By Bob Markus







Remember when Slippery Rock was every college football fan's favorite team? In stadiums across the country, fans used to listen for the scores of other teams to be announced and the largest cheer of all would be when the P.A. announcer would intone ". . .and Slippery Rock, 28; Susquehanna, 13." If you asked them, few fans would be able to tell you why they rooted for Slippery Rock. I once went to the Slippery Rock campus in western Pennsylvania and tried to find out. It was a mystery to the folks at Slippery Rock, too.

Boise State is the new Slippery Rock. Except that Boise State is more than just a funny name. Boise State is one heckuva football team and we may never find out just how good it is, this Little Team That Could. I marvelled, along with most college football fans who live outside the state of Oklahoma, when the Broncos beat the smug Sooners, 43-42, in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl in what has to be one of the five best college football games ever played. I took note of their unbeaten regular season a year ago, a season marred only by a 17-16 loss to Texas Christian in the Poinsettia bowl. I was impressed by Boise State's opening night 19-8 victory over Oregon to start this season and rooted for it to go unbeaten again. But last night I was hoping that Texas Christian would do it again, spoil the Broncos' perfect season. Here's why: Because if TCU had added Boise State's pelt to its string of 13 straight victories, going back to last year's bowl game, the Horned Frogs would have had a legitimate claim to at least half of the national championship that now will go, unencumbered, to the winner of Thursday night's Texas-Alabama game. Certainly, Boise State supporters will now make that claim for their own school. But it's not going to happen. Too bad. A little chaos is not necessarily a bad thing and chaos there might have been had TCU prevailed.


There are two reasons that Boise State has no shot at any part of the national championship. One--The winner of the No.1 vs No.2 matchup in the Rose bowl Thursday night is the automatic winner of the BCS championship trophy. Two--Cincinnati. When the bowl season began, there were five unbeaten teams, all with a shot of at least getting the Associated Press i.e. sports writers version of the championship. Sure, the chances were slim that anyone but Texas or Alabama would ascend the throne. That became "none" when Florida blew the 13-0 Cincinnati Bearcats out of the water in the Sugar bowl. The Gators' 51-24 walkover served to remind voters of the gulf between the traditional gridiron powers and the Johnny-come-latelies like Cincinnati, Boise State and TCU. So TCU's hopes probably were crushed even before Monday night's 17-10 loss to Boise State in the Fiesta bowl. Chances are, they probably were gone the moment TCU and Boise State were slated to play each other, leaving neither team the chance to prove they were as good as the teams from the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) conferences.


But going in, the Horned Frogs still had a better chance than Boise State to crash the BCS victory parade. TCU could make a case that it's schedule was every bit as tough as either Texas' or Alabama's. Yes, TCU plays in the Mountain West conference and that's supposed to be playing not only in a different league but a different galaxy from the leagues the Crimson Tide (SEC) and Longhorns (Big 12) preside over. But TCU's schedule included six teams that have won their bowl games this season. And until TCU itself was beaten, the Mountain West had a perfect 4-0 bowl record. Now let's look at Alabama's schedule. Do North Texas, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Florida International scare you? Didn't scare 'Bama fans, either. How about Texas' nonconference schedule. Louisiana-Monroe. Wyoming. UTEP. Central Florida. The Longhorns struggled in the first half before overpowering Wyoming 41-10. TCU beat the Cowboys 45-10.


Boise State, on the other hand, played in the weak Western Athletic Conference and had just one signature victory going into the Fiesta Bowl--the opening nighter over Oregon. But that one was a beauty. The Broncos squeezed the life out of the Ducks, holding them without a first down in the entire first half. That defensive masterpiece looked better and better as Oregon began to not only pile up victories, but massive scoring totals. Had Oregon won its Rose Bowl game against Ohio State, Boise State might yet have had a good argument for its title claim. After holding TCU to 10 points, the Broncos' unheralded defense has now humbled two of the top offensive teams in the country. What that proves is that, if you give them a few weeks to prepare, Boise State can beat any team in the country. Maybe they could do it without extra preparation. We'll probably never know.

SOME QUESTIONS THAT DESERVE ANSWERS:

Can anyone tell me why spiking the ball to stop the clock is not intentional grounding? You're supposed to be penalized if you're in the pocket, throw the ball where there is no apparent receiver, and don't get the ball to the line of scrimmage. And don't tell me the quarterback does get the ball to the line of scrimmage. They invariably take a step backwards before grounding the ball.

Can anyone tell me why they always make the button hole smaller than the button?

Just asking.