Boise State wasn’t exposed in Fiesta Bowl loss, but College Football Playoff seeding was

GLENDALE, Ariz. — There have been two Boise States on the sector on New 12 months’s Eve.

One was a convention champion dwelling out a dream season. A workforce carried to the College Football Playoff on the again of star working again Ashton Jeanty, and a storied program atop the Group of 5 conferences as soon as extra.

The opposite Boise State was an outmanned G5 roster placing forth a valiant however futile effort in opposition to a greater and more talented Penn State squad.

Each variations coexisted in No. 3 Boise State’s 31-14 loss to No. 6 Penn State within the Playoff quarterfinals on the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday evening. The primary deserves to be celebrated. The latter supplied Large Ten runner-up Penn State a seemingly simpler path to the semifinals than Large Ten champion and No. 1 seed Oregon or SEC champion and No. 2 seed Georgia, and can additional gas the narrative that an imperfectly expanded Playoff wants to regulate its seeding format as quickly as doable.

For Broncos followers, and people inclined to root for Cinderella, a disappointing and irritating efficiency received’t diminish a magical run. No, Jeanty did not break Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, arising 27 yards shy in his lowest speeding output of the season. No, the game’s preeminent underdog couldn’t pull off one more Fiesta Bowl upset, on the identical discipline that hosted this system’s defining victories. However 2024 will go down as some of the memorable seasons within the historical past of Boise State soccer.

“I’m so happy with this workforce. It didn’t go our method tonight, however they re-established the standard in Boise to be a light-weight on the hill, to the nation, that had been misplaced for just a little bit,” mentioned head coach Spencer Danielson. “That’s a legacy that may by no means be taken from them.”

For the opposite CFP groups that weren’t on the sector Tuesday, or followers of faculty soccer at-large — an admittedly hard-to-satisfy lot — the matchup underscored a vital flaw in a system meant to reward convention champions, however designed earlier than realignment thinned the Energy 5 to a top-heavy Energy 4.

The fault in this Playoff formula, with byes going to the 4 highest-ranked convention champions, was apparent properly earlier than the groups have been splashed throughout ESPN on Choice Sunday, together with ninth-ranked Boise State leaping all the best way to the No. 3 seed courtesy of a Mountain West championship. It created a bracket the place No. 1 Oregon is about to face sixth-ranked Ohio State, which is seeded eighth, and No. 2 Georgia meets fifth-ranked Notre Dame, which is seeded seventh, on New 12 months’s Day.

Those that understood the format have been warning of those unintended penalties for months. However seeing is believing, and Penn State drove that actuality dwelling within the Fiesta Bowl because the fourth-ranked workforce however No. 6 seed in opposition to the ninth-ranked however No. 3 seed Broncos. In a multi-billion-dollar match that was years within the making, it was easy negligence (or possibly stubbornness?) that allowed a higher-ranked however lower-seeded workforce to enter a impartial website, nationwide championship quarterfinal as an 11.5-point favourite — a sport the Nittany Lions in the end received by 17.

“Clearly tonight, we didn’t execute the best way we wanted to, to win a heavyweight struggle like we knew this was going to be,” Danielson mentioned.

Boise State dedicated 4 turnovers and 13 penalties. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Pictures)

Boise State wasn’t a charity case. It outgained Penn State 412 yards to 387, and loads of its issues — together with 13 penalties for 90 yards — have been self-inflicted. However a Broncos workforce that misplaced solely eight turnovers all season dedicated 4 on Tuesday, and it benefitted from an opponent that performed with its meals for the higher a part of three quarters. Penn State led from wire to wire, and outdoors of the lead briefly being lower to 17-14 early within the second half, the Nittany Lions felt in management the whole method.

“I feel the Large Ten has ready our guys,” Penn State coach James Franklin mentioned. “Boise is a extremely good soccer workforce. … We weren’t taking them calmly. We speak concerning the maturity of our soccer workforce — I feel that exhibits up.”

The loss isn’t an indictment of Boise State, or the 12-win season that preceded it. And this isn’t the identical debate as these kvetching about Indiana and SMU earning at-large bids. There isn’t any good-faith argument that the Broncos didn’t deserve a Playoff spot and an opportunity to compete for a nationwide title.

This workforce exemplified the bigger-tent method this sport has desperately lacked for many years. The identical praises and criticisms that elevated Boise additionally apply to No. 4 seed Arizona State out of the Large 12, which was slotted twelfth within the last CFP rankings and can play third-ranked and No. 5 seed Texas in Wednesday’s Peach Bowl. However the Broncos had the primary crack at proving the doubters flawed, validating their “Please count us out” T-shirts. As a substitute, they left it even more durable to justify a system that made the No. 5 and 6 seeds — and dropping a convention championship — look extra advantageous than the highest two spots.

Boise State has nothing to apologize for. Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter acknowledged to The Athletic final week that the Playoff’s seeding system will possible be modified, maybe as early as subsequent season. However it’s not as if the Broncos orchestrated or exploited the system.

“We didn’t make these (bye) guidelines,” Koetter mentioned. “I’m sensible sufficient to appreciate we’d not be the third-best workforce, however we undoubtedly need to be in there.”

Danielson echoed that sentiment after the sport on Tuesday, simply because the clock struck midnight again on the East Coast, ringing within the new yr. School soccer in 2025 is healthier for having an expanded Playoff, widening the trail to compete for a nationwide title. Boise State earned its entry to that path this season, identical to SMU and Penn State and Georgia and each different workforce within the discipline. That shouldn’t change transferring ahead.

Even when — on the similar time, on the identical discipline — Boise State was additionally the explanation that path is sure to look just a little totally different the subsequent time the Broncos get there.