Can Boise St. Be Beaten?

In the 80's SMU was close to winning a national championship. However, the college football world still has not seen a non-power conference team win a national championship. It's happened in basketball in the 50's and 60's with schools such as Texas Western and La Salle. It happened just two years ago in college baseball when Fresno St. miraculously won the College World Series. Now maybe it's football's turn for a mid major team to pull of the great feat. Boise St. certainly has the best chance any small conference school has ever seen. Boise started in the polls ranked 4. They took care of business in their opening game with a win over #9 Virginia Tech. However that win no longer looks as good, after Virginia Tech fell flat on their faces against in-state FCS power James Madison. To get into the BCS championship game Boise is going to need help, and probably will need losses by Alabama, Ohio St, and Oregon. However before Boise starts worrying about everyone else, they must take care of their own business.

Heisman Hopeful Kellen Moore

In general, the WAC does not provide much of a threat to the high powered Broncos. A lot of the programs such as San Jose St. are just trying to maintain the funds to keep their programs alive. However, all road games have some degree of danger. A win against Boise St. would be monumental win for any program. For these schools it will probably be the only time all year the stadium will be packed. We will take a look at Boise's remaining schedule to see what teams provide a formidable opponent.

You can pretty much assume all games played in the state of Idaho are going to be wins. Oregon St. went as far as to change the color of their own practice field, and they still left Boise feeling blue. Left on the home schedule is Toledo, Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, Fresno St, and Utah St. Toledo is an interesting team, as they hung around with Arizona before getting blown out at home. Last Saturday they went into West Lafayette and beat Big Ten opponent Purdue fairly easily. Louisiana Tech and Utah St. will undoubtedly be blowouts. Those teams do not have the personal to keep the game close. Hawaii can probably be throwin into that category as well, however their offense can keep them in games. The high octane run-and-gun offense will put up points and if quarterback Bryant Moinz is making good decisions the Warriors may be able to hang around. Fresno St. is always a formidable opponent in the WAC, and at the time posted an impressive win over Cincinnati at home. Realistically though the Broncos are not losing at home. So can anyone trip them up on the road?

Nevada Quarterback Colin Kaepernick

Boise has four road games left on the schedule. New Mexico St. and San Jose St. both should be blowouts, however the Broncos can not look past San Jose St. Even in their down years, the Spartans play big time team's tough. They lost in overtime to the Colt Brennan led Hawaii team that made the sugar bowl in 2007. They also upset LaDainian Tomlinson's TCU team when TCU was still in the WAC. Regardless, the Broncos will survive that game. That leaves a rivalry game at Idaho. The Broncos made news this year when coach Chris Peterson told IdahoStatesman.com that the Broncos will no longer travel to Moscow, Idaho once the Broncos bounce to the Mountain West next season. "Why would we (go to Moscow)?" he said. "I don't think our fans even like to go up there. Most of Idaho's fans are in Boise anyway." This will certainly have the Vandals fired up for the Broncos.

The game of the year in the WAC will be when Boise St. visits Nevada. You know the WAC must be kicking themselves, as this will be the last time the two teams meet in the WAC before both of them jump to the MWC. Nevada is ranked in the AP poll for the first time since 1948. This will be most high profile game the WAC has seen since Boise St. visited Hawaii for the WAC conference championship and a chance at Hawaii claiming a BCS bid on the line in 2007. Nevada is led by duel threat quarterback Colin Kaepernick who has racked up almost 5,000 yards passing and over 2,000 yards rushing the past two seasons for the WolfPack. Nevada already boasts wins over Cal and BYU, and could be just the win Boise St. needs to bolster their appeal to pollsters. 

2010 is going to be a roller coaster for Boise St. and their fans. Every minute counts, as even a close game could damage the Broncos chances at claiming the 2010 BCS championship!