Boise State faces harsh reality

Perfection might not pay with TCU as roadblock.

Published online on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

Boise State is in trouble. Sure, the Broncos (7-0) are undefeated and coming off perhaps their most dominating performance, whipping Hawaii 54-9.

But Boise State has slipped three spots to No. 7 in the Bowl Championship Series standings -- behind No. 6 Texas Christian (7-0) of the Mountain West Conference.

That could mean a perfect run might not be enough for the Western Athletic Conference's Broncos to reach a BCS bowl -- again.

The BCS system provides only one automatic bid for the top team that comes from one of the five nonautomatic qualifying conferences (WAC, Mountain West, Mid-American, Conference USA, Sun Belt) and finishes at least No. 12 in the final BCS standings.

"I just kind of laugh at it," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said of the BCS standings and weekly polls. "Because when we don't play, we go up. And if we play well, we go down. It's just kind of how it is."

Boise State went undefeated in the regular season last year but was left out of a BCS game in favor of Utah of the Mountain West.

Now Boise State might need the Utes' help.

Utah (6-1) is No. 19 in The Associated Press Top 25 and represents the toughest opponent left on TCU's schedule.

Boise State doesn't face any ranked opponents the rest of the season to help the Broncos vault over TCU should both teams win out.

Another factor that could help Boise State's positioning is if No. 10 Oregon (6-1) defeats No. 4 USC (6-1) on Saturday. Boise State beat Oregon to open the season.

Should Boise State make it to a BCS bowl, the WAC would receive roughly $6 million, with $3 million going to the Broncos. Fresno State, along with every other school in the WAC, would receive about $375,000.

If TCU makes it to the BCS game instead, the WAC would receive $875,000, which then would be divided among its nine schools.

"We all know the importance and what's on the line," WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said. "It has financial ramifications, but it's also important in the WAC's continued efforts to maintain and establish credibility."

National stats

Three WAC teams rank among the top 10 in the nation in scoring, led by Boise State at No. 3 with 40.4 points per game, Fresno State at No. 7 with 36.1 and Nevada at No. 10 at 35.1.

Idaho went from having the 14th run defense to No. 67 with an average of 144.1 yards allowed per game after one horrid week.

The Vandals were throttled by Nevada for 484 rushing yards in a 70-45 defeat.

"We just kept giving up big plays," Idaho coach Robb Akey said. "That hurt us more than anything. ... If we had handled some of our responsibilities the way they were intended to be, we would have greatly helped ourselves out."

Nevada still leads the nation in rushing yards with an average of 320.14 per game and has a good chance of staying atop the remainder of the season with its newly expanded option packages.

The Wolf Pack unveiled some of its newer plays in its win against the Vandals, showing a more explosive attack for its pistol offense.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick needed just 15 carries to rack up 230 yards and four touchdowns. Nevada had five rushing touchdowns of at least 25 yards.

Nevada (4-3, 3-0) has won four straight games.

Hawaii QB shuffle

Former Fresno City College quarterback Bryant Moniz, who has been starting for Hawaii, suffered a concussion in the Warriors' loss to Boise State.

Moniz, who started one season at Fresno City, is expected to return for Saturday's game at Nevada.

Hawaii (2-5, 0-4) has lost five straight, a streak that began when season-opening starter Greg Alexander suffered a season-ending knee injury.

The No. 2 quarterback, Brent Rausch, had broken his pinkie the week before and has yet to make a full recovery.

Super streaky

Louisiana Tech has done it again, losing after performing well the previous week. The Bulldogs have alternated winning and losing the past four weeks, most recently falling to Utah State 23-21.