The Truth Without Hype: Gameday in Boise

After a few weeks of letting us down, college football finally delivered us some honest to god actual competition, well outside of the Big Ten. Most teams have finished playing the cupcake portion of their schedule and are either into conference play or are actually testing themselves against some decent foes. Although there were not a lot of actual upsets, we actually what we used to call "competitive games." These are uncommon for teams in the top 25 until conference play begins as most teams prefer to save all their effort for the end of the season and let the hype carry them as far as possible. This week Boise State, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona, Penn. State, Oregon, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, West Virginia, and South Carolina actually saw themselves tested. Not all of them survived the tests. Texas was the first juggernaut of the season to fall, at one time a top five team, and with even bigger tests starting next week we actually get to see a dramatic shake up in the top of the polls.

For me, however, this all takes a back seat to what Bronco fans got experience this past weekend. College Gameday has been around for a long time and to some schools a visit from the crew may not be that big of a deal but is sure as hell meant a lot to us. For the first time in history, Gameday deemed Boise worry of the weeks best game and broadcast live from the Smurf Turf on Saturday morning. The show airs at 9 AM Eastern Time, Boise is in Mountain Time, so if you don't live here you may not have realized that meant every fan in the stadium for the show had been there well before 6 AM.

My experience started well before 6 AM. I was lucky enough to volunteer for the event, I know it doesn't sound that lucky, but trust me it was. While the majority of the 13,205 Bronco faithful stood in the audience booing viciously every time Mark May was one screen, I was setting up tables, painting signs, hanging flags, escorting VIP guests to their seats, and handing out buckets of Home Depot gift cards to every set of greedy hands in sight. Even better, I got to arrive at 4 AM to start my slave labor. I live 20 minutes from campus and if you were thinking I got to park right outside of the stadium and just waltz in, you've never been to BSU on Gameday before. To make a long story short, I merrily jumped out of bed at 3 AM to start my adventure, if you know me well, you know that I prefer that as a bedtime, not a a wake-up call.

The experience was something I will never forget. As I walked past the crowd on the other side of the gaurdrail with a box of Home Depot hard hats, fans began to cherr me like a rock star. "HARD HATS!! GIVE US SOME HARD HATS!!! ALRIGHT ORANGE SHIRTED CREW GUY!!!" I felt like the guy in the Winnie the Pooh costume at Disneyworld or Barack Obama at a trendfollowing tools rally, and all I was doing was opening a box of plastic hats. When we had finished handing them out, there were fans booing us and security begging us to find some more to give to crying disappointed children. I was then informed by the supervisors that they usual can't get rid of them all because people have no intrest in all that promotional crap. The energy was unusual even to the professionals. The signs were great as well, unfortunately, about twenty people had their Mark May hate propaganda taken away at the door, and countless more lost there sexual advances towards Erin Andrews. Here are some good ones.

Most of the best ones didn't make it in but such is the way of television. My reward for all this? I didn't get paid, I didn't really get to watch the entire show, and I certainly didn't get a full nights sleep. I did however get to rub up against Desmond Howard's Super Bowl ring, do a Heisman pose on the Gameday set, and follow Erin Andrews out of the stadium for about 500 feet (and I didn't even get maced by the two cops with her). Also, these pictures speak for themselves.

Thanks for coming guys, I made sure to thank every hand I shook, and with any luck they'll be back next year.

25. Arkansas - There are no longer 25 undefeated teams in the country, so I can now show some love for some one loss teams. Sometimes, a loss speaks more about how good you are than a win does. That was the case for the Higs this weekend, losing a heartbreaker to the top ranked Crimson Tide.

24. Miami - The lists other 1 loss team. The Hurricanes haven't played an oustanding schedule but they have destroyed everyone but Ohio State so far, and lets be honest, they outplayed the Buckeyes. If Jacory Harris knew how to throw the ball to his own guys in the big games, the Canes are the national title hunt.

23. USC - No undefeated team in the country has been less impressive than the former powerhouse out of LA. The defense has been very shaky and the strength of schedule boasts the worst team from three different BCS conferences. Yeah, they killed Washington State this week, but all that proves is that they aren't a 2-A team.

22. Texas A&M - The Aggies haven't been a whole lot better than the Trojans but they are undefeated. This weeks contest against OK State will start to show who belongs in the top haf of the conference and who goes back to the bottom.

21. Oklahoma State - The week one blow of Washington State looks a little bit impressive every time a 2-A team hangs thirty on them. The offense looks great but has yet to face any real tests.

20. Northwestern - The Wildcats are not overly impressive, but they have simply one every week. That isn't a big deal for some teams but for the Wildcats it is huge.

19. Nebraska - The Cornhuskers struggled quite a bit against South Dakota State this week. Which begs the question: How bad is the Washington Huskie defense?

18. Missouri - Are you seeing a theme here? The Big 12 has 4 undefeated teams without a single impressive win. At least Missouri is consitantly doing it big though.

17. Kansas State - The trend continues.......

16. Florida - Is the offense back after looking like Florida again this week against an overmatched UK team? It might be, but only because Urban Meyer gave up on his new starter in the red zone already and has Tebow lite running the option at the goal line every time down the field.

15. Wisconsin - Another case of who have you played but I'll be damned if this weeks game against Austin Peay wasn't impressive. The Arizona State win looks a littel better in hindhight as well after the Sun Devils put a scare into Oregon this week.

14. Michigan State - A big win over anybody when your head coach isn't at the game is really impressive. The Spartans face Wisconsin this week, one will move up, and the other probably will fall out of my top 25.

13. Nevada - The California blowout looks even better after the Bears really beat and Arizona team coming off a huge win over Iowa. The Wolfpack now enter WAC play unbeaten and could be unbeaten when they clash with Boise State in a suddenly very big game the day after Thanksgiving.

12. LSU - It may not be very pretty, butthe Tigers a quietly 4-0 against two SEC teams and two ranked teams out of conference. Granted those teams aren't really great right now either, but the schedule deserves some respect.

11. NC State - Only one team still stands undefeated in the ACC. A victory over the reigning champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets has the Wolfpack thinking BCS.

10. Ohio State - I don't care how many points they scored, call me when they play somebody. For all the criticisms that BSU and the SEC teams get for their soft scheduling, the Buckeyes have played one of the easiest slates in the nation to this point.

9. Oregon - The strenth of schedule doesn't look much better than OSU's after Tennessee needed 2 overtimes to get past lowly UAB this week. Arizona State put a scare in them, the Ducks just might be mortal after all.

8. Arizona - The Wildcats came out cold this week against Cal but a late rally showed for the second straight week that they can win in the fourth quarter against good teams.

7. TCU - The Horned Frogs didn't look terrible against SMU on Friday, but if they want to be in the national title picture, they need to look better.

6. Utah - Quietly sneaking back towards the top after another blowout, the schedule is trash until late October though, so don't expect them here for very long.

5. Oklahoma - The wins keep coming, and even though the margins are small, the Sooners probably have faced the nations toughest schedule to date.

4. Auburn - The Tigers have really proven how tough they can be, coming back twice in the fourth quarter in as many weeks against some really good teams. With Cam newton can QB, this team can beat anyone, including archrival Alabama.

3. Stanford - The Cardinal just keep cruising past everyone on their schedule, making Notre Dame just look like any other team in a rout in South Bend Saturday. This weeks showdown with Oregon will go a long way towards deciding the PAC-10.

2. Alabama - The Tide impressed in a second half rally at Arkansas. I hate them, but they keep winning for a reason: they are really good.

1. Boise State - A second win on the year over a ranked team makes the Broncos one of only two undefeated teams in the country to do so. At this point in the season, the schedule is in the Broncos favor. Enjoy it while it lasts. A side note, I forgot about Michigan until I finished writing the list and don't want to go back and edit it. You can put them in around 14.

Also considered: South Carolina, Air Force

Dropped from rankings: Texas, West Virgina, Temple, Fresno State, South Carolina

Picks of the week:

Alabama 28 - Florida 10

Oklahoma 17 - Texas 16

Stanford 47 - Oregon 41

Miami 32 - Clemson 23

Wisconsin 24 - Michigan State 22

NFL

Miami 37 - New England 28

Baltimore 20 - Pittsburgh 9

Washington 17 - Philadelphia 30

Chicago 31 - New York Giants 16

Tennessee 20 - Denver 13