People losing minds, mass idiocy ensues: Boise get 7 first place votes in poll
September 9th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^
That's your opinion and I completely understand it. However, I think it's time they play the big one, obviously if they win out.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Boise's accomplishments are emetically overstated. They've done nothing that Iowa, Wisconsin, LSU, Oregon, Georgia Tech, Miami, Oklahoma, so on so forth, haven't done or couldn't do.
I'll buy that argument. But when LSU gets off to a good start, they aren't discounted saying, "well, they couldn't play with the big boys...." If you want to give them the same credit you would to an Iowa, Wisconsin, etc, on a regular year, I would think that would be fair.
On a side point, I wouldn't put last year's Bama team in the "great" category. I'd put the 08 Florida team, 05 Texas/USC, 03 USC, 01 Miami- but Alabama was whiskers away from losing to Tennessee, and barely beat Texas w/o Colt McCoy.... but that's another argument. I don't think the Boise team would compete well with any other great teams that I listed.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
Word. That's all I'm sayin'.
Also, don't forget that Alabama completely neutralized Florida in an all-the-marbles showdown in the SEC title game. Bama held Florida about 100 yards under average in the title game...that's something. The fact that Alabama struggled against Tennessee is just further testament to how difficult it is to make it through a real schedule. Florida vs. Arkansas, too.
The Texas thing was probably related to Bama going into clock-kill mode after the game was in hand. Boise would have gotten creamed. But that's just my opinion, I guess.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
Their place near the top of the polls has been proven on the field, at least to a certain degree. Plus, with 20 of 22 starters back from last year's unbeaten team, how can you not rank them near or at the top of the polls?
September 8th, 2010 at 9:50 AM ^
This why polls shouldn't be taken until at least 3 weeks in, preferably 5.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:58 AM ^
what she said?
September 8th, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^
Gonna be cool when we are getting first place votes again. At this point I don't care who else gets them. But frankly, they are the first team that has earned any on the field this year.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
I find it funny that the 2 programs that get shredded the most in these forums as undeserving of their accomplishments--Boise and Iowa--are two teams I've won stacks and stacks of money on.
I feel like my work is falling on deaf ears, folks.
I'd get into another Boise argument here, but I am way too busy counting money after one of their games.
Again.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
Well, Boise doesn't play anyone else, so it'll be pretty tough for them to move up from here.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:42 AM ^
If Michigan plays their schedule last year, we likely go 9-3, 10-2, or even 11-1 given all of the cannon fodder.
If Boise plays in the Big Ten or SEC, they have mutiple losses.
If Boise plays Ohio State, Texas, Florida, USC, et. al., who do you think is favored?
And yet the most often cited reason is that they're likely to go 12-0 given their schedule. What does that have to do with anything? So would any number of teams in college football.
September 8th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
I don't understand why everybody's so upset. Just let them make the title game, get monstrously blown out by a team like Alabama, thereby destroying any chance another BCS buster team ever has of making the MNC game.
Then push for a playoff!
September 8th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
I think they should be positivly rewarded for playing a good team and beating them in week 1. By doing this you could cancel out the cupcake week 1 games that we all love to hate. However, as the season progresses and they start to play more and more low tier programs you will see their ranking fall.
September 8th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
You can contend all you want about Boise being a top team or not a top team, but the fact is, no one really knows what will happen until Boise actually gets a shot to play one. That's probably not going to happen in the regualr season because I doubt a top school, like Alabama, Florida, or Texas will take the risk of scheduling them.
Anyone can talk an offer an opinion. I think Boise would beat OSU if they played them. I think a Boise game against Bama, Florida, or Texas would be anyones game. But that just an opinion. What we really need is a legitimate playoff to really settle who is the best. I don't think we even had a legitmate champion last season. Boise St., a team that lost one game in two years, and was unbeaten last year, did not even have a chance at it. For that matter, neither would Michigan if they would have went unbeaten. They would have been on the outside looking in, playing in some also ran bowl.
I hope Boise gets a lot of 1st place votes, all season if they continue to win. I'd like to see what they could do against so called top competition.
September 8th, 2010 at 12:51 PM ^
I actually like Boise St. but I was rooting against them. Why? Because I honestly don't want to hear about this for the rest of the season. It's only the second week of college football and we are already talking about the NC game. I wish a month or two would go by before everyone starts talking about who belongs in the title game.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
Let's just see what happens. It's perverse to talk about Boise St while simultaneously complaining that everyone is talking about Boise St. They have to play Oregon St still, and lots can still happen. None of the major powerhouse teams are really looking great at the moment, surely that is why Boise St has got everyone's attention.
Besides, we have more pressing issues to worry about.... like Mike Golic not knowing DR's last name and some dude saying mean things about Tate on local radio.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:28 PM ^
First of all, Alabama lost a TON of players on defense from last year. That should not go unheeded.
Secondly, who cares? It's silly to get riled up about Week 2 polls when there are still about 12 or 13 weeks left in the season. These are basically preseason polls, which almost all of us agree are completely useless.
September 8th, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
The only snag in the "early polls don't mean anything" argument is, if memory serves me correctly, that the farthest down in the first week's poll a team has come to win the National Championship is eighth. This preseason hive mind love fest for certain over rated teams that have done nothing can have a huge impact on who wins the national championship.
Suggestion: Make each team's day one ranking a product of their projected strength of schedule. The harder your opponents project out to be, the higher you start. If starting out top 10 in the initial rankings gives you an advantage to play in the MNC, perhaps more teams would schedule more meaningful non conference games...just an off the wall thought.
Edit: Phil Steele's initial SOS ranking:
1. Iowa State
2. South Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Mississippi State
5. Minnesota
6. Oregon State
7. Washington
8. Miami (FL)
9. Duke
10. LSU
11. Florida State
12. Vanderbilt
13. Washington State
14. NC State
15. Alabama
16. Penn State
17. Notre Dame
18. Florida
19. Auburn
20. Colorado
21. Illinios
22. Oklahoma
23. Texas A&M
24. North Carolina
25. UNLV
37. Michigan
61. Ohio State
87. Boise State (#1 argument for why they should almost never be considered for the MNC)
As far as pre-season rankings go, since no one has done anything, why not credit the balls to schedule a tough slate of opponents...its just one of those off the wall thoughs. Practical? Probably not. But definitely a different way of looking at pre-season rankings.
September 8th, 2010 at 4:34 PM ^
There really shouldn't even be polls right now at all. I have absolutely no idea who the top 10 teams in the country are, much less the #1 team.
September 8th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
Boise is and always will be highly debated because they are only tested a few times a year so we don't really find out much about them. Do they dial it up on the rare occasions when they actually play a real opponent? You bet. Could they do it week in and week out in the Big Ten or SEC? We will never know. On average they were favored to win by 25 points against conference opponents last year. That stat is very telling.....
September 8th, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^
If they don't fall flat on their faces they will be the 2010-2011 National Champs.