Boise State Broncos Getting National Love, but will the BCS Recognize Them?

ESPN’s most notable columnists Mark Schlabach and Pat Forde had a lot to say about the Boise State Broncos as they contemplated where the Broncos would be and where they should be in the 2010 college football preseason rankings. Complementing the surprising notoriety afforded Boise State comes another from Sports Illustrated staff writer Andy Staples, who has Boise State ranked second in his top five. Forde also said, "This isn’t a fluke anymore, and the sooner the nation realizes that, the sooner college football can get to a place where on-field play trumps off-field name recognition."

The Fox television announcers were lauding praise upon the Broncos prior to, during, and after the Fiesta Bowl. They could see that the Western Athletic Conference's Boise State has risen to a class worth special recognition.

In fact, it has been 26 years since the WAC boasted a team with national championship promise. In 1984 (pre-BCS), BYU accomplished a perfect WAC season that ended with the Cougars ranked No. 1 and as national champion.

The Cougars almost repeated its glorious perfect season 12 years later in 1996 when they went 14-1 (regular season loss), winning its final game in the Cotton Bowl and a No. 6 ranking. BYU moved on to the Mountain West Conference in 1999.

Boise State left the Big West and stepped up to the WAC in 2001. Like BYU the Broncos have made football life miserable for its WAC foes.

Since entering the conference, Boise State has won the conference every year except once—in 2007 when the Hawaii Warriors won the WAC with their only defeat of Boise State, 39-27, capped by a brilliant performance from quarterback Colt Brennan. Boise State lost their conference to Hawaii and their 2007 Bowl game in Hawaii along with extremely talented senior quarterback Taylor Tharp.

Enter Kellen Moore, the Broncos' only freshman quarterback to ever start—the following 2008 season. Moore took the many Boise State seniors and eventual defecting junior wide receiver Jeremy Childs to a perfect season, winning back the conference but losing by a point in the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl.

The 2009 season was supposed to be a rebuilding season, but the Broncos reloaded instead going 14-0, tying only the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes for that monumental feat and handing the team that beat them in their previous Bowl–TCU, in a 17 to 10 whooping in the 2010 BCS Fiesta Bowl—and ending up ranked No. 4 in the final BCS top 25.

The Broncos are 6-4 in Bowl games and 2-0 in BCS contests (both Fiesta Bowls).

Boise State is one of the most loaded teams, talent-wise, in Division 1 football, bringing back 21 starters while graduating only five players. Of those five only cornerback Kyle Wilson was a season starter.

In 2010 there are another 19 players coming off redshirt, and those are not average players, as many were highly desired from BCS conferences. There are also six verbal commitments for this season as it currently stands.

It is no doubt that rumors of a Boise State national championship game are flowing on the national networks and in magazines. ESPN writer Schlabach said, “Voters won't have a reason to keep the Broncos out of the Citi BCS National Championship Game in 2010.”

Mark has the Broncos No. 3 in the preseason poll with Alabama and Ohio State 1 and 2, respectively. Another ESPN celebrity Pat Forde says regarding Boise State, “That team has to be ranked No. 1,” and he went on to say that was the way he was casting his ballot.

Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples says, “Next fall Boise State returns all but one starter… What’s more, an upgraded nonconference schedule could bring enough style points to get Boise State into the BCS title game.”

Staples has Boise State ranked second in the preseason vote. There will be many others echoing these voters.

Look for Boise State to be in the preseason top three, with a legitimate shot at a national championship—should they win out. And that’s another story—Go Broncos.