Down goes Boise State!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=303302440

The above link takes you to a recap of last night’s upset victory by Nevada that crushed Boise States National Championship dreams.

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Devestation.  That’s the reaction here.  Two missed field goals by Kyle Brotzman from less than 30 yards and now the Broncos most likely won’t even end up in a BCS bowl.

Obviously, all the talk of Boise State deserving a shot to face a BCS school in the National Championship game will cease, but let’s forget about the two missed field goals and focus on how bad Boise State’s defense played yesterday.

All week long I heard how dominant the Boise State defense was on ESPNRadio, and how some experts ranked them ahead of most BCS schools and their defense.  

Well, let me ask you, does the number one ranked defense in the country give up 239 second half rushing yards to Nevada?  Does the best defense in the country give up 528 total yards to Nevada?  I don’t think so.  Yes, Nevada has the third ranked offense in the country, but they’ve put those numbers up against the 95^th ranked schedule in the country (as per Jeff Sagarin’s ratings on USA today).

Now, I know one game doesn’t make a defense, but when you consider that Boise State’s number two defensive ranking came against 73^rd toughest schedule in the country it was clearly a shaky ranking to begin with.  If they couldn’t stop Nevada last night, how do you think they would have fared against Oregon in a National Championship game?  Not too good.  

As much as I wanted to see a BCS school (Oregon or Auburn) face a non-BCS school (TCU or Boise State) in the title game, I will admit that the best possible match up will be Oregon vs. Auburn.  But, my wish still has a chance to come true if TCU beats New Mexico today to finish their season undefeated, and either Oregon loses to Oregon State in its next game, or Auburn loses to South Carolina in the SEC championship (very possible).

If either of those scenarios comes true I think you’ll see TCU get beat handily and all this talk of non-BCS schools deserving a shot to take down the big boys will stop.  If the TCU’s, Utah’s, and Boise States of the world want to play with the big boys, they need to join a BCS conference and show, all season long, that they can “hang.”