Kickoff Zone College Football Blog

With Boise State’s victory over Virginia Tech Monday night, numerous sportswriters, including ones at the NY Times, are contemplating what effect it may have on the BCS championship.  Berry Tramel writes:

Only this time, Boise State might sail right into the national championship game. Which has everyone all atwitter, claiming that Boise State’s schedule isn’t worthy of championship consideration.

To which there’s an easy solution. Schedule the Broncos.

OU and Texas and Alabama and Florida and Ohio State and every other perennial title contender realizes that the two spots available could shrink to one if Boise State runs the table. In years past, Boise State has had to scratch and claw just to get into the top 10; had to scratch and claw just to get BCS-eligible and play in a non-title major bowl…

Boise State will play teams. Boise State will play USC or Texas or Georgia or Iowa or anyone else home and home. They’d love to come to your place, so long as you go to theirs.

Nobody much is interested, of course, because teams want to manufacture national titles these days. They don’t want to earn them.

Sure, Boise State plays in a lousy conference, the WAC. And Boise State is doing something about that. Like leave. Boise State will join the Mountain West Conference next season. Of course, the Mountain West is losing Utah and BYU, which is a shame, because the Mountain West with Boise State, the Utah schools and TCU would be a heck of a conference.

But Boise State is doing what it can. Boise State would join the Pac-10, with an invite. Same with the Big 12.

This caste system — your schedule stinks so you’re forever banished to second-class status — is unAmerican.

I tend to agree with him.  I don’t necessarily think that Boise State is one of the top 2 teams in the country, but BCS schools shy away from playing them. 

Jim Mashek, of the Miami Sun Herald, opines that Boise State going undefeated could possibly lead to a situation where an SEC team is left out of the title game.

While it would be a crime for a team from the SEC to be left out of the NC equation, if Boise State goes undefeated again, it would also be a crime to leave any team with a two year winning streak out of the picture.

Tags: Boise State, College Football Picks, College Football Power Rankings, Conference realignment, Florida Gators, NCAA, News, Ohio State University, Oklahoma University, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, Top 25, University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Miami, University of Oregon, University of Southern California, University of Texas, Virginia Tech, bcs, expansion, pac 10, recap by Tommy
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The college football season begins tomorrow, so it’s time to get everything out there.  The week one game of the week…

Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (in Landover, MD)

This week’s choice is rather obvious, as it is the only matchup between two top 10 teams and national title contenders.  While Boise State has been talked up as possibly the first team from outside of a BCS conference to play for the national title, Virginia Tech has flown somewhat under the national radar, but are never far from the conversation, and this year they should near the top with the talent they are returning.

Week One Pick- Virginia Tech by 3+  (meaning that I think they will win by at least three points, but maybe a bit more)

It’s not that I think Boise State is overrated, but that Virginia Tech has been criminally underrated by a number of preseason publications, as they would easily be in my Top 5 to start the year.

Tags: Boise State, College Football, College Football Picks, College Football Power Rankings, Nick Saban, Preseason Prognostications, Schedule, The Kickoff, Top 25, Virginia Tech, bcs, odds by Tommy
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We’re down to our final two contenders for the Heisman Trophy…

Heisman Trophy Contender #2:

Kellen Moore- QB, Boise State University

2009 Statistics: 277-431, 3,536 yards, 64.3%, 39 TD, 3 Int

You could say that the upcoming season will be the “year of the outsiders,” at least when it comes to our picks for the top Heisman Trophy candidates.  Both Case Keenum (our #3 pick) and our #2 pick are both quarterbacks for non-BCS schools.  I’ll even give you a hint as to our #1 pick, he plays in  BCS conference, but not for a traditional powerhouse.

While Ryan Mallett is a sexier pick and Jake Locker has more raw ability, nobody can really argue with the pick of Boise State’s Kellen Moore.  Since he took over the starting job of quarterbacking the Broncos, they have lost 1 game… over the last 2 seasons.  Moore’s record as a starter is 26-1.  Last season, he was named 1st team All-American by espn.com, si.com (Sports Illustrated), cbssports.com (CBS), and was named 3rd team AA by the Associated Press.  He was the Western Athletic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, and 1st team all conference.

Moore is extremely efficient under center, throwing 39 TDs with only 3 interceptions last season and set the NCAA single season record for the lowest percentage of passes intercepted (3 picks out of 431 passes thrown for .69%). 

While Moore plays for a school that is not a member of a BCS conference, Boise State is not your average midlevel program.  They are a legitimate preseason Top 10 team, and many experts have them in their Top 3 going into 2010.  Moore will get the attention needed to mount a successful Heisman campaign, and it may all come down to his first game of the upcoming season, when they travel to Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech Hokies.

Tags: Boise State, College Football, College Football Picks, Heisman Watch, Kellen Moore, NCAA, Preseason College Football Rankings, Preseason Prognostications, Schedule, Top 25, wac by Tommy
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As spring practice winds its way towards conclusion, there’s a lot of time until the players don their pads for their final summer workouts.  Coming out of spring, we wanted to look at some of the oddsmakers picks as to who are the favorites to play in the BCS title game next season. 

The Favorites:

Coming off their National Title, Alabama is the favorite to win the title again.  Since the formation of the BCS, the defending champion has started the next season ranked very highly in the polls, whether or not they lost a lot of talent from the previous season.  The good news for Alabama is… they still have a lot of talent, and the Heisman Trophy winner returning in RB Marc Ingram.  Football Futures has them at 4 to 1. 

Following right behind the Crimson Tide are the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are coming off their impressive Rose Bowl victory against the Oregon Ducks.  It is not surprising that OSU finds themselves once again ranked near the top of the favorites category.  Every year they go into a new season ranked somewhere in the Top 10, if not the favorites to win the title.  What remains to be seen is whether or not they can live up to the billing as a true contender.  The win against Oregon was a boost, but one game last season doesn’t mean that they will be able to put it all together consistently on a weekly basis, which has been their achilles heel, and QB Terrell Pryor still has a lot of questions that need to be answered.  Football Futures has them at 11:2.

The third team to be considered a top contender for the national crown heading into next season is Boise State.  The Broncos are usually overlooked because they are not in a traditional conference, but most college football power rankings will have them near the top heading into next season, as they basically return most of their key players, with the exception of star CB Kyle Wilson.  QB Kellen Moore, who finished near the top of the Heisman voting last season, returns, as does Safety Jeron Johnson.  Football Futures has Boise State at 10:1 odds.

The next entry will take a look at the other contenders…

Tags: Boise State, College Football, College Football Picks, College Football Power Rankings, Ohio State University, Preseason College Football Rankings, Preseason Prognostications, University of Alabama by Tommy
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