College football polls feed into BCS malarkey

It began this week, albeit a tad earlier than past college football seasons: The conventional downsizing of Boise State.

One spot in a top-25 poll means everything in this case, beginning anew the process of giving weight to a Bowl Championship Series system that is both subjective and misguided.

Not to mention the longest-running joke in NCAA history.

Boise State on Saturday went on the road as the nation's No. 3 team and beat New Mexico State, 59-0. The Broncos didn't play quarterback Kellen Moore in the second half, choosing against the concept of completely humiliating another team. Good for them.

Their reward: Being jumped by Oregon in both polls.

The Ducks are very good, maybe soon-to-be-national-champions good, having whipped another terrific team in Stanford on Saturday. Oregon's offense and athleticism are sick right now.

Sick being great.

But what dropping Boise State to No. 4 does is reinforce a truth that, as long as there are non-BCS leagues such as the Western Athletic Conference from which to condemn strength-of-schedule ratings, no team from such a league will ever be given the opportunity to win the BCS title.

"I'm tired of hearing that if (Boise State) were in (a BCS league), they couldn't do this or that," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. "Until you play the game ... I know the last two times Oregon played Boise State the past few years, they got beat. I think you should have to prove it on the field, not in the newspaper."

It's a great point. Lou Holtz made a similar one last week when the coach-turned-ESPN analyst challenged an assertion by fellow studio honk Mark May that Boise State would not enjoy the same level of success if playing in a BCS conference.

Holtz's reply: "You can say that because you can't prove it."

It's the best quote of the college football season.

Maybe the best in years.

No one can prove it. That's the point. It always has been. No one can indisputably say how the Broncos would perform if benefiting from BCS money, BCS facilities, BCS recruiting pools, BCS exposure, BCS power.

Boise State already has the coaching to be consistently great. It might go undefeated every year playing in a BCS league. It might be better than Alabama has ever been. It might be a .500 team.

No one knows.

No one can prove anything.

The truth is, pollsters and TV analysts and any talking head whose opinions amazingly continue to encourage the thought that Boise State shouldn't be judged in the same manner as those from automatic BCS qualifiers will spin their propaganda as they see fit.

They will paint Boise State's 59-0 road win as a predictable rout of an awful opponent as easily as they justify No. 2 Ohio State's 24-13 victory at dead-flat-average Illinois a gritty performance in the big, bad, bruising Big Ten.

I vote in the Associated Press' Top 25 college basketball poll, but such rankings over 30 games in a sport in which NCAA Tournament berths are decided on countless other factors don't hold nearly the same influence as those in football.

The AP poll in football isn't used to determine BCS standings, but the USA Today coaches' poll and Harris Interactive poll are. Perception becomes reality with these things, and dropping a team after a 59-0 victory away from home is ridiculous and yet all too transparent for the current sham of a system.

"After listening to all the experts for the last 10, 14 days predict that Boise State would get jumped, it probably doesn't surprise me that it happened," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. "It is very frustrating to listen to all the what-ifs: 'What if Boise State played in this league? What if Boise State played in that league?'

"It's very hard and very difficult to evaluate the strength of an opponent on any given day. Bottom line is: 'Do teams win?' Boise State, unlike any other team in the country, has won the games they're supposed to win. They have not been upset in a regular-season game for five years. You can't say that about any of the other teams."

Funny thing, perception. According to the Sagarin ratings, Boise State this week has a better strength of schedule than fellow undefeated teams Oregon, Auburn, Texas Christian, Ohio State, Nebraska and Utah.

The pollsters didn't even wait for the inevitable drop in such numbers as Boise State gets deeper and deeper into its WAC schedule. They began the process early this time.

Washington State is again the worst team in the Pac-10 and one of the worst in the country. It is 1-4, allows nearly 43 points a game, and its only win is against Montana State.

The Cougars host Oregon this week.

I suppose, then, if the Ducks get up big early and rest their stars in the second half and win 59-0, a good showing at home by Boise State will jump the Broncos back into the No. 3 spot. Sure it will.

Just about the time supermodel Daniela Pestova begs me to leave my family and run away with her.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM.