Invasion of the tiny guys
Utah broke down the barrier between college football’s haves and have-nots, and is preparing to represent the Mountain West Conference in the Bowl Championship Series.
Boise State was tantalizingly close to doing the same for the Western Athletic Conference.
Louisville was a three-point loss at Miami away from a perfect season that would have put the Cardinals from Conference USA in the discussion for a national title.
All this a year after the Mid-American Conference became the non-BCS darlings with several high-profile upsets and Texas Christian made a good run at putting C-USA into one of the four big-money bowl games that the six major conferences have tried to keep to themselves.
College football’s outsiders no longer can be ignored.
The BCS has promised more access to those programs it initially tried to shut out, and the accomplishments of several non-BCS powers have validated their inclusion.
“I think there is a tremendous statement being made with three teams from non-automatic (BCS bid) conferences in the top 10 that the balance of power in college football is changing,” WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.
Earlier this spring, BCS officials – facing pressure from the presidents of 52 universities initially left out of the series – decided to create greater access to college football’s national title game and its other glamour bowl games.
Starting with the bowls following the 2006 season, there will be one more BCS game and any team from a conference without an automatic bid will be guaranteed a spot in one of those games by finishing in the top 12 of the BCS standings.
The current qualification point for teams outside the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference is a top-six finish in the BCS standings. Utah is on the verge of becoming the first team from a non-BCS league to turn that trick.
“We look at it as one more step toward the ultimate goal,” Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said. “Hopefully by 2008 we’ll be listed with the other leagues that have automatic access.”
The BCS plans to come up with a new standard for conferences to gain an automatic bid, and make it available to any league that meets it.
After the BCS’ new television deal with Fox was announced two weeks ago, Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said, “I feel very strongly that it’s time to end the talk of BCS and non-BCS conferences and teams.”
“There are a few elite teams that have the depth,” said Utah coach Urban Meyer, pointing to Oklahoma and Southern California as the two most obvious. “Other than that,” he added, “you have 60-70 teams out there, where if you stay healthy and take care of the football, you can have success.”
“I don’t think there is any question that parity has reached us.”
With scholarship limits at 85 overall and only 25 per year, the top players “can’t all go to Texas. They can’t all go to Miami, Florida and Florida State,” Meyer said. “If you do your job and develop them, you can be successful at any school.”
What most good high school players are looking for, Boise State coach Dan Hawkins said, is a good team for which to play.
All Hawkins has to do is point to 22 straight victories to get a player’s attention.
“Obviously with our success and the record we have, kids understand when they come here they’re getting a proven commodity,” he said.
Aside from winning big and cracking the top 10 in the polls, the non-BCS stars have something in common that has helped them gain notoriety: high-scoring offenses.
Louisville, Boise State and Utah are the top three in the country in points per game. Using creative, well-rounded and potent offenses, they haven’t just beaten their opponents, they’ve pounded most.
Utah has won all of its games by at least two touchdowns. The Broncos and Cardinals have each scored at least 55 points the last four games.
Bowling Green, Meyer’s former team from the MAC, is fourth in scoring offense and Fresno State, Boise State’s WAC rival, is fifth.