The Only 13-0!
Immediately following their Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma last Monday, we asked the Boise State football players: if Florida beats Ohio State, do you deserve to be national champions?
"Yeah, I think we should be," said quarterback Jared Zabransky, moments after BSU's 43-42 Fiesta Bowl overtime win. "Especially if Ohio State loses and we're the only undefeated team. There's gotta be an argument."
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"I don't think so," said Coach Chris Petersen. "I think that's the debate of a playoff but I've said all along we haven't played the schedule that those two programs have played. And you do, you gotta go play some people week-in and week-out to probably have a shot to deserve that."
Petersen's right. The Western Athletic Conference isn't nearly as strong a conference as the Big 10 or SEC.
But his comments came Monday afternoon, less than five hours before the start of the BCS National Championship Game, featuring the only other undefeated Division I-A football team besides Boise State...Ohio State.
Now there is only one unbeaten.
Florida held Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith to just 4-of-14 passing for 35 yards en route to a 41-14 win over the previously-unbeaten Buckeyes.
Does this mean that since the Broncos are the only undefeated team left that they should be national champs? No.
In fact, all coaches that vote in the Coaches Poll are required to vote for Monday night's winner (Florida) as their national champion.
But how high should Boise State be ranked? At this point, our opinions don't matter.
The final Associated Press Poll puts them 5th and the final Coaches Poll has them 6th, behind LSU, USC, and in the Coaches Poll, Wisconsin. The Broncos received one first place vote in the AP Poll, and were just six votes shy of tying USC for 4th place.
Because they're Boise State. That's why they aren't higher than 5th.
But they are the only 13-0 team in college football.