When tonight’s game between Boise State and Tulsa kickoffs at 8 (ET) on ESPN, the Broncos will be looking to impress voters after falling one spot to sixth in the latest coaches’ poll.
The Broncos failed to play like a Top 5 team last week in its defeat of Cal-Davis, 34-16. In fact, the Broncos ran for a season-low 101 yards against the 1-3 FCS squad.
With one other undefeated non-BCS school remaining, the comparisons with Texas Christian are inevitable. Boise State earned its signature on opening night against Oregon, although most remember the game for the LeGarrette Blount incident.
Texas Christian has two Top 25 teams on its remaining slate (BYU and Utah) and a sweep of its two ACC opponents (Clemson and Virginia) to its credit. With no ranked teams scheduled, the Broncos will have to play better than it did against Cal-Davis if it wants to continue to receive the exposure that it has this week. Frank Deford gave a commentary about the Boise State and the BCS on NPR and USA Today ran a feature story on the Broncos.
The Broncos remaining schedule features opponents who are a combined 16-21. The Broncos have three remaining nationally televised games–all Friday games on ESPN2, thus tonight’s game will offer two things–a mid-week featured game and a strong opponent in Tulsa (4-1).
Aside from their 45-0 loss to Oklahoma, Tulsa has held its other four opponents to 13 or less points–all wins. It will be a test for Boise State, however if the Broncos win impressively, it will give voters two nationally televised games to slide into their memory banks come voting time.
