2010 College Football Predictions: The Others

A lot of the discussion since the pre-season polls came out has centered around Boise State. There are many that feel that since Boise will play a large portion of their schedule against very inferior competition they do not deserve to get into the BCS title game over a deserving team from a conference like the Big Ten or SEC. I see there point and mostly agree. Others are saying the Broncos have proven that they belong with the big boys and do have games against a top ten team and a top 25 team in the first couple weeks so who could fault them if they are merely taking advantage of being ranked so high to sneak into the game. I see their point and mostly agree. The teams outside a BCS-AQ conference that will make national noise are next.


Boise State- By the end of Labor Day we will know whether the Broncos can claim a spot in Glendale or not. Their game against Virginia Tech at FedEx field has grown into a college football secular holy war between Boise believers and the traditionalists who feel they have no place at the table. The Potato army has been preparing for this game the day after the Fiesta Bowl ended. Chris Petersen has been scheming and scheming. I think Boise wins this game. Not easily but they have set this game up as a de facto national semi-final for their title chances. They will be pumped and I think they can edge it out with help from their defense.

So this means I think they are going undefeated right? Wrong. As we have seen with many other teams, I think they get tripped up but one of their unranked foes in conference. A game we would think they have no business losing; at Nevada, Fresno State, they will have an off night and fall in a crazy, high scoring OT game. Dream shattered, title gone, and most likely BCS game up in smoke.

TCU- It was a shame, a damn shame I say that TCU played so poorly on offense in the Fiesta Bowl last year. They were one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the country before that game in my opinion. Most people had not seen them play, but the team was stacked with speed, talent and muscle. Gary Patterson's defense was insane, only allowing the opposition to score over 20 twice,and that was in two blowouts against Texas State and Utah. Their schedule also had some high-ranked teams that the Frogs took out. BYU and Utah were obliterated, they won in Death Valley and Clemson. They only gave up 17 points to Boise State and 7 of those were on a fake punt.

All that said, TCU lost on the field and allowed people who had no clue about the team to dismiss them. This year the Frogs start out at #6 in the polls but the only opponent you could call better than decent on their schedule is the opener against Oregon State. After that they are going to have to hope that the teams on their schedule play above their talent level. Otherwise I don't see them leap frogging undefeated teams or the top conference teams with one loss.


Now those are the two biggest players in the non-AQ/Independent race. Now here is where Notre Dame fans want to start bitching about how they are going to contend this year under Brian Kelly in his first year. Well to that, I say this: