WAC Football & Basketball blog

We look forward to it all year, and inevitably, it disappoints us in the end. Yes, it’s that time of year again, bowl season.

That’s not to say that the championship game is a disappointing match up, in fact it looks on paper to be a pretty exciting game with No. 1 Florida taking on No. 2 Oklahoma. What’s disappointing is once again several teams not getting a shot at the title.

There are teams with a legitimate argument (Texas) and some that are just fooling themselves with wishful thinking (Ohio State). I’ll make this disclaimer upfront, and since I’m new to this site and will be covering the Western Athletic Conference, it’s important that everyone knows that I am a University of Idaho graduate. I don’t like Boise State.

However, I do feel like the Broncos were ripped off just a bit. I’m not going to sit here and say they should be playing in the championship game on January 8. You can’t give a team whose opponents went a combined 64-81 a chance at a championship game, especially if they’re not from one of the big boy conferences. Oklahoma went 12-1 against opponents that combined for a 90-68 record, and they played in arguably the nation’s toughest conference this year, the Big 12. Night in and night out it seemed as though they were playing another top-5 team. Boise State can’t say that.

If you want a chance for a national title bid in the current bowl system, your non-conference games have to be tougher than Idaho State, Bowling Green, Oregon, and Southern Miss. Sure you went undefeated, but look at your weak conference and your weak non-conference opponents. You only have your schedule-maker to blame.

Going undefeated is a great accomplishment no matter who you play. They played well in just about all of those games, but there were a couple of close games, including Oregon and a 7-5 Nevada team. If BSU is as dominant as they want us to believe, those are games they should have won more easily.

As an Idaho graduate, it’s too easy for me to slip back into my Bronco-bashing, and you have no idea how hard it is to say what I’m about to say, but to be fair and balanced, and to develop any credibility with my readers, it has to be said.

I would love to see Boise State take on Florida in the national title game. That high-flying Bronco offense against the stout Florida defense would prove to be a great battle. Instead, however, the Broncos will be playing Texas Christian University in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

Ridiculous name aside, this bowl game should be an interesting match up. TCU played in some big games and held its own against some pretty legitimate foes including No. 8 Utah, No. 9 BYU, and even Oklahoma.

Even though I know Boise State, and all other WAC teams would help out my beloved University of Idaho with a paycheck by winning their respective bowl games, I still find myself hoping nothing but trouble for the Broncos. I can sympathize with bronco fans that their team maybe got robbed a little bit, but the Vandal in me will always find a way to laugh at any misfortune BSU suffers. Even if my team does go 2-10.

Check back later and we’ll talk about how the bowl games went for the WAC teams. Fresno State plays Colorado State today, Boise State plays TCU on the 23rd, Hawaii plays Notre Dame on the 24th, Louisiana Tech plays Northern Illinois on the 28th and Nevada plays Maryland on the 30th.

Brian Armstrong
DFN Sports WAC Correspondent

Last week we made our case for why Boise State deserved to once again play in the BCS. Alas, when the dust settled on the BCS bowl games, the Broncos were shut out and Ohio State was selected based on name and not resume. I guess the fact that Boise State has more BCS wins than Oklahoma & Ohio State COMBINED in the past two years did not matter…

As for Boise’s postseason bowl destination, the Broncos are headed to the Poinsettia Bowl to face perennial Mountain West Conference power TCU. The match-up of #9 Boise State (12-0) and #11 TCU (10-2) makes the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl one of the top match-ups of the bowl season, better on paper than one or more of the BCS bowl games.

Four other WAC football teams will also continue their seasons as Fresno State battles Colorado State on the same day as the Poinsettia Bowl, December 20th, Hawaii hosts Notre Dame in the Hawaii Bowl on December 24th, Louisiana Tech faces Northern Illinois on December 28th in the Independence Bowl and on December 30th Nevada plays Maryland in the Humanitarian Bowl. Only 6-6 San Jose State was bowl-eligible and did not get a bid to play in the 2008 postseason.

Every major online site is picking Ohio State to edge Boise State for a BCS bowl bid. ESPN.com has Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, while College Football News & Scout.com places Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl with both leaving Boise State in either the home-town Humanitarian Bowl or the Poinsettia Bowl. But Boise State is ranked ahead of Ohio State in the BCS as well as both the AP & USA Today polls. This lead to a bit of research:

- Boise State is 12-0 (8-0 WAC), Ohio State 10-2 (7-1 Big Ten)
- Boise State is currently #9 in the AP, USA Today & BCS rankings, Ohio State is #10 in all 3. The Harris Poll, a piece of the BCS formula, also has Boise State ahead of Ohio State.
- Boise State is ranked #7 by the computer average of the BCS, Ohio State is ranked #11.
- In the past two seasons, Boise State has one more win that Ohio State in BCS Bowl games; Boise State is 1-0 while Ohio State is 0-2.
- The BCS Average for Boise State is .7034, for Ohio State .6340, a difference of .0694. The only other substantial gap this big in the Top 10 is between #4 Florida (.8851) an obvious title contender and #5 USC (.8076), a team on the outside looking in.
- Boise State went 8-0 against bowl-eligible teams (6-6 or better) including a win over BCS #19 Oregon.
- Ohio State went 5-2 over bowl-eligible teams including losses to BCS #5 USC, #8 Penn State and wins over BCS #21 Michigan State and #22 Northwestern.

The numbers do not lie; the Broncos deserve the BCS much more than Ohio State, a team that would make it based on program history/reputation (which is questionable based on recent bowl history) and the almighty dollar. While Boise State fans traveled very well for the Fiesta Bowl two season ago with nearly 40,000 tickets sold, Ohio State fans are known to travel as well as anyone in the nation.

So will fairness prevail in the BCS in 2008? Or will the BCS ensure that the $17 million payout stays with their favorites, the BCS conference teams in an effort to futher the gap between the haves and have-nots? I guess we will find out tomorrow night…

The WAC has been the staple for the top non-BCS teams in the past few seasons, but it seems that the popular Athlon Sports does not see the WAC as a top-tier conference in 2008. Despite Boise State (2006) and Hawaii (2007) both having undefeated regular seasons in the past two years, the WAC is ranked #10 of 11 conferences for the 2008 football season by Athlon. Only the Sun Belt is rated lower than the Western Athletic Conference meaning the MAC (#9), Conference USA (#8) and the Mountain West (#7) are all above the WAC.

While Athlon Sports does not publish their magazine online for all to see, fans can find WAC team previews for the upcoming season in the 2008 college football preview from College Sports Fans.

Since the inception of the BCS system where computers and human biases combine to select the teams that play for a National Championship, just three teams outside of the 6 BCS conferences have played in BCS bowl games. Two of those teams have come in the past two years as WAC members Boise State crashed the party in 2006 followed by Hawaii in 2007. As the 2008 season is just around the corner, College Sports Fans has released their 2008 college football preview featuring season previews for all 9 WAC football teams. Hawaii comes off a perfect 12-0 regular season, but with their head coach bolting for SMU and their QB graduating, the 2008 Hawaii football preview takes a look at the 2008 Warrior football team. Boise State had yet another fantastic season going 10-2 before their upset loss to East Carolina in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, and the 2008 Boise State football preview will review the 2008 Broncos. Fresno State is a team that continues to improve and the Bulldogs look to unseat Hawaii & Boise State in 2008 after an impressive 9-4 season. The 2008 Fresno State football preview takes a look at Pat Hill’s Bulldogs and the team they have returning in 2008. The remainder of the WAC will look to move to the top 1/3rd of the conference in 2008 and play in one of the various bowl games in 2008-2009, and all WAC previews can be found below.

After winning the WAC Tournament in double overtime, the Boise State Broncos learned their fate on Selection Sunday. Boise State received a #14 seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and will face the #3 Louisville Cardinals from the Big East. Meanwhile, Utah State received a #7 seed in the NIT Tournament and Nevada hosted a home game in the new CBI Tournament.

- Boise State NCAA Tournament preview
- Louisville NCAA Tournament preview

After a 79-64 win over Idaho on Saturday, Utah St. remains the only unbeaten team in conference play at 4-0. The Aggies are 13-5 overall, and a big reason why is senior guard Jaycee Carroll, who’s averaging 21.6 points per game and is one of the nation’s top shooters.

Carroll poured in 21 points on Saturday, hitting 8 of 14 shots, and kept up his hot 3-point shooting by going 3 of 4 from behind the line. Carroll also hit both of his free throw attempts, taking his percentage for the season up to 93.6% (73 of 78).

Carroll ranks in the top 10 in the country in both free throw and three-point percentage, and is in the top 20 in the country in points per game. He’s also surpassed the 2,000 point mark this season, and is currently at 2,147. Utah St. has 12 more regular-season games left, then the WAC tournament and (more than likely) some postseason tournament as well, so if Carroll can keep at his current clip, he’ll end up passing 2,500 career points as well.

Carroll declared for the NBA Draft last summer, but didn’t hire an agent, and wound up deciding to return to school. Looks like that’s worked out pretty well for him and the Aggies both.

To get you caught up on where things are now with the Hawaii program, here’s a quick recap.

The Warriors, who were going to lose their star QB and one of their three 1,000 yard receivers in the graduating Jason Rivers, lost the other two 1,000 yard receivers as well, as Davone Bess, then Ryan Grice-Mullen both decided to skip their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft.

In the midst of it all, the man who led Hawaii’s move into prominence, decided that he’d had enough, and decided to take on another rebuilding project, as head coach June Jones resigned and took the head coaching position at SMU.

And, to top it off, after Jones’ resignation, athletic director Herman Frazier, was shown the door, as he was viewed as partly responsible for the lack of commitment and administrative issues that led to Jones’ disillusionment and decision to step down.

Things went from bad to tragic when red shirt freshman receiver Mitch Farney, who was planning to transfer to Weber State, died Tuesday night after collapsing during a pickup basketball game in Phoenix.

The New Year hasn’t been kind to the Hawaii football program, but there’s still 11 and a half months to go, so it can only go up from here.

Colt Brennan and the Warriors took a lot of hits in Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl.

In the past couple of days, the program has taken some pretty big hits off of the field.

On Friday, junior receiver Davone Bess, a three-year starter and Hawaii’s career leader in catches (293) and touchdowns (41), announced that he’ll be skipping his senior season and declaring for the NFL draft, after draft evaluators gave him a second-round grade.

Ryan Grice-Mullen, who will likely break Bess’ reception and touchdown marks next season, and along with those, surpass the other triplet, Jason Rivers, in career receiving yards, will not only have a new QB throwing it to him, with Brennan departing, but will have a new head coach as well.

June Jones, who built the Warriors’ program into a winner over the last several years, is resigning from his post due to a lack of commitment from the athletic department, and frustrations about how the athletic department was run, according to reports.

Jones took over at Hawaii following the 1998 season, when the Warriors went 0-12. He instantly turned the program around, as 1999 saw a 9-3 season, a tie for the WAC title, and a win in the Oahu Bowl.

In nine seasons, Jones went 75-41, led Hawaii to six bowls (four wins), and two WAC titles, including the Warriors’ first-ever outright conference title this season, when they went 12-1, were ranked in the top 10, and advanced to the Sugar Bowl, a 41-10 loss to Georgia in what turned out to be Jones’ last game with Hawaii.

His next destination appears to be SMU, as the school has reportedly offered him more than twice his salary at Hawaii to become their new head coach.

And, if his rebuilding job in Dallas is anywhere near as successful as it was on the island, SMU fans should be looking forward to the future.

As for Hawaii, well, if Jones did leave because of issues with the athletic department (turns out Colt Brennan wasn’t so wrong after all, eh?), then you know what they say…’you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.’

The Georgia defense just proved to be a little more than Hawaii could handle, as the Warriors saw their historic season come to a disappointing end in a 41-10 rout in the Sugar Bowl.

Hawaii inevitably got their 300+ yards passing, but it didn’t come until the end, when Georgia had the game well in hand, and Colt Brennan was on the sidelines, with backup Tyler Graunke in for the last several minutes after the Bulldogs had battered Brennan to the point of submission, sacking him eight times, with the last one by Geno Atkins early in the fourth signaling the end of Brennan’s night and collegiate career, as June Jones smartly sat him for the final 13 minutes with the result beyond doubt.

Hawaii turned the ball over six times, which is a record for a BCS game, surpassing the five by Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl and Miami in the ‘03 Fiesta Bowl.

Tonight was Hawaii’s chance to prove that they belonged on the national stage, but in the end, Georgia was the team that did the proving.

But, despite the way the night turned out, it was a great season for Hawaii, and for Brennan, who had a rough night against Georgia (22 of 38, 169 yards, 3 INT), but it was one of very few in the last few seasons.

Where does Hawaii go from here? Well, Graunke likely takes the reins for the 2008 season, and he and the Warriors will have quite the season-opening test, as they’ll be going to Gainesville to take on Heisman winner Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators at the Swamp.

Graunke shouldn’t be too fazed by the atmosphere, as he started at USC in 2005, and he’s also had three other starts in his career. Jason Rivers is done, but Graunke will have Ryan Grice-Mullen and Davone Bess to throw to, and he’s sure to have other reliable targets as well. Besides those guys, the Warriors will return several more key players on both sides of the ball, and they‘ll have an excellent chance to repeat as WAC champions.

So, this may just be the beginning for Hawaii, so even though they came out on the short end tonight, maybe things will go much, much better the next time, which could be in the not-so-distant future.