a matchup to the Broncos in Boise on Sept. 3, the Ducks have won seven straight and are arguably the hottest team in the country.  But should a head-to-head lose hold back the Ducks?  Here is why I think it should not.

While always very important, head-to-head matchups are not the end-all-be-all, and they shouldn't be.  While Boise beat the Ducks at the beginning of the season, Oregon has steadily improved and are a completely different team than they were at the time of that game.  

One columnist who has a vote in the AP poll makes a great argument about how head-to-head matchups are not as important as time moves forward.  

Some might argue that Texas beat Oklahoma last year and they easily should have gotten into the national championship.  But let's think about this.  Oklahoma had the highest per-game scoring average in the history of college football last year.  

The Sooners were also destroying everyone they played down the stretch last year.  So basically, the system awards the team that looks the best at the current time.

Secondly, there is no comparison in the competition Oregon has faced and beaten as opposed to that of Boise.  Now some of this may be out of Boise State's control, (they must get out of the WAC asap) but they do have control over their non-conference schedule.  The teams they chose to play this season were Bowling Green (3-5), Miami (OH) (1-8), Tulsa (4-4), and UC Davis (4-4) in addition to Oregon.

Now UC Davis was put on the schedule to play an extra game so disregard that, (can only play 12 games in a season, but can play 13 if you play 1-AA school) but two of the other three, (Bowling Green, Miami (OH)) are pushovers who really haven't been competitive for a couple years.  

Then we come to Tulsa.  The Golden Hurricanes are a team that was expected to be decent coming into the season.  While they might win their conference, a Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma team beat Tulsa 45-0 just three weeks before Boise State squeaked out a 28-21 victory.  

Boise State may be able to come out and win one game a year against a top program, but let's try two or three back to back.  

Also, don't tell me they can't get people to play them, because its not true.  Might they have to take a deal they don't like?  Yes, but welcome to the life of being a mid-major team in a poor conference.  

The BCS teams have no incentive to play them, if they beat Boise, it is because they should, if they don't beat Boise, people can't believe they lost to Boise. You will sign matchups with teams if you play two road games for one home game.  Or only sign a one-game deal to play at the opponent's stadium.

Finally, most of what happened during the game on that Thursday night in Boise was forgotten after the incident that occurred after the game.  But if you think back to it, both teams played an unimpressive game.  

Boise State turned the ball over three times and could have lost that game had Oregon shown any pulse on offense.  Give Boise State credit for beating Oregon but remember that they did not look that impressive themselves during that win.

In my opinion, if Oregon wins the rest of its games impressively, the Ducks will jump Boise State in the BCS.  I think Boise fans need to be concerned about USC playing their way into a BCS bowl as well.  

They will draw better wherever they play and get a larger audience than Boise.  Boise is a good football team, but their inability to steamroll weak teams on a regular basis will hurt them, marketing company or not.  

Duck fans and Bronco fans will join together as one rooting body in two weeks though as TCU will take on Utah in Forth Worth on Nov. 14.  Both the Ducks and Broncos will be rooting for Utah.  If the Utes beat TCU, Utah's only loss to that point will be to the Ducks (boosting Oregon's BCS rating further in the computers), and the Broncos won't have to worry about TCU stealing their automatic BCS bid.

Check out Drew Morgan's article about why Boise State should be ranked ahead of Oregon.

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