Football on the Fringe: Blue Skies, Blue Fields

A couple weeks ago, we looked at some of the worst teams of the decade.  On the other end, one team stands alone (for now) with the best record of any school in the 2000s.  Not USC, Florida, or Texas.  It’s Boise State.  Of course, there are caveats there- Boise plays in the WAC, not the Big 12 or even the Pac-10.  Read on for a closer look at the Western Athletic Conference…

Membership: Like many of our non-BCS conferences, the WAC is an accurately named but far-flung league.  Teams from Louisiana and Hawaii orbit the rest of the teams that fall mostly in the Central- and Southwest part of the country.  Like all the non-BCS leagues, the WAC was shuffled into its current arrangement in 2005.  The conference is made up of smaller to medium sized schools, with enrollment ranging from around 11,000 up to the largest at around 30,000 (San Jose State).  Four of the nine schools are within the reach of top 100 media markets, but only SJSU falls in the top 50 (as part of the San Francisco market area).  Home attendance ranges from around 15,000 (Idaho) to 41,000 (Hawaii).

Organization: The nine-member WAC does not play a championship game, but each team plays each other during the season.  There are 3 bowl affiliations and a fourth conditional game depending on other conference availability.

History and Trends: Boise State is a perennial conference powerhouse, having won or shared six of the past 7 conference championships (including last season).  Fresno State and Hawaii also frequently contend for national attention and conference glory.  Boise State and Hawaii have qualified for BCS games, reaching the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and 2008 Sugar Bowl, respectively.  Boise was ranked 9^th in the BCS standings last year, but was left out of the mix as Utah (Mountain West) was rated higher.

Utah State & New Mexico State have new coaches this year.

2008 Standings:

Team	WAC		Overall
	Wins	Losses	Wins	Losses
Boise State	8	0	12	1
Louisiana Tech	5	3	8	5
Nevada	5	3	7	6
Hawaii	5	3	7	7
Fresno State	4	4	7	6
San Jose State	4	4	6	6
Utah State	3	5	3	9
New Mexico State	1	7	3	9
Idaho	1	7	2	10

Last Season: Boise State dominated league play en route to an undefeated season, only to lose to TCU (Mountain West) in the Poinsettia Bowl.  Louisiana Tech, Nevada, Hawaii, and Fresno State all went bowling as well, but only La Tech came up with a win.

Preceding conference champions are Boise State (2008, 2006) and Hawaii (2007).

Teams that Might Be Good This Year:

Boise State- A no brainer.  Half the starters are back from a team that did not lose in conference last year, including a rising star at quarterback.  An overwhelming favorite.

Louisiana Tech- bringing back most of their starters including more All-WAC first teamers than anyone else in the league.  Their road schedule is favorable- Hawaii and Boise State both play in Ruston.

Fresno State- Several close games in 2008 were the difference from a higher finish, they could be poised to challenge again this season.

Hawaii- 3 straight bowl appearances and six in the last seven seasons, Hawaii hope to keep the streak going.  Boise State has to go through Honolulu to get to another title.

Key Matchups If My Basic Assumptions are True:

I realize this reads as almost a round robin with those 4 teams, but it really looks like the big questions are a) can anyone beat Boise and b) who will finish 2^nd and 3^rd?

Boise State at Fresno State, September 18 – Big early season matchup to see if anyone has something for Boise State this year.

Hawaii at Louisiana Tech, September 30 – Hawaii have the conference’s longest road trip this year, against a good La Tech team.  With only 3 bowl games guaranteed to the league, these games are very important.

Louisiana Tech at Nevada, October 9- a key Friday night game with a potentially big audience between two of last year’s bowl teams.

Fresno State at Hawaii, October 10 – Fresno’s most difficult road game- if they get past Boise and Hawaii in the first half of the season, they’ll be in charge for the second half.

Boise State at Hawaii, October 24 – Hawaii is a very tough place to play, and Boise State has road games against 3 of the WAC’s best

Nevada at Boise State, November 27- Can Nevada build on last year’s tie for second in the league?  An upset on the blue turf would be an excellent way to prove they have.

Undereducated Conference Power Rankings:

We’ll revisit the power rankings every month or so within the conference to go with our weekly national ones.  This pre-season ranking is loosely based on momentum, returning players, coaching stability, general perception, and random guessing:

1. Boise State
2. Louisiana Tech
3. Fresno State
4. Hawaii
5. Nevada
6. San Jose State
7. Idaho
8. Utah State
9. New Mexico State

Am I wrong for drinking the blue kool-aid?  Have I disrespected your alma mater?  Are I an idiot? Let me hear it in the comments.

Next week: the conference you know nothing about, but need to keep an eye on.

It’s WAC week @footballfringe on twitter- follow along for more notes, outlooks, and the WAC’s 5 biggest non-conference matchups.

Tags: college football, Daily Specials, Exotic Fare, football, Football on the Fringe, lowercase, The fuck is BCS?, wac
Categories: Domestics

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