Any college football fan probably remembers the thrilling Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day in 2008, when Boise State University upset colossal favorite Oklahoma University on a series of amazing trick plays. The Broncos were hailed as the team that all teams from outside of the six power conferences should aspire to be. Teams like Boise (and the University of Utah, University of Hawaii and Texas Christian University) were bestowed with the title of “BCS Buster”ñteams that could possibly break down the flawed Bowl Championship Series system.

Now Boise State is in the midst of yet another undefeated season and once again they find themselves out of the top two spots in the BCS standings. These aren’t your older brother’s Broncos anymore, either. Coach Chris Petersen has recruited some serious talent out West, and they can hang with any team in the nation without the use of a single hook-and-ladder or wide receiver pass. Why then, do they keep getting leap-frogged in the polls?

Boise State doesn’t play anybody. I know it seems like an overused argument, but it’s true. The Broncos did play Virginia Tech University and Oregon State University this year, but both of those teams have been disappointing and nobody else has even looked like a challenge.

While it’s not Boise’s fault that they are stuck in the horrible Western Athletic Conference, they need to work harder at their non-conference scheduling.

Nebraska University tried to start a series with the Broncos, and Boise turned down their offers. Why? Because they demanded a minimum of $1 million for their program to participate in a probable lose-lose situation for Nebraska. No sane athletic director would pony up that much money to play against a team that could easily beat them at home, and then turn around and play them in a 33,000-seat stadium in Idaho, where there are virtually no recruiting benefits.

There is just as much argumet for TCU and Utah to be in the top two as there is for Boise State. Those teams are currently ranked number three and number five in the BCS, respectively. TCU’s non-conference schedule is roughly on par with Boise’s. The Horned Frogs have played Oregon State and Baylor University this season. They also play in the Mountain West Conference, which has a considerably tougher top half, Utah, the Air Force Academy, San Diego State University, than the WAC. Utah of course has a similar schedule to TCU. The winner of tomorrow’s match between the two teams has a major argument for a top-two ranking and a jump over Boise State.

The other reason that the Broncos can’t crack the top two is the sheer level of play that the higher-ranked University of Oregon and Auburn University have shown. Oregon has yet to score less than 42 points this season, putting up similar numbers to Boise State against a much tougher Pac-10 schedule. Auburn has managed to stay undefeated in the Southeastern Conference, considered by most the toughest conference in college football.Some may argue that Oregon lost to Boise State last year.

These arguments are easily deemed null and void by the fact that rankings don’t take previous seasons into account.

On the bright side for the Broncos, they are now making an effort to improve their weak schedule. Next year, they will join the Mountain West along with top-tier WAC teams Fresno State University and the University of Nevada.

Although traditional power Brigham Young University is leaving the conference to go independent in football and Utah is joining the Pac-10, the addition of Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State combined with TCU and Air Force will make a formidable conference schedule.

The Broncos have also signed a deal with Michigan State University for the 2012-2014 seasons, when they will travel to East Lansing twice and play the Spartans in Boise once. Each road trip will bring in a reasonable $600,000 for the program.

This year, though, there is nothing Boise (or TCU or Utah for that matter) can do to prove that they are better than Oregon or Auburn. They can only hope that at least one of those teams loses before the season is over.

Maybe they can pull a 2008 Utah and beat a major program in a BCS bowl. Until then, they will have to deal with staying at number three.