By all early accounts, Boise State, which will return 21 of 22 starters from their Fiesta Bowl-winning 2009 team, is a mortal lock to fall somewhere in the preseason Top Five.
Hell, it would surprise almost no one if the voters grabbed their dangling twin chads and placed them at No. 2 to start 2010, right behind defending national champion Alabama.
The Broncos will have two opportunities to wow on-the-fringe voters early on in the season. The first opportunity will come in the season opener when they face Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in a nighttime affair nationally televised on ESPN.
The second comes in the third week of the season against Oregon State. That game, it was officially announced this evening, will be a nationally-televised tilt as well.
Here’s the press release from the Beavers announcing the TV deal:
Oregon State’s football game at Boise State Sat., Sept. 25 will be televised live by either ESPN or ESPN2, the Western Athletic Conference announced Monday. Kickoff time will be determined at a later date.The game at Bronco Stadium will be the seventh meeting between the two programs and the fourth contest in Boise. Oregon State leads the overall series 4-2, but the Broncos have won the last two meetings on their home field in 2004 and 2006.
This season’s game is the first of a home-and-home series that concludes with the Broncos’ return to Corvallis Sept. 15, 2012.
Of course, if — stressing the word “if” — they can successfully navigate the Hokie/Beaver minefield to start the season, it will be all about hanging on to votes as they parade their way through the San Jose State’s and New Mexico State’s of their WAC schedule.
Get past that two-game juggernaut impressively– as well as getting past conference challengers Fresno State and Nevada — and it will make for a very interesting postseason in college football come December.
And, hopefully, yet an other nail or eighty in the BcS coffin.
Even if Boise St beats both Va Tech and Oregon St, their schedule still isn’t impressive enough to warrent a trip to the NC game. Maybe if they had 3-4 such games, they would garner more national attention and be worthy of national championship hopes.
Until then, they will just be in the mix but never actually get there. There are many more deserving teams, even 1 or 2 loss teams, that would deserve a shot over Boise St.