Boise State Broncos: What Happened to the Lovable Underdog of the Past?

“Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.”--Lou Holtz

I must admit I was watching the bowl game between Oklahoma and Boise State, a game that is often referred to as the Game of the Century, and as luck would have it, I fell asleep. 

Story of my life, but all through the game I had this feeling that Oklahoma would prevail and Boise State would run out of gas.

Oklahoma had the better athletes across the board and should have run away with that game from the start.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, Adrian Peterson is far better than anyone Boise State could have fielded that day. 

I didn’t know what had happened until the next day when I was visiting my father who raved about the game to the point where I had to leave and go home to watch the last seven minutes on my DVR.

What became clear was that the better athletes were outplayed by the better team. Nobody missed assignments on Boise State’s side of the ball that last few minutes of the game and into overtime.

Like a prize fighter who had taken a shot on the chin, Oklahoma staggered and BSU laid into them with the final blow. It was over. So were the days of the lovable underdog.

Recently a pattern of behavior has become apparent to me, a pattern of poor sportsmanship on the field and off. The once lovable underdogs are quickly becoming the least respected team in Division I NCAA football.

Clearly this could be part of the reason Boise State is not going to make it to the national championship game—their lack of integrity is beginning to show through.

In a game against Virginia Tech, Boise State University is penalized 11 times for infractions for a total of 105 yards. Averaging nearly 10 yards a penalty is a sign of some serious violations that have occurred so I looked a little deeper to see more, the results were intriguing.

Roughing the passer one time, roughing the kicker two times, one personal foul and three illegal blocks—all things considered, it was a long day for the yellow flag.

Roughing the passer one time can happen in just about any game, but in combination with the two roughing the kicker penalties is it is clear that there is some form of disciplinary issue on the team.

Added to this, we have a personal foul and the three illegal blocks, penalties that are assessed due to the dangerous nature of the violation. Illegal blocking can end a career of just about any player and should be considered a major violation always.

Against Oregon State, unsportsmanlike conduct and a personal foul. But the most telling play was that in which Oregon State's star wide receiver was knocked out of the game from a helmet-to-helmet hit.

A totally unnecessary hit in style and timing, but I was still willing to say that Boise State was a team with some form of integrity on the field.

But then I saw tonight's game against Idaho, and I have formed a different opinion.

Boise State started the night by taunting Idaho in their building. A more classless act by a team that was clearly the favorite to win the game could not be found.

But I suppose that's not enough for Boise State anymore, they have to humiliate anyone and everyone they possibly can while burning all the bridges to the current conference in the process.

And they do this before during and after the game, finding new and interesting ways to taunt the opposition. That coupled with plenty of helmet-to-helmet contact and you have the modern day version of the Boise State Broncos.

In addition, the coaching staff—a title that is not necessarily accurate—decided that while up 21 to 0 in the first quarter that it was a good time to perform an onside kick. A truly classless act and luckily for Idaho it went out of bounds. The rest of the game is as predictable as it was from the beginning and therefore as uninteresting a game that could have possibly been played.

In a game where Boise State had no real concern about losing, it was clear they had the better players across the board, they still take the opportunity to show poor sportsmanship. I am therefore left with the question, "What happened to the lovable underdog of the past?"