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Boise state needs no defense for the truly remarkable record the football program has achieved since it began a string of twelve consecutive winning seasons dating back to 1998. Over that span the Broncos own nine conference championships, two runners-up, can boast of two BCS bowl game wins in as many tries, and hold the best winning percentage in major college football. What’s more, the streak started only two seasons after Boise State joined the Division-IA ranks from Division-IAA.
Before the 2008 campaign it seemed highly unlikely that a team with a smallish and inexperienced offensive line, a freshman quarterback and a defense full of underclassmen could produce an undefeated regular season, and then go toe to toe with powerful TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl. Only one year later a still very young squad did one up on the previous year’s team by going undefeated from wire to wire and beating a previously undefeated and even more accomplished Mountain West Conference champion TCU in the BCS Fiesta Bowl.
The Western Athletic Conference has never been confused with the Pac-10 in regard to the quality of its teams, but only 4 losses in 77 conference games for Boise State teams in ten years since 2000 stands as a special achievement. Even USC has lost 23 conference games during the same period, including embarrassing recent defeats at the hands of UCLA (2006), Stanford (2007) and Washington (2009-10), all poor to mediocre teams. This, despite the fact that the Trojans recruited far superior players compared to all other teams in the conference. Boise State, on the other hand, can’t even boast of securing the best recruiting classes in the WAC since 2002 (see Rivals.com cumulative points from 2002 through 2010). Both Fresno State and Hawaii own better overall recruit rankings.
As the eventual Pac-10 champion University of Oregon squared off against Boise State at Bronco Stadium in the 2009 season opener for both teams, the Ducks’ two best skill players, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and running back LaGarrett Blount were coming off dominant performances in the Holiday Bowl against a very good Oklahoma State team. The same Oregon team that went on to dominate USC with 391 rushing yards and 613 yards in total offense only six weeks later would itself be overwhelmed by the Broncos. The Ducks were unable to muster a first down until the second half (only 6 for the entire game and one by penalty), gained 31 rushing yards and 152 yards of total offense, while Masoli and Blount rushed for 11 yards combined. Boise State’s balanced attack with 164 yards rushing and 197 passing, along with 22 first downs, gave a much clearer picture of the Broncos’ dominance than did the relatively narrow point spread in their 19-8 victory.
Some pundits excused Oregon’s loss when they reasoned that upsets are more likely to occur in a team’s first game of the season. How quickly they forgot that an unranked Boise State beat the Ducks in the unfriendly confines of Eugene’s Autzen Stadium only one year earlier in Oregon’s third game of the season. Bronco freshman quarterback Kellen Moore was starting just his third collegiate game, but went on to shred the highly touted Oregon secondary for 391 passing yards. What happened to the revenge and pride factors for the Ducks in 2009 after suffering that embarrassing home loss in 2008?
How many times since 1998 has a BCS team (not to mention one with what were judged to be far superior recruits as, according to Rivals.com, Oregon enjoyed with more than four times the accumulated player value points as Boise State) been defeated in home-and-home games in consecutive seasons by a non-BCS opponent? It’s only occurred in one other instance, when in the annual rivalry games, Colorado was a loser to Colorado State in 1999 and 2000.
