Earlier this season I posted a story about the BCS Busters and how the picture was and still is clear as mud.
In September we had several leading contenders and some quality dark horses in the race. Since then the race has changed.
ECU was a leading contender looking strong. They finished last season in the Hawaii Bowl with a convincing win over Boise State.
They started out the season in the fast track with impressive wins over W. Virginia, Virginia Tech and a road win over Tulane, finaly losing in overtime to N. Carolina State. Currently they are on a 3 game losing streak, eliminating any hopes of being this years BCS Buster.
From the WAC Conference were tow contenders busting the BCS Party, Fresno State and Boise State.
Fresno started the season traveling back east to face Rutgers and came away with a quality win over a team in a higher ranked conference. The following week would give Fresno a real opportunity to advance their BCS dreams with a win over Wisconsin. In a hard fought game with the Badgers the Bull Dogs came up short.
However with the right scenarios taking place, Fresno still had an outside chance of being invited to the dance, similar to what Boise State had in 2007.
The Broncos were told if they beat Hawaii in the season finaly, they would be invited to the Sugar Bowl, becoming only the first BCS Buster to make two trips to the BCS Bowls and the first to get the invite with a single loss on their record.
Fresno's BCS dreams ended on October 4th in Fresno with a loss to the Hawaii Warriors.
Boise State is currently ranked #15 in the AP poll trailing both Utah #14 and BYU #9. The Broncos take on Hawaii tomorrow night putting their undefeated season on the line and hope to gain the inside track to win back the WAC Championship they held for 5 consecutive years, until last season, they surrendered the title to Hawaii.
The Mountain West Conference has two solid BSCS Buster contenders in BYU and the Utah Utes, however since they play each other at the end of the season, one has the chance to ruin it for the other. The slim outside chance of busting the BCS resides with conference mate TCU.
The Horn Frogs were treated cruelly in the polls after suffering their only loss to the Oklahoma Sooners. Yet the Horn Frogs are 6 & 1 with an opportunity tonight to get back in the top 25 while damaging the BYU Cougars bid for the BCS. These two teams square off tonight in what should be a tough hard fought game.
The game is televised but most of the country will not see the game. The Mountain West Conference has a high paying but spectator limiting television contract. So while the Cougars and the Horned Frogs are duking it out, most fans will be watching tonight's bill of fair offered by ESPN.
Tonight's game does have impact of the BCS Busters route to the BCS.
Should BYU lose they will be suffer in the polls and TCU can be back in the hunt with perhaps enough quality wins to make the party. TCU loses, they are left in the spoiler role when the match up with the Utah Utes.
Even though there are alot of scenarios possible on the road to the BCS, tonight's Cougar Horned Frog game and tomorrows BSU Hawaii game will shed some light on the race to the BCS, leaving the picture with fewer claimants and still as clear as mud.
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