Your Daily J: 12/1

This is championship week in college football and that means the bowl selection process is less than a week away, so it's time to start thinking about possible bowl matchups. As of now, the top three are rock solid. The top six in the BCS haven’t changed for a few weeks and likely won’t before the bowl selections are made. Cincinnati has a potential scare this weekend as they face off with #15 Pitt, #3 Texas squares off against Nebraska for the Big 12 championship this weekend as well, and Oregon has a showdown with Oregon State Thursday night. That leaves everyone else in the top ten idle and hoping for no upsets. With the current system, only one of the non-BCS teams will likely get a BCS bid. It’s possible that both TCU and Boise State could get it, but not likely. So, without doing a complete rundown of bowl scenarios (which will be coming shortly), we've been left wondering: which team is better? If TCU and Boise State were to meet on a neutral site (sounds a lot like a playoff game), who would come out on top? It’s important to note that those are certainly not the same question. It is quite feasible that the team who would win in a head to head matchup may not be the team most deserving of the BCS bid (see Ohio State vs. USC). Either way, here are the thoughts of two Hawkeye fans.

Jonah: I'm not a fan of being matched up against either of these teams. It's not that I'm scared of them or that I think the Hawks can't win, because I think if we've learned anything from Iowa's season, it's that on any given day, they will come out and play to the level of their competition (whether that's FCS Northern Iowa or #8 Ohio State). So I think we would put on a good show for the viewers at home against any of the possible BCS teams. However, I do think it's a lose-lose for the school and the Big 10.

Picture this, Iowa squares off in the Fiesta Bowl against #6 Boise State (which is what ESPN.com is predicting). They come out and beat BSU - doesn't matter whether it's close or not. They were supposed to win that one, right? Bigger school, bigger conference, played tougher competition all year. They are playing a non-BCS school so they should win regardless of how good they are. No respect for Boise, no respect for Iowa. The only thing that could come out of that scenario is that the fight the non-BCS conferences are putting up to get the system changed would have just gotten a whole lot harder. Now their pride and joy just got knocked off by the #2 team in a down conference that nobody respects, but still thinks is better than you.

Scenario #2: BSU comes out and beats Iowa - again, doesn't matter by how much. Now you have all the talking heads around the country talking about how Iowa didn't deserve a BCS bid, how the Big 10 truly is terrible and how a team with two losses should never get in again. Boise, on the other hand, still isn't getting the respect they deserve. Remember, they just beat a 10-2 team from a "bad" (bad as in they have 3 of the top 11 teams in the country - sense the sarcasm?) conference that couldn't even handle Northwestern at home (enough with the ol' backup QB excuse, the kid had already taken three snaps in garbage time against Iowa State). So again, no respect for Boise, no respect for Iowa. The real issue now for college football is you've really riled up those non-BCS conferences. They just took an undefeated team and beat a BCS school (oh by the way, they already beat a team that may be playing for the Rose Bowl). So nobody is getting respect and we get to listen to more playoff talk on Capitol Hill (now I am all for a playoff, but I'd like my congressman to stick with screwing me on things he was elected for rather than talking college football).
I just don't see this playing out well for the Hawkeyes either way. I think we probably match up better with Boise, simply because of their style and the athletes they have. Without too close of an analysis, I have to imagine that they don't have O-linemen like PSU or OSU so I like our D-line's chances. I also have to believe our O-line can push them around at least a little. I don't think they've been tested as much as TCU (only the game against Oregon in week 1 should actually count as a college game, while TCU has played BYU and Utah), but they do have quite a bit of big game experience. TCU seems too similar to us for me to really like our chances there. I think we could win, but I also think they could beat us at our own game. That being said, I think TCU would probably beat Boise head to head. Jerry?

Jerry: I think this game would be really, really close. These two teams have high scoring offenses and decent defenses. With that said I think that TCU would win in a matchup over Boise State. TCU has 33 total sacks this season (tied for 13th in the nation) while Boise has 23. Boise State has forced 20 interceptions (tied with Florida and Iowa for 4th in the nation, while TCU has forced 14 interceptions (which is tied for 25th in the nation). TCU gives up 12.4 points per game compared to Boise's 18.6. All of these numbers are really close, so why do I believe TCU would win in a matchup? Strength of Schedule and the run game. TCU has a harder schedule (not by much) than Boise State. Boise did start off the season with a win against Oregon, but I can't help but think that Oregon would give it to Boise if they played today. TCU had to play BYU and Utah (both ranked number 16 when they played them). What did TCU do? They scored 93 points in the two games, and only gave up 35. TCU has the 68th hardest schedule in the country, while Boise has the 80th. It's not a big margin, but it is enough (remember I said it would be really, REALLY close). TCU has a four headed monster in the run game with Joseph Turner, Matthew Tucker, Ed Wesley, and quarterback Andy Dalton. These four have 2,551 yards on the ground alone, and each of the three runningbacks have big play ability. Boise State has a great quarterback in Kellen Moore, and big weapons in wide receivers Titus Young and Austin Pettis, but because this team is more of a "pass first team", I think TCU can run the ball and control the clock better; keeping Boise's defensive backs from cheating when they throw.

So those are our thoughts. How bout yours?

(Note: Images courtesy of ESPN.com)