Boise State Broncos vs New Mexico Lobos Football Recap

Boise State 45, New Mexico 0

Yes, the Boise State Broncos won their season finale on Saturday against the hapless New Mexico Lobos. Yes, Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore completed his 49th win in four seasons, with a chance for win number 50 in a bowl game. Yes, Boise coach Chris Petersen has completed six regular seasons with just six total losses.

Yet, all that anyone can think or talk about in the state of Idaho is that the Broncos won't play in a BCS bowl game. The postseason system of college football is topic number one after Boise's easy shutout of New Mexico on Senior Day at Bronco Stadium.

Kellen Moore’s career record now stands at 49-3, with those three losses coming by a total of five points, two of them by one point to TCU and the third loss being in overtime. Only in the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl did Moore himself bear an appreciable share of blame for the final outcome. Rarely has a quarterback made so few missteps in a four-year career. Petersen, by completing another 11-1 season with this win, continues to prove himself as one of the most masterful (and in-demand) coaches in the country. The only reason Petersen stays in Boise is that he wholeheartedly wants to. The success, the continuity, the excellence of the quarterback, the rootedness of the head coach, all from a modest-sized city in the American West – these are things to celebrate.

Yet, since Boise isn't going to the Sugar Bowl - and Virginia Tech is playing Michigan instead - all these accomplishments and accolades feel so hollow in Idaho right now. It must be said that the BCS – since its bowl roster was expanded by one game (to five) in the 2006 season – has indeed given schools such as Boise State the chance to play in a premium January bowl. The BCS has allowed less prominent programs to attain a place in the spotlight. BCS proponents and defenders must be accorded that much.

However, in the next breath, it also has to be said that these same outsiders in the college football world are held to a different standard. When Oklahoma loses once or Nebraska loses twice, those teams can remain in the running for a BCS bowl. When Connecticut goes 8-4 as it did in 2010, it can still punch a ticket to the Fiesta Bowl. The Big East champion this year will carry at three losses into the Orange Bowl. The 2000 Purdue Boilermakers brought three losses into the 2001 Rose Bowl against Washington. The 2002 Florida State Seminoles lugged four losses into the 2003 Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

When Boise State loses once, though, it’s all over. The BCS might offer access to the likes of Boise State, but that access isn’t as readily available as it is to power-conference schools. In 2008, 12-0 Boise was passed over by 10-2 Ohio State for the Fiesta Bowl. An 11-1 season in 2010 sent Boise to the MAACO Bowl, the same destination the Broncos are headed for in two weeks against Arizona State. The small and very rare benefits the BCS offers to college football are quickly swallowed up by its towering, substantial deficiencies.

It's really quite unfortunate that Boise State’s one loss has deprived a really good team from getting a chance to prove itself against a worthy opponent in a bowl.

A MAACO Bowl appearance won’t give the Broncos a team that will challenge them. This is America's loss as well as Boise State's. Such is the reality after a win over New Mexico that didn't carry a maximum of meaning.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer