Yahoo Sports Boise State AD would 'kinda get' a 2-loss Alabama getting picked for playoff over undefeated Broncos
If Boise State goes undefeated in 2019 and doesn’t make the College Football Playoff, you shouldn’t expect the school to act the way UCF did when the Knights missed out on the playoff in 2017.
Boise is one of 12 teams without a loss through the first half of the season and one of just three teams outside the Power Five conferences that hasn’t lost a game yet. At No. 14, Boise is also the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the AP poll. If there was going to be an undefeated Group of Five team make the College Football Playoff in 2019, it would be Boise State.
But athletic director Curt Apsey would understand why the Broncos wouldn’t make the playoff. Here’s what he said to ESPN in an article published Thursday:
"We don't really focus that much on that sort of pie in the sky, be a part of the College Football Playoff and all that kind of thing," Apsey said. "Because we know what we have to do in order to just be considered for that.
"If you have a 12-0 Boise State and, say, you have a 10-2 Alabama. ... We beat everyone in our conference and we beat Marshall and we beat Portland State. I'll be honest with you, I kinda get [selecting Alabama]. I really do."
Boise State also beat Florida State. But that’s not a marquee win. The Seminoles only beat Lousiana-Monroe in a single overtime thanks to a missed extra point and were blown out 45-14 in Week 7 by Clemson.
And Apsey’s right, Boise State isn’t going to make the playoff like UCF two years ago. The Knights finished the regular season 12-0 but were ranked eighth in the final CFP rankings behind two-loss Georgia and two-loss Michigan a year ago and were 12th in 2017 behind a half-dozen teams with two or more losses.
He may realize that it does Boise no good to act like UCF did when those rankings came out. The Knights’ full-court press strengthened after a win in the Peach Bowl over Auburn to cap an undefeated season. The school claimed a faux national title and the team even got a parade at Disney World.
UCF’s push for legitimacy — whether it was truly genuine or not — came with the benefit of boosting the program’s profile. Boise State already has that national profile thanks to its upset 43-42 win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State doesn’t have to go to the lengths that UCF did because its platform as a strong program outside the Power Five conferences has already been established. Going the UCF route after a 13-0 season and a Mountain West title simply won’t help Boise State all that much.
And Boise has to win seven more games to get to that point anyway. The Broncos face BYU on Saturday night.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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