Why Boise State was Snubbed by the BCS

Not that Boise State needed another reason to jump ship from the Mountain West Conference and join the Big East earlier this week, but last Sunday’s BCS snubbing certainly pushed them over the edge. As members of the Big East, Boise State will now have a chance to earn an automatic BCS birth (at least for a few years till the whole system changes). They will also be part of a much more visible conference and enjoy all the exposure that comes from the Eastern media, namely ESPN. That lack of exposure is what killed them this year.

Yes I know the Broncos shot themselves in the foot with missed field goals two years in a row in critical games. Those misses cost them what would have been two more automatic BCS appearances. However, what also hurt them is falling out of the college football news cycle which is dominated by ESPN.

I’ve said it many times on this site – like it or not – ESPN drives public opinion when it comes to college football. ESPN is not a news network. It is a hype machine that can make or break you. ESPN, as they should be, is interested in self-promotion. Mixed in with all that hype and self-promotion is a bunch of talking heads that we’re led to believe objectively analyze college football. There is of course an incredible bias built in toward the teams and conferences that air on ESPN. Boise State was the beneficiary of that coverage for several years in the WAC. Sadly, this year they were not. And what’s most frustrating is that their team was every bit as good as in years past. Boise State deserved more hype.

The Broncos played 3 of their first 5 games on ESPN networks and then were never heard from again. Their last ESPN appearance was on Oct. 7^th.  Their first game of the year was a dominant performance against Georgia, a highly respected team that ultimately won the SEC East. In years past, the Broncos have opened with similar key wins against the likes of Virginia Tech and Oregon. The difference this year was we forgot about that great Georgia win because we never saw the Broncos again. Yes I know their games were available on The Mountain, Versus and CBSC but let’s get real. The only folks watching those channels are the die-hard fans of the teams that play on those networks. You perhaps draw a bit of regional interest as well; but not the nation-wide interest that is needed to propel a team such as Boise State into the BCS, even with one loss.

So if you watched the BCS selection show on Sunday night and were angered when Boise State was passed over, it should not have come as a shock. Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN analyst, took exception to the snub and ranted a bit. In my opinion though, it was a weak attempt at journalistic integrity. He may have actually been genuine in his expression of anger that Boise State and Kansas State, both ranked higher than Michigan and VirginiaTech, ultimately lost out when the latter two teams were selected to play in the Sugar Bowl. (Remember too that Virginia Tech has just been blown out by Clemson the day before for the second time this year).

Though somewhat refreshing to hear Herbstreit rail against the BCS, it was kind of like plugging up the dam with chewing gum after the folks who scratch out his pay check had just blown the thing up with dynamite. It just didn’t work. And yes-I’m implying the BCS and ESPN are basically in this together. All the BCS games are broadcast on ESPN. You might say, as did Herbstreit that the ridiculous selection of Va Tech and Michigan had more to do with the number of fans that would actually attend the game, not watch on TV. That might have been true 20-30 years ago but we all know that the TV money has become so ridiculous that it trumps everything else. With that in mind, some folks even protested that Boise State is a good TV draw and that ESPN would have been well served to select them. Obviously not a big enough draw. Again, Boise State had not been an ESPN darling this year, like in years past. Boise was not an ESPN “product.”

So when it came to decide who’d get to sit at the “grown-up” table for Thanksgiving, good ole Uncle Michigan and Virginia Tech, who hadn’t bothered to really put forth any effort with the family over the past year, were still allowed to assume their supposed rightful spot at the table. Boise State was like the 20 or 21 year old kid home from college. He was prepared to make the jump to the big table and ditch his younger cousins. In fact he’d been invited before. However, instead of hanging around in the parlor smoking cigars with Grandpa and doing the necessary chumming up, he spent all morning throwing the football around out in the yard with the cousins. And when Grandma told everyone to sit down, she just forgot that little Boise really had grown up and relegated him to the kid table once again. The funny thing is, the family all enjoy being around Boise more, it’s just that he’d been out of sight and out of mind. So it only seemed logical to give the nod to the ole standbys.

Boise State is a legitimate top 10 program and has been for several years. They certainly got a raw deal on Sunday night. Conference affiliation, lack of history, and small TV market have hurt them. However, their brand of football and entertainment
value are off the charts.

Ask any BYU, Utah or TCU fan and they’ll tell you they could have seen the lack of exposure problem coming for Boise in the MWC this year. That’s why the Utes jumped to the Pac-12, TCU to the Big East/Big 12, and BYU to independence and a TV contract with ESPN. Though the geography seems a bit outlandish, Boise State is serving themselves well and will get back to the type of exposure theydeserve next year in the Big East; not the 2^nd tier status they were relegated to this year in the Mountain West Conference.