Early last month, the Boise State University Broncos lost their first game of the 2010-2011 college football season and effectively dropped off the face of the earth as far as national championship talk goes.

After going undefeated up until that point, most people thought Boise State had a real chance to finish the season undefeated and possibly make the BCS National Championship Game. At worst, if they didn’t make it there—and, for the record, they wouldn’t have made it with Auburn and Oregon also finishing their respective seasons undefeated and ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country—their undefeated season would have at the very least made college football’s rulers sit up and take notice while fans complained of the lack of a playoff system.

But they lost and the talk stopped. Except, it shouldn’t have. See, the Texas Christian University team—TCU, for short—did finish the season undefeated. They also hail from a small conference like Boise State does and they actually had a chance to finish ahead of Boise State in the final BCS rankings, even if Boise had gone undefeated. But even if they hadn’t, they would have still been undefeated—so why aren’t people making more of a fuss about them getting screwed out of a national title chance?

Furthermore, why isn’t more being made about the fact that TCU knocked out the University of Wisconsin—a highly-touted team from a bigger BCS conference—in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day? After watching that game, it’s clear that TCU—and not necessarily Boise State—is the small conference school that could have truly contended for the national championship.

The problem is that perception has turned into reality in college football. Because no playoff system exists, the media attention that a team gets and the props that certain analysts give to teams is just as important as the way a team plays on the field. Boise State has turned into the Cinderella of college football over the course of the last few years and, as a result, they’re given precedence in conversations about a small school involved in a big bowl game.

That’s not fair to TCU and it’s not fair to college football fans who want to see what’s best for the sport. Of course, the fact that a playoff system doesn’t exist—not to mention the fact that it’s January 4 and we’re still more than a week away from the end of bowl season—isn’t fair. However, it seems like a lot of people were putting all their stock into Boise State making an undefeated run so that they could complain about them not making the national title game when, in reality, TCU’s undefeated season is just as important in the grand scheme of things.

Soon, TCU will be joining the Big East Conference and the “little guy” in college football will be losing one of its giants. TCU will be eligible for at least one BCS game every year (provided they win the Big East crown) and they’ll be able to control their own destiny as far as the national championship goes.

But, for now, they’re still representing the small schools that aren’t BCS eligible automatically and that don’t usually get a chance to play in big bowl games. They’re  one of only two college football teams that will be undefeated at the end of the 2010-2011 season. They’re a strong team that could have given both Auburn and Oregon a run for their money if given the chance.

So, why doesn’t anyone seem to be all that worked up about the fact that they didn’t get it?

Bookmark to: