I know some of you have been waiting for my reaction to the closest of close calls last Saturday. Frankly, I haven’t been able to talk about it until now.
We escaped. We needed to buckle down and pull out a miracle 4th quarter. I’ll tell you one thing, I was not enjoying that game at all. And frankly, I’m not very fun to be around when we play a game like that. I actually got in trouble once (2 years ago, from the ex) for brooding and not being happy and chatty when Boise State had a hellish game the LAST time down at San Jose State. Yes, I know I have WAY too much invested in these games that I have no control over. I know this. Can I do anything about it? Absolutely not. I am, however, realistic.
I listen and read to national sports media all the time. With Rutgers being undefeated and a long shot at getting into the national championship game, there is a lot of debate about who deserves the chance to get there. We know the winner of Ohio State/Michigan will be there, so all of the rest of it is debate on who #2 will be. There are a lot of one loss teams out there who are clamoring to be the one. What I don’t understand is this. Before Louisville lost, and Rutgers now, their fan bases are up in arms that they might go undefeated and not make the championship game. Thus, citing their weak strength of schedule, the national media guys are slamming them saying they don’t deserve it. But somehow, Boise State keeps getting wrapped up in those slams as a team whose fans are delusional. Let me say this loud and clear… THERE ARE NO BOISE STATE FANS OR LOCAL MEDIA HERE WHO ARE SAYING WE DESERVE A SHOT AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Period. End of story. Yet somehow, we keep getting tossed in that discussion and are being killed for it. We know we are not national championship caliber. We are not crazy. We’ve only been D-1 for 10 years for pete’s sake.
However, we do think if we run the table we at least deserve a shot at a BCS game. I think that is only fair. Which brings me back to Saturdays game. There was A LOT riding on it. I want to go to Phoenix in January. I want to see us play a big time school, even if we lose. I just want to be there. I want to have the national media talking about Boise State football in a positive way for a month leading up to the game. I want another game like we played against Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. Everyone was in agreement that that was a terrific game. Obviously, I would love to win, but all things being equal, it is great just to be at the party.
I would also like to point out, that this season will be the first season where I have seen double digit Boise State football games live. Which ever bowl game we make it to will put me at 10 for the year, meaning I still have three more games to watch (tomorrow vs. Utah State, next week @ Reno and the bowl game, wherever that may be). For someone who hasn’t missed a home game in… well this season will make it 15 straight years, that was the next big hill to climb. Of course, the only pinnacle from here would be to hit EVERY game in a season. Maybe someday I can pull that one off. Hopefully, I won’t pick a year where we have to play at Louisiana Tech.