BCS Standings: Are Boise State and Houston Destined to Meet in Fiesta Bowl?

If the BCS has its way, Boise State could very well find itself partying at the Fiesta Bowl like it's 2010, with Houston playing the role of TCU this time around.

And that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, at least not for the Broncos and not for college football fans.

It's pretty clear that the college football cartel will find some way to keep Boise State out of the BCS National Championship Game, most likely by pointing to their weak schedule and claiming (like Lou Holtz and Mark May):

1) They should've scheduled more games against quality, out-of-conference opponents if they knew the Mountain West was going to be weak.

2) With the way Utah is struggling to survive in the Pac-12, it's "clear" that teams from smaller conferences just can't hang with the big boys.

In other words, the same, tired arguments that a 35-21 win over Georgia at the Georgia Dome in the season opener was supposed to debunk.

There's a creeping suspicion hovering around the gridiron these days that in order to play for the crystal football, Boise State would need to win its last five games by a mile-and-a-half each, be the only undefeated team left at the end of the regular season and have the Dawgs win the SEC.

And even all of that might not be enough for the Broncos to buck the system and finish in the top two of the final BCS standings.

Meanwhile, Houston is all but assured of an at-large berth into the BCS if they run the table and win Conference USA as a result.

Which, judging by the way Case Keenum has played of late, is more likely to happen than not.

If the Cougars crack the BCS and the Broncos' horse and carriage to New Orleans turns to a pumpkin before the stroke of 8:15 p.m. EDT on December 4th, then we could very well see these two BCS busters matched up in yet another meaningless Fiesta Bowl.

Not unlike the 2010 edition, which saw Boise State and TCU (now Mountain West foes for a year) duke it out for the title of best team from a non-automatic qualifier conference, rather than allowing them to prove themselves against Big Six conference teams in, say, the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

Because we all know the Broncos and the Horned Frogs would've embarrassed themselves in those situations, right?

What's that? Non-AQ schools are 4-1 all time against their AQ counterparts in BCS bowls?

Don't tell that to the school presidents, the sponsors and the BCS bowl big wigs. That would only upset them, make them want to relegate Boise State and Houston to the Fiesta Bowl.

You wouldn't want to anger a bunch of wealthy, old men, now would you?