Boise State Football: Blue Fields, One Game a Year and Little Else

Boise State beat a very good, and probable PAC-10 champion in Oregon their first game of the year, but  I would go so far as to say Boise State could beat any team in any conference on any given day. So could TCU for that matter, however, one is left to ask if that is the point?

Before writing anything else I think it is incumbent upon me to mention that I am a Iowa Hawkeyes fan, so this year, how Boise State does and where Boise State is ranked is much more relevant that it would normally be.

Nevertheless, I don't feel that I am writing from a biased point of view. In fact, what I have to say has absolutely nothing to do with the Hawkeyes.

My argument is this: Boise State (TCU, Utah and BYU, to name a few) could beat any team in the country on any given week. I do not question that. Oregon this year and Oklahoma two years ago were not flukes. Nevertheless, does that matter?

Let's remember, this year Oregon not only had to play Boise State, it also had to navigate its way through a treacherous PAC-10 schedule.

Two years ago, Oklahoma not only had Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, but it had a full Big 12 slate and the Big 12 Championship Game. What did or does Boise State have to do? Play a schedule that included San Jose State, Idaho and Nevada,then throw in a normally very formidable Fresno State and there you go. Those are all teams from either the WAC or other conferences that other FCS schools use as warm-ups, but for Boise State, its their schedule.

This may be forgivable if BSU had scheduled a monster out-of-conference team or at least added another formidable opponent other then Oregon, but there was nothing. They didn't even schedule all FCS teams. Their fifth game was against a very average FBS Cal-Davis team.

Certainly, I have no problem with a team taking what amounts to a game or two off and scheduling a sacrificial lamb, but when your entire schedule is full of other conferences' sacrificial lambs, then I would think you would look to schedule something a bit more substantial.

And if their conference and flimsy out-of-conference slate is not enough, consider where they play. No, I am not talking of the famous blue turf of Bronco Stadium.

I am talking about their away games at Skelly Field, the not-so-famous home field of the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. I am talking about Joe Aillet Stadium, the not-so-famous home field of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, both of which have capacities of about 30,000.

I think when one refers to the home field advantage, one is hardly referring to maybe 20,000 screaming Golden Hurricanes bearing down on you.

Consider the picture at the top of this article—a Beaver Stadium White Out. That is 110,000 strong all in a united front against the away team.

Go through the other stadiums in the Big Ten:

Camp Randall Stadium—capacity over 80,000

The Horseshoe—capacity about 102,000

The Big House—capacity in the 108,000 area

Even the lousy Big Ten stadiums hold and generally pack more than the WAC does on its best days (well maybe not Northwestern or Indiana). Playing in those environments puts the visiting team at an undeniable disadvantage.

The same holds true for the other conferences (except for the Big East which, quite frankly doesn't deserve to be considered a BCS conference, but that is another story). The Swamp, between the Hedges at Georgia, and Death Valley of the SEC; Autzen, the Colosseum, and Husky Stadium in the PAC-10; A Sea of Red, the 12th Man, or either Memorial Stadium in the Big 12, are all hard environments to play in.

And I assure you, unlike with the home stadiums of the WAC competitors, I did not have to look up the names for the home stadiums of these other conferences because I don't pay much attention to them.

The challenge of college football is not winning one game, it is getting through an entire season. It is traveling to opposing venues with the student section throwing chicken parts and cigarette butts at you. It's the QB managing to get his audibles in despite being drowned out by 70,000 screaming fans. It is seeing the roster get shorter and shorter as players get injured in the grind of a full major conference season.

So, explain to me why I should take Boise State seriously? Because they beat Oregon? Because they beat Oklahoma? I'll tell you what,the year Boise State runs a full Big Ten/Big 12/SEC/PAC-10/ACC schedule, the year they play a moderately competitive out-of-conference schedule and then travel to Beaver Stadium, come back home to play a (at the time) feisty, young Michigan team, then hit the road again to Camp Randall followed by Spartan Stadium, come back for Indiana and Northwestern, then onto the Horseshoe and close out against Minnesota ( Iowa's schedule this year),the year they do that and just go 9-3, then I'll say that they are a more than worthy team.

The year they play a full schedule (wherever they play it) that isn't littered with Cal-Davis, Miami (OH), Utah St and Idaho, hell, the year they schedule more then one competitive out-of-conference team, is the year I will consider Boise State worthy of being considered side-by-side with the big conferences.

Until then, as far as I'm concerned, they are a very good team that plays on that funny field and not much more.