College Football: TCU or Boise State?

Which is harder winning ten games at Alabama or winning ten games at Boise State? Both have merits as Alabama has nearly unlimited financial resources at its disposal for recruiting, a tradition-rich school, and up to date facilities. On the flip side of the coin, Alabama competes with Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Florida for the top recruits (those are only the schools in the SEC and does not include Florida State, Miami, Texas, etc.). A small school like Boise State has a limited budget, small school, no tradition of winning, but only has to compete with teams like Nevada, Idaho, Utah State (schools in the WAC) or Colorado State, Air Force, and San Diego State (Schools in the Mountain West Conference). Not exactly a list of college football powerhouses. This week we will focus on the smaller schools and compare the best three-year run. While next week I’ll look at the Big schools (Power five conferences).

A Smaller school is defined as not being in a power five conference (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big-10, Pac-12) or AQ (automatic qualifier….meaning win the conference and automatically play in BCS Bowl game) conference during the BCS era. This eliminates some of the most successful teams that happen to play in an AQ during the BCS era. Brian Kelly went 10-3, 11-3 and 12-1 from 2007-2009 with Cincinnati but the Big East winner automatically qualified for a BCS bowl during that time frame (In 2009 Cincinnati played Florida in the Sugar Bowl and lost 51-24, but that was after Kelly had left for Notre Damn and a motivated Florida team that featured Tim Tebow’s last game as a collegiate quarterback). A second requirement is for a team to have the same head coach for each of the three years. Having the same head coach during the three-year run ensures that the coach did not win with a team he did not recruit. For example, Larry Coker had an amazing three-year run at Miami from 2001-2003 but won with Butch Davis recruited players, Frank Solich of Nebraska is in the same boat. This would exclude Northern Illinois from 2011-2013 winning 39 games and the MAC (Mid-American Conference) every year, but changed coaches in 2013 when Dave Doeren took the NC State head coaching position. Also, a team must win or share a conference title in at least two out of the three years. Why only two of three? Alabama is the premier college football program in the country and they have not won three straight conference titles. This would exclude Marshall from the conversation. Doc Holiday has amassed at thirty-three wins at Marshall the past three seasons (2013-2015), but has only won one conference championship (2014) during that time frame. This leaves only two schools left: Boise State from 2009-2011 and TCU during that same time frame.

Lead by now Washington Huskies Head Coach Chris Peterson compiled an outstanding resume while at Boise State. Through the years of 2009-2011 Boise State finished in the top ten all three seasons and went 38-2 during that span. 2009 Boise state team went 14-0 finished number four in the country and beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. In 2009, Boise State scored an average of 42.2 points per game which was 1st in the entire country of college football (2009 predated the no-huddle spread craze of college football today). 2010 Boise State team finished 12-1 winning the Maaco Bowl against Utah and finished ninth at the end of the year. The offense that year finished second in the country in points per game at 45.1 and defensively finished 2nd in points per game only allowing 12.8. In 2011 Boise State again went 12-1 finishing 8th in the country after beating Arizona in the Maaco Bowl 56-24. The offense slipped to 44 points per game (5th in the country) and the defense slipped to 18.7 points per game (12th in the country). Looking at the draft picks from those years 2010 had Corner Kyle Wilson drafted in the first round. 2011 had three Broncos drafted; Titus Young went in the second round, Austin Pettis went in the third round and Brandyn Thompson went in the 7th round. The following year six players were drafted including two first round picks in Shea McClellan and Doug Martin to the Bears and Buccaneers respectively. In total ten players were drafted in a three-year span. Keep in mind that during that run Boise State ran multiple offenses and played a 4-3 defense; Boise State did not do anything out of the ordinary they just lined up and beat you.

Gary Patterson of TCU is currently enjoying a remarkable tenure at TCU. Patterson is one of the best defensive minds of college football implementing the 4-2-5 defense to combat the spread offenses. Patterson’s best years at TCU were 2009-2011; Patterson won thirty-six games and won three straight Mountain West Conference Championships during that span. In 2009 TCU finished 12-1 losing to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, however, TCU did finish 6th in the country in the final rankings. Also, that year TCU was 5th in points scored with 38 points per game and 6th in total defense only allowing 12.8 points per game. 2010 was an undefeated year for the Horned Frogs finishing at 13-0 beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl; finishing second in the country in the final rankings. In 2010, TCU improved to 41.6 points per game which was 4th in the country and the defense led the nation in scoring at 12 points per contest. 2011 was a down year for TCU (compared to 2009 and 2010. TCU finished 11-2 winning the Poinsettia Bowl. The offense improved that year scoring over 40 points per game while the defense suffered allowing 21.5. 2009-2011 produced thirteen total draft picks over that span with Jerry Hughes, Andy Dalton and Daryl Washington going in the first and second rounds.

So whose run was better? Both teams won conference championships, won BCS games, produced NFL caliber players, and each had a season going undefeated. Boise State has 38 wins compared to TCU’s 36. TCU produced more NFL players during that time frame (thirteen to ten). What separates TCU and Boise State is the effect on College Football. Gary Patterson’s 4-2-5 defense is groundbreaking in what it can do to slow down spread offenses. With that defense, Gary Patterson TCU teams get the nod over Boise State.

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