BCS Rankings: Voters Will Not Allow Boise State to Play in National Championship

When the latest BCS rankings showed Alabama as the No. 3 team in the country this week, it was apparent that Boise State will never be able to play for a national championship under the current system.

Despite being in the top five in every BCS ranking that has been released this season, Boise State is back where it started three weeks ago at No. 5. Even with other teams losing, the Broncos only moved up one spot and then right back down. The team has even received at least one first-place vote in the AP Poll every week since the preseason.

The general perception is that an undefeated Mountain West Conference team is not as deserving as an undefeated team from a BCS conference. Few will argue this point due to the team's lack of a consistent challenge week-to-week. However, many believed if the Broncos remained undefeated while others faltered, they would find themselves in line to make the first-ever BCS championship appearance for a non-AQ team.

This does not seem to be possible anymore.

Alabama lost last week to LSU in what many analysts believed was a battle of the top two teams in the nation. The next day, voters dropped Alabama to No. 4 in most human polls, allowing the computers to keep the Crimson Tide at No. 3.

The rankings not only keep the possibility of a rematch of the two SEC teams alive, but it also keeps Alabama only a mistake by Oklahoma State or LSU from returning to the top of the polls. 

Boise State will most likely be left on the outside looking in.

Besides the mathematical consequences of the latest poll, it also symbolizes how the voters feel about the Broncos.

If one-loss Alabama can remain above Boise State, surely Oklahoma, Oregon or Arkansas can jump ahead of the Broncos as well. Each of these three one-loss schools has an undefeated foe still on its schedule and will move up the rankings with an upset victory. 

There is little the Broncos can do to improve their standing. Even with the computer numbers on their side (higher than Stanford), the human voters will refuse to drop a team without raising a different one to replace it. Moving to the important No. 2 spot seems completely unattainable.

It seems the only chance will be a playoff, but that is a discussion for another day.