Campus BCS case for Boise State
 
By Kirk Bell

Special to ESPN.com

Boise State stepped closer to college football's elite over the weekend, beating a potent Nevada team and benefiting when Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State.

The Broncos appear to be all but BCS bound pending a win over Western Athletic Conference bottom-feeder New Mexico State and a Texas win in the Big 12 championship game.

BUT, fans have seen what those who would rather continue funneling funds into deep-pocketed automatic qualifiers are capable of. Last season a two-loss Ohio State team got the bid instead of undefeated Boise State. Then the Broncos lost to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl, fueling critics.

A lot of buzz in Boise these days includes I-told-you-so analysis of the 2008 Broncos and Horned Frogs, whose two losses that year came to BCS qualifiers Utah and Oklahoma, in light of their undefeated play this season.

The stellar record comes with perpetual criticism of weak opposition, and rightfully so. The Broncos are victims of their own success in a conference that hosts a handful of good, but not great, teams. Boise State is changing that, though, playing Oregon this year and scheduling BCS contenders Virginia Tech and Oregon State in 2010.

Regardless of the strength of schedule, the Broncos have gone undefeated three of the past four seasons. During that time they have have 47 wins, as many as the Gators, and the best winning percentage (.922 to Florida's .887) in the nation.

That requires focus, good coaching and a blindness to hype. Players have no choice but to commit to humility and to concentrate on the team. The team has minimized distractions despite living in a relatively small community where football is idolized and a year-round topic.

The Broncos go into their final regular-season game knowing that an at-large bid, combined with one for TCU, would make history.

What excuse would there be for sending a team that has been ranked between No. 4 and No. 7 in the BCS standings anywhere besides Miami, Glendale or New Orleans?

None.

A bid to the Hawaii or Humanitarian bowl would have to come with a whoopee cushion because the BCS would become a hilarious and tasteless joke at that point.


Kirk Bell, a senior journalism and mass communication major, is the sports editor for The Arbiter, Boise State's student newspaper.

Campus at-large case against the BCS
 
By Paige Fieldsted

The BCS is un-American.

In 2008 the 13-0 Utah Utes were denied a chance to play for the national title because Utah is not in a BCS conference. Undefeated Boise State didn't even get a BCS bowl bid.

Utah proved everyone wrong by beating Alabama in what was essentially a home game for the SEC powerhouse, but still finished ranked No. 2 behind Florida in the final polls despite being the only unbeaten team in the country.

How is this fair?

This country was built on a foundation of equality and fairness for all, but the BCS directly contradicts that.

When Utah wasn't given the chance to play for the title last season, the message was loud and clear: "If you want to play for the national championship you have to be part of the BCS."

It can't be called a "national championship" if some teams aren't eligible to compete. Fewer than half of the conferences are part of the BCS and only a select few schools ever get to play for the title. Instead of the national championship game, it should be called the SEC and Big 12 championship game since it is almost always the winners of those conferences playing for the title.

Utah could be just the first of many non-BCS teams that won't get the title shot even though they deserve it. This season undefeated TCU and Boise State are in the exact same position. The Horned Frogs will most likely get into a big BCS game like the Utes did last season, but they won't get the chance to finish any higher than No. 2 in the country. Boise State could be left out in the cold, again.

For now, those outside the BCS will have to settle for the chance to play in a BCS bowl because that is still an accomplishment.

We have come a long way in the five years since Utah became the first non-BCS school to get a bid. However, no at-large schools will play for the national championship until the BCS is eradicated.

In July Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch protested the BCS and raised questions about its legality before Congress. If the government can devote valuable time to college football during the debates about health care and foreign wars, isn't it time something be changed?

Let's hope college football emerges from this SEC and Big 12 coma soon and does away with the BCS altogether, creating a fair playing field for all.



Paige Fieldsted, a senior double-majoring in mass communication and psychology, is the sports editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Campus BCS (title) case for TCU 

By Travis L. Brown

Special to ESPN.com

Just as the TCU football team has not backed down against any opponent this season, the Horned Frogs' faithful have not backed down from their BCS bowl-busting hopes.

With undefeated season in hand, any old BCS bowl game now seems like a birthright.

Frogs fans (TCU's largest out-of-state student base is California) want nothing less than a party Jan. 7 in Pasadena with the school's most famous football alumnus, San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, as guest of honor.

The team blocking the Frogs' path to ringing in the New Year in Cali is big brother Texas. The chip on TCU's shoulder has only grown larger since a loss two years ago in Austin.

Being the best in Texas is just short of winning it all. Most people in Fort Worth and anyone with an ounce of state pride would love to see the Longhorns and Horned Frogs settle things in the national championship game. With Florida and Alabama finishing their regular seasons unscathed, that will not happen.

So it is fitting that Nike added red to the helmets the Frogs wore Nov. 14 against Utah. All of Frog Nation will be cheering for Nebraska to upset Texas on Saturday in the Big 12 championship game just down the road in "Jerry World."

When the Big Red blood shooting from Horned Frogs eyes subsides after the Longhorns win or lose, it will be easy to see how amazing this season has been for those who watched the team at Amon G. Carter Stadium, or "Hell's Half-Acre."

Fort Worth, a town full of Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders fans, not to mention America's team faithful, rallied around its home team by declaring "Go Purple" days for the last two TCU home games, lighting the skyline purple and dying the Trinity River.

Most fans won't care which BCS location the team gets, assuming Texas wins. More important will be a matchup that will shine the brightest national spotlight on the Frogs.

The last two teams the Frogs want to face are Cincinnati and Boise State, especially the Broncos. A rematch of last year's Poinsettia Bowl would be a game of "others" and would just kill the flair of being in a BCS bowl.

Coach Gary Patterson said Saturday he has stayed because he believes TCU can bring a national championship to Fort Worth.

Sorry, Austin, but this just might be our town's year to represent the Lone Star State as the best in the land.

The eyes of Texas could soon be refocused on these Frog princes.


Travis L. Brown, a senior news/editorial journalism major, is the sports editor for the TCU Daily Skiff.