How about this one: "Cute little Boise State couldn't play a full season in a big boy conference. They'd get killed."
And another: "All Boise State has to do is get up for one or two real games a season, unlike us in the Pac-12..."
I know that my grammar in these examples is far better than you'll find from the mouth-breathing, parents' basement-dwelling knuckleheads who actual say these things, but the point remains true. The Boise State "haters" use this argument like the Broncos actually have a say in what conference they're in. Believe me, they would jump to the Pac-12 in a heartbeat. Boise State does not purposely choose to be in a perceived "lesser" conference.
As logical as that is, the point I wish to make is separate. Let's get right to it.
Ponder this for a moment: Since 1933, Boise State has had just 11 seasons with a losing record. 11! That is a total of 78 seasons. Percentage wise, only 14% of the Broncos' seasons have finished with them under .500.
Let's dig deeper.
Five of those losing seasons came in the first nine years, when Boise State was a junior college. That means BSU has had winning seasons in 64 of the last 69 years.
BSU's last losing season came in 1997 when the Broncos played in the Big West Conference and went 5-6.
Overall, Boise State is 408-155-2 (.724) all-time.
The Broncos have won 18 conference titles, a junior college national championship in 1958, a D-I AA national championship in 1980 and Fiesta Bowl championships in 2007, 2010 and 2014.
Boise State is 10-5 (.667) in bowl games.
Had enough yet?
Only Notre Dame (.732) and Michigan (.729) have a higher all-time winning percentage than BSU, though both have been playing football longer than the Broncos.
Boise State has done all this while being associated with four different Division I conferences, as an independent and as a junior college program.
That, my friends, is called consistency.
Now to wrap a bow around this package, time to tie it all together.
Boise State has proven it can win regardless of its conference affiliation or what decade it may be. That has nothing to do with only having to really get up and prepare for one or two "big" games a season.
The consistency is based on an established program culture, regardless of who is in uniform or who is coaching. If Boise State had the same resources, money and "prestige" that automatically comes with being in the Pac-12, without a doubt the Broncos would compete for conference titles and win games, just like they always have. The numbers and history tell you as much.
After all, the Pac-12 affiliation has allowed Washington State to reel in highly-rated recruits year after year, despite being a sub-500 team (500-526-45 all-time, 12-25 in the last three seasons).
Culture and history transcend everything in college football. They are the bridge that would eliminate any sort of gap -- talent, perception or otherwise -- between the Mountain West and the Pac-12 if Boise State was ever invited.
So while there is a portion of truth in the three statements I mentioned earlier, they are wholly lacking a fundamental understanding of facts.
What makes a team consistently successful is not its conference affiliation (Exhibit A: Washington State, Kansas, etc.), but rather its record over time established by a strong culture of winning.
No comments:
Post a Comment