It feels familiar in a good way, but it also stays the same in a bad way.
Boise State beat Arizona 38-30 in another Fiesta Bowl thrill ride Wednesday. Jay Ajayi even added a TD run on a Statue of Liberty play, for nostalgia's sake.
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That brought back memories of Ian Johnson in 2007 against Oklahoma and the head-to-head matchup against TCU in 2010. All of that felt familiar as the Broncos capped a 12-2 season against the Wildcats and earned a New Year's Day Six bowl win for the Group of 5, which is still feeling out its place in the new playoff setup.
Boise State jumped on the Wildcats 21-0 in the first quarter. Same uniforms, same formula. Ajayi and Chaz Anderson scored quick-strike touchdowns of 56 and 57 yards, respectively, in the first six minutes. Quarterback Grant Hedrick didn’t miss in the passing game. Donte Deayon added a pick six. Kamalei Correa sacked Anu Solomon to save the game in the final minute. The Broncos win these shootouts.
That’s the good news. Here’s the bad news.
The Fiesta Bowl victories in the BCS era offered at least the illusion of the possibility of a spot in the championship game. Those wins in 2007 and 2010 were part of undefeated seasons, and the Broncos finished in the top 10 in the BCS standings four straight years after the win against Oklahoma.
Boise State finished 20th in the College Football Playoff rankings this season and earned the Group of 5 playoff bowl spot. Granted, Boise's a two-loss team, but the indifferent treatment toward Marshall throughout the rankings process before its first loss is a clear indicator of the playoff committee's attitude toward the Group of 5.
Beating Arizona is nice, but anything less than perfection isn’t enough to get Boise anywhere close to the four-team playoff, and even then that’s probably not going to be enough. The BCS was actually better for the Group of 5 schools. It offered that illusion. The current format does no such thing.
TCU figured that out ahead of time. The Horned Frogs moved to the Big 12, and after a two-year incubation period finished 11-1. Yeah, the Horned Frogs were snubbed from the inaugural four-team playoff, too, but they also just put a 42-3 smackdown on the same Ole Miss team that beat Boise State 35-13 in the season opener.
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TCU made an early statement to the committee for 2015. Boise State just won a bowl game. That’s the perception gap between the Power 5 and Group of 5. So the Broncos might want to start making their case to the Big 12 if the conference is looking to expand.
And the Broncos do have a case. Boise State owns the best winning percentage of any FBS school (.836) since the BCS began in 1998. The Broncos proved again they can win in marquee bowl games, and the Fiesta Bowl is their stage.
But the more things change, the more Boise State can't stay the same. It doesn't matter how many times you run the Statue of Liberty.
That’s not going to get enough attention in the four-team playoff age.
