Yeah, I know this blog is intended specifically not to cover FBS or D-I basketball, but sometimes I just have to get something off my chest and my potential audiences in other venues aren’t the appropriate ones. At least this audience is, even if the venue may not be.
What am I irked about this morning? Well, I’m still irked about the fact that Bill Snyder didn’t leave Chris Cosh standing on the runway in Waco, but this is something of more national interest. Generally, “The Narrative” as crammed down our throats by the Worldwide Leader; specifically, the fact that I think that if they were going to stick us with one for the season, they picked the wrong one.
As you can probably imagine, your conclusion fueled by the fact that I write a blog about college sports teams that most people not only don’t care about but have barely heard of, I am not unsympathetic to the plight of the non-AQ team. I would like to see Boise State, or TCU, or even North Texas for that matter, have a fair and transparent path to potentially competing for a national championship. I support a playoff, so long as said playoff includes the champions of all eleven FBS conferences. I root for the BCS to implode, and I think going unbeaten is a remarkable accomplishment in this day and age no matter what schedule you may be playing.
And I will freely admit, I have zero problem whatsoever with an attempt to provide a BCS-busting narrative in general. Indeed, I think it’s only fair for the national media to pay heed to any potential national championship team, and if that team happens to be an “outsider” then it’s difficult to complain about the media covering them as outsiders. Their status as “lesser citizens” not only should be discussed, but must be if anything’s to be done about the inherent financial unfairness of the system.
That said, I think ESPN has completely screwed the pooch this season with their slavish devotion to the idea of Boise State as potential national champion. It’s not that I think they’re undeserving. It’s that in the midst of their rampant attempts to fellate blue and orange horses, they’re all but ignoring something far more obvious:
Boise State is not the best potential candidate to bust the BCS title game. Texas Christian is.
Let’s look at this objectively. Both teams have beaten Oregon State, so we can dismiss that. They also both beat Wyoming, by exactly the same 45-point margin; Boise allowed the Cowboys to score while TCU didn’t, but TCU got to play them at home while Boise didn’t. Wash. Boise’s got the Virginia Tech win, which is nice, but TCU’s got an utter humiliation of the first-place team in the Big 12 South to point to. (Seriously, I realize that Baylor is not Auburn or anything, but shouldn’t TCU be getting some props for that game at this point?)
They both have stinkers on the schedule, of course. But really, is there anything to separate “Toledo, San Jose State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, and Utah State” from “Tennessee Tech, Colorado State, UNLV, and New Mexico”? Well, yes, there is; for one, TCU’s list is shorter by one. For another, Colorado State may not be as bad as they appear; while they did lose to Miami (OH) and Colorado, their other three losses have been to Air Force, Utah, and Nevada. Hell, virtually every team we’ve discussed here other than our protagonists and San Diego State would lose all three of those games. Boise’s list of patsies, however, is every bit as bad as they appear, Utah State’s inexplicable almost-victory against Oklahoma and rivalry win over BYU notwithstanding.
Boise still has Hawaii, Fresno State, and Nevada to play. (Also Idaho, who’s not great or anything, but I don’t think having Idaho on one’s schedule is a particular embarrassment. They’re a decent football team.) Now, on the one hand, I think this is actually something which will work in Boise’s favor in the end, at least as regards their profile against other BCS conference candidates. But, presuming Boise goes undefeated, there’s one simple fact which cannot be ignored: by the time Boise gets done beating all these guys, they may be 12-0 without a single win over a currently ranked team as of the end of the season.
TCU, on the other hand, has a win already over Air Force. They have San Diego State pending. These two teams are, essentially, Fresno State and Hawaii, and I may be insulting the MWC teams by saying so. BYU, despite their record, is probably no worse than Idaho. They’ve also got a win over a pretty good SMU team.
Which leaves the giant elephant in the room waiting to be addressed. Boise State does not have a huge marquee OMG matchup remaining on their schedule. Although I have defended their remaining games as not particularly hurtful to their candidacy, the fact remains that they are not particularly helpful, either. TCU, on the other hand, is going to have to get past the current #8 team in the BCS if they want to finish unbeaten.
That’s what it really boils down to. Boise’s resume is not particularly better than TCU’s, and TCU has a giant cannonball waiting to be loaded. Don’t misunderstand me; I am not trying to argue that, today, TCU should be ranked ahead of Boise. The rankings are “correct”, at the moment. My issue with the narrative is simple: shouldn’t the talking heads be recognizing the impact the Utah game (assuming TCU wins, of course) is going to have on TCU’s resume — both in the polls and the computers? They’ve decided they’re going to hitch their wagons to the Broncos, and I think they feel that trying to trumpet TCU’s opportunity works against their interests.
And we all know why. All you have to do is look at the TV schedule for the rest of the season, where you will see something truly eye-opening. TCU does not appear on any Disney-owned television outlet. Not just for the rest of the season; ALL season. Boise, on the other hand, will be appearing on ESPN2 three times before their appearance on the Mothership November 26.
Seems pretty obvious to me. The WWL is directly and insidiously manipulating the narrative for its own benefit. And it sickens me.