SAN JOSE, Calif. – Is this really happening? Yes, it is.
Another No. 1 team fell by the wayside on Saturday with the Ohio State Buckeyes being the most recent victim of 2010’s No. 1 curse. Alabama lost to South Carolina last week to begin the trend.
Boise State’s cheers were heard all the way to Madison, Wisc. while the clock was running out on OSU and the Badgers were celebrating their 31-18 upset against one of its biggest Big 10 Conference rivals. It was Wisconsin’s first win over a No. 1 team since 1981.
Unranked Texas also gave BSU’s title hopes some love as it shocked No. 5 Nebraska 20-13 in Lincoln, Neb. The Broncos had to fear the Cornhuskers would possibly jump them if the Huskers kept up their winning ways. BSU doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.
OSU and Nebraska’s loss is BSU’s gain in a huge way. Boise State and Oregon will likely split most of OSU’s first-place votes, moving the Broncos and Ducks into position for a possible rematch on a neutral field for the BCS National Championship if both stay undefeated.
“We’re playing well right now. We’re taking care of business and we feel good with the way we’re playing and preparing,” BSU junior quarterback Kellen Moore said. “Maybe that will show in some standings, but we’ll be very excited about that come December like (BSU head coach) Pete always says.
But there’s still the chance BSU could get jumped by surging Auburn and Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Iowa State 52-0 and Auburn outscored Arkansas 65-43 on Saturday. Both schools with gain first-place votes too.
Oregon had the weekend off, but plays at UCLA on Thursday.
For now, BSU is only worrying about itself and isn’t getting caught up in the unprecedented hype about being the first school from a non-BCS conference to play for the title.
“It’ll mean something December 6, that’s when the rankings mean something,” BSU head coach Chris Petersen said. “Every week something happens, someone else goes down. It doesn’t mean anything right now to us. It means something to everybody else out there, it gives them something to talk about. We’re going back to work.”
We’re going streaking
The Broncos’ consistent play has elevated them into sole position of the nation’s longest winning streak at 20 games. BSU’s last loss was on December 23, 2008 vs. TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl 17-16.
The closet team behind BSU is Auburn, who has won eight-straight.
That’s not the only impressive streak the Broncos have going for them. Boise State also holds a firm lead on the nation’s longest road winning streak at 16 games. TCU is second with eight-straight road wins.
BSU ranks second to Oklahoma in consecutive home wins. The Sooners have won 34-straight in Norman, Okla., while the Broncos have won 28-consecutive on the blue turf.
“You get guys with certain expectations and standards and it’s good because it feeds on itself,” Petersen said of his teams’ consistency over the last two seasons. “It’s about playing at a certain level. It doesn’t matter who we play; they’ve (BSU players) been bringing their A game, but there’s so much football left to be played and there’s going to be a game that’ll be much tighter (than SJSU). That’s one of the situations we’re interested in seeing how we respond. We try to prepare them (players) for all these different situations we know we’re going to get into down the road.”