Oregon over UT. The have the #11 SOS while ours in the 20’s. They have played more top 30 teams and top 10 teams. Their ‘resume’ is much more impressive. But guess what… they lost. TO BOISE STATE.

Akron (1-7)
Syracuse (3-5)
Temple (6-2; best wins, Navy, Army)
E. Illinois (FCS)
Minnesota (5-4)
      all at home
at Illinois, at NWestern, at Michigan (combined 12-14, 7 of the wins over non-BCS teams)

…. 3 losses, they are still #3 in total offense. At 5-3, they are moving the ball up and down the field.

. . . there was nothing else Boise could do with the schedule it had for this season for you to feel comfortable ranking them above Oregon? Again, just curious.

Here’s another way of asking the question: if you’re uncomfortable with Boise, why do you you nevertheless have them ranked above every single other one-loss team (GT, PSU, LSU, Pitt) except for the very one-loss team they defeated?

It’s a two-part question.

Is there anything a one-loss Oregon can do to pass an undefeated Boise in my rankings? Probably not, barring some sort of illegitimate, Fifth Down sort of victory by Boise or something else out of left field beyond what one would expect to see over the course of a season (or has seen this season). Oregon has a ceiling of (Boise -1), so the highest I would ever rank Oregon this season would be #2.

But can Oregon “overcome” the loss relative to everyone else in the country? Of course. I would rank Oregon right now as the best one-loss team in the country, and I would have them ranked ahead of at least one undefeated team (Iowa). And if Oregon kept winning impressively, I wouldn’t have a problem jumping them over Cincinnati, TCU and the loser of the SEC Championship Game if on-field results called for doing so. Just so long as Boise comes along for the ride.

minus the outliers…

well, in that case, I want my championship from the ‘77 season, because I think Earl’s senior year team would horsewhip Notre Dame at least 8 times out of 10. The actual Cotton Bowl result was really just an outlier…

Boy, we can chew the fat. Good thing there isn’t snow two feet deep all over Texas or we would be really full of it.

There is nothing on Boise State’s conference schedule that matches up to the middling A&M squads in either ’06 or ’07, much less the seemingly improved team we will face later this month. 12 games against middling teams is more difficult and risky than eleven scrubs and one legit team. Those 12 middling teams not only make a loss a real killer to your resume, they all individually have the ability to beat you since they are close enough in talent and coaching to catch you should you lose motivation. The eleven scrubs have no change of beating you (outside of a series of miracles), though a close game might reflect badly on your resume. 11-1 in the scrubs +1 schedule could still potentially get you a BCS bid if you play your media cred properly. 10-2 versus the middling teams might not even win you your conference.

The real problem here is that Texas won’t play 12 middling teams. They will have played 5-6 scrubs (though Baylor only became a scrub when Griffin went down and I am not sure if Colorado is truly a scrub or just a weak middling team). 2-3 legit teams (OU and OSU…not sure where to place Tech and A&M yet but they are both certainly capable of giving BSU a run for their money) and 3-4 truly middling teams. BSU had Oregon and Fresno State as its two marquee games, Fresno didn’t end up being all that great. Some people thought Nevada might give BSU a run for their money and they still might, but they certainly didn’t do much against their BCS-conference opponents to call themselves a legit team. To compare schedules and say that ours is inferior to Boise States is just to have blue colored blinders. Our schedule may not look as good as some of the other top teams but it makes Boise State’s schedule look downright embarrassing.

I also like the tortured logic that Boise State should be in the BCS picture because no one from a BCS-conference will play them. Its noteworthy that teams don’t want to risk a September game against them but the corrective isn’t to make them a top 10 team for walking through an 11-game cakewalk and award them a BCS bid if they win their one difficult game. You pat them on the back for winning their conference and beating what turned into a good Oregon team and let them play in their WAC-affiliated bowl game. If they want a place at the table they have nothing standing in their way of going independent which might open up their chances of scheduling more legit opponents.

Ducks, mops, overly-sensitive Boise defenders… adorable.