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The view from up here
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Life could certainly be better for the Boise State football team. The Broncos failed to defend their sixth consecutive Western Athletic Conference title and will likely sit at home on Jan. 1 and watch a conference foe reenact the BCS cinderella story that they wrote.
On the other hand, life could always be a lot worse. Every streak comes to and end, no matter how invincible they may seem. Sure no one wants to be on the team that fails to keep the streak alive, but the BSU senior class knows better than anyone its a fact of life and more specifically, a fact of football.
But what can the program take from its loss at Hawaii on Friday? I would argue that there are plenty of lessons to be learned, but even more positives that can be held onto.
Wasn’t this a rebuilding year?
As it turns out, the stumbling has been minimal and the wins are still coming much more often than the losses.
With all the young players stacking both sides of the ball its safe to say that a 7-1 WAC record indicates yet another year of dominance over conference competition.
And, as it seems to be in most big game situations, the location that a game is played can have overwhelming effects on the outcome. Not to say that Hawaii couldn’t come to Boise and beat the Broncos by multiple scores, but it surely would be a much more monumental task.
The rebuilding thing has also been stomped out by the continued respect of what the Broncos have done on the national stage. What is most impressive is the fact that after Friday’s game at Hawaii, the Broncos remained in every top 25.
Financial perks
So it may not be the most appealing perspective after a conference championship deciding loss, but the financial opportunities BSU may receive because of Hawaii’s success can’t be completely overlooked. Last year the rest of the WAC reaped the benefits of, essentially, free-money because of the Broncos appearance in the Fiesta Bowl. If Hawaii beats Washington next weekend the Warriors will appear in a BCS game and the rest of the WAC will get an additional piece of the pie because of it.
Surprisingly, it may only get better
Statistically there aren’t many places for the Broncos to improve after the end of this season. Ian Johnson is now just 1,069 yards behind the all-time BSU rushing leader (Cedric Minter, 4,475). But with the dynamic group of running back’s behind him the rushing output will only continue to improve (if that is possible).
The talent is there at all positions and now a new hunger will be driving them to recapture the crown.
You can’t blame anyone for being disappointed about Friday’s loss and even a bowl win won’t rid the sour taste left from not winning the WAC championship. But, the success of Hawaii will only raise the bar that BSU has set even higher.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Broncos will be up the challenge of knocking down that bar and setting a new standard next season. After all, its what the Broncos do.
JAKE GARCIN
Sports Editor