BOISE, Idaho — Fresno State head coach Pat Hill has coached against some good teams in his day, but his Bulldogs have never been dismantled like they were on Friday night.
In fact, Hill thinks it should be a forgone conclusion that if the Boise State Broncos go undefeated they should be in the big dance.
“This is an elite football team. There’s no doubt, in my mind, these guys, if they win out, should play for the national championship,” Hill said. “We’ve played some good teams before. We have never been manhandled like that. We got dominated tonight at the line of scrimmage.”
The problem is if No. 4 Boise State (10-0, 6-0 Western Athletic Conference) goes undefeated, and neither No. 1 Oregon or No. 2 Auburn lose, the Broncos won’t be even considered for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship.
After watching this BSU team completely dominate a good Fresno State (6-4, 4-3 WAC) squad, it would be a travesty to always wonder if the Broncos could’ve downed Goliath. At this point, there’s no reason to believe BSU couldn’t beat any team in the nation.
“I wish them the best of luck. I hope they can make it to the big dance, because they deserve it in my mind. I feel like I can say that,” Hill said.
On the same day the Broncos reshuffled their schedule to play Georgia opening week next season at Atlanta in the Georgia Dome, the Broncos again proved why teams are, and should be, scared to play them. BSU will play Ole Miss in 2014.
Boise state is often criticized for not playing a strong strength of schedule, but on this day it’s easy to see why nobody wants a piece of the Broncos.
Hill feels the same way and isn’t afraid to say it how it is.
“I think the truth of the matter is people are scared to play them (BSU),” Hill said. “They don’t want to play them. It’s like last year when they put Boise State against TCU. They don’t want to play against those kinds of teams. I’ll say it, I have no problem saying it. I’ll take Boise State against anybody in the country.”
If the voters in the human polls needed a reason to feel confident slotting BSU in front of TCU they have a pretty good one now. BSU’s destruction of FSU, the same team that only lost to No. 18 Nevada by one-point last week, was the “statement” game everyone had been wanting.
A lot has been made the past couple about the battle being waged between BSU and TCU, but that argument is over. If the Broncos don’t jump TCU in this week’s BCS standings they certainly seem primed to if they play well at Nevada next Friday – another game on ESPN.
Just getting to a BCS bowl isn’t doing the Broncos justice. Boise State has already won two of those when everyone counted them out and told them they’d get smoked. No, this team deserves a shot at the big kahuna, the mother of them all.
The idea of Boise State not playing in the national championship makes no sense to Hill.
“I mean what else do they have to do? They’re on the verge of their fourth undefeated season in six years. You got to be kidding me,” Hill said. “Someday we have to wake up and say we can’t listen to all the people that get all the money. We have to listen to the people who have the best teams.”
Who better to listen to than the head coach of the latest Boise State victim?