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BCS rules could help AND hurt Boise State

Rules that were put in place to appease the conferences that aren’t automatic qualifiers for the BCS could end up hurting Boise State just as much as their suspect kicking game has.
 
In the wake of TCU’s classic 36-35 win over the Broncos, virtually everyone around the country has now dismissed once-beaten BSU’s chances of making it to a BCS bowl game. Never has a team from a non-automatic qualifying conference made it to a BCS game with even a single loss on their record. Why could this year be any different?
 
Well, it could…then again, it may not. It depends on how things go down the stretch. Then again, that’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Yes, Boise still has a chance to play in a BCS game. So does TCU, actually. But a lot of stuff outside their control would have to happen.
 
The good news: There’s a rule that allows no more than two teams from a single BCS conference to compete in BCS bowl games (a rule the SEC is trying to have changed, of course.) That’s why the door to a BCS bowl game remains open – just a crack – for the Broncos and Frogs.
 
After Gary Patterson’s incredibly gutsy two-point conversion call that put TCU ahead by a point, and after an official’s horrible pass interference call on 4th-and-10 kept the Broncos potential game winning drive alive, and even after kicker Dan Goodale pushed a game winning field goal attempt wide right, Boise State still has a BCS pulse. Look at the standings. The Broncos now sit at #10.
 
There are 10 BCS bids available. It’s a given that the Southeastern Conference will have two teams in (probably both LSU and Alabama in the NC title game) as will the Big 12 (Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) and probably the Pac 12 (Oregon and Stanford). That’s six spoken for. The Big 10 is likely to only send one team to the BCS this year, their conference champ going to the Rose Bowl. (I’m still betting on #17 Wisconsin) which makes seven. The eighth team will be the champion of the ACC – which in theory could also send a second team if both #7 Clemson and #8 Virginia Tech stay in the top 14. That would make nine. The tenth would go to the champion of the Big East…or maybe not. If the Big Least does not have a team in the top 16, they don’t get that free pass to the big dance this year. Right now, no Big Least team is ranked at all. (There’s a shocker…)
 
All of which means there would still be an at-large spot, and possibly two, available.
 
Since #6 Arkansas would be a third SEC team, they’re eliminated. That leaves Virginia Tech from the ACC and #11 Houston from Conference USA as the most viable BCS bowl contenders…along with #10 Boise State.
 
The bad news for the Broncos: In order to earn that last at-large spot, Boise State has to do more than just be the highest ranked team from a non-AQ conference, which they still figure to be. They also MUST be a conference CHAMPION. (That’s the good news for TCU…)
 
This is, once again, a glaring double standard, since plenty of teams that do not win their own conference will be playing in BCS games. Heck, there have even been teams from BCS conferences that didn’t win their league play for the national championship! But we all know the rules are different for the non-AQ’s, so if Boise doesn’t win the Mountain West, they are not going to the BCS.
 
TCU controls the MW now, having to beat only struggling Colorado State and UNLV (both in Fort Worth) to clinch the league title in their final season as a conference member. For the Frogs to get a return ticket to the BCS, they could somehow have to creep into the top 16 in the BCS rankings (the Frogs are now #19) and have Houston lose. Who knows, a Cougar loss and a couple of other minor upsets, and the Frogs are right there.
 
Meanwhile, the Broncos still have to pick themselves back up and beat San Diego State, Wyoming and New Mexico in order to finish with just that single defeat. If #11 Houston is able to complete the season unbeaten and win Conference USA, they will be in a BCS game, even ranked below the once beaten Broncos.  
 
When it comes to the non-AQ conferences, the BCS giveth, and the BCS taketh away.
 
The Broncos and the Frogs need a couple of crazy things to happen. While this season has not been 2007 kind of crazy, it has featured a handful of unpredictable upsets (Texas Tech over Oklahoma for instance) and as they say, anything is possible.