TCU, Boise Make History, but Progress?

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- As far TCU coach Gary Patterson is concerned, the landscape of college football was changed forever the day the TCU-Boise State Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was announced last month.

Not one, but two programs from non-automatic BCS qualifying conferences meeting on the grand stage of the BCS on Monday night at the University of Phoenix stadium. No. 3 TCU hails from the Mountain West, while sixth-ranked Boise State comes in from the WAC.

Patterson calls that progress. Others with less a vested interest consider this Fiesta Bowl a huge cop out.

Real progress in the landscape of big money college football comes the day a so-called non-automatic BCS qualify program lines up to play for the BCS national title. This Boise State-TCU matchup can't achieve that.

Texas and Alabama will play for the BCS national title Thursday night.

But just maybe, the winner of Monday's night Fiesta Bowl will take the next step in true major equality at the beginning of next season if it enters the preseason polls in the Top 5 -- a first for a non-automatic BCS squad -- which would position that nicely to play for the national title provided another undefeated run is made.

"A year ago we ended up the season seventh and we started [this season] 17th in the preseason poll," Patterson said. "So it will really come down to how everybody else perceives everything else to go down and how the game goes down."

Alabama, which returns Heisman Trophy running back Mark Ingram, will likely start out the No. 1 team in the nation next preseason. No. 2 or No.3 could easily be the Horned Frogs or Broncos with the talented nuclei both programs will return next season.

But a lot will depend on how Monday night's game goes. It's been called everything from the "BCS Buster Bowl" to "Separate But Equal Bowl," but for real progress to be made this has to be a game for the ages. We're talking similar in excitement to Boise State's thrilling overtime victory over powerhouse Oklahoma here at the Fiesta Bowl a few years ago. The most anticipated strength-on-strength matchup will be the Broncos top-scoring offense versus the No.1 defense in the nation.

But the real show might come on the celebrated sides of the ball that pits the Horned Frogs emerging offense against Boise State's up-and-down defense.

"The most important thing we're trying to think about right now is winning," Patterson said Sunday morning. "We're going to let all the rest of that stuff take care of itself.

"Right now it's tomorrow night, and when we play the ball game, give ourselves an opportunity to win the ball game. And then we'll let everybody who decides all the rest of that stuff decide it."

That's making the assumption that fairness will prevail. What we already know is there is the perception that the non-automatic qualifiers don't play the same level of competition Texas sees weekly in the Big 12 or Alabama and Florida sees in the SEC.

But let's look at the collective body of work of TCU and Boise State this season. The Frogs went into both Clemson's Death Valley and Virginia and came out victorious while dismantling both BYU and Utah in their run through the Mountain West. And who will soon forget the Broncos season-opening win over eventual Pac-10 champion and Rose Bowl participant Oregon?

These teams have proven they belong. But the votes, especially the human voters in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll will always have trouble deciding on a mid-major over a major. Heck some would argue that even the mid-major coaches have the same difficulty.

Patterson admitted last month that on his final regular-season ballot he voted Alabama No.1 and his Frog No.2. On the surface Patterson says he believes the Crimson Tide is the better team.

But safe money says Patterson is really banking on Texas being the stronger of the two Thursday night. A win for the Longhorns and the Frogs could produce the second split national championship of the BCS era. The coaches are obligated to crown the winner of the BCS national title, but the AP writers, who split from the BCS several years back, have no such binding ties.

It's been interesting the past few weeks to listen to Patterson not be willing to challenge the BCS structure when it became clear his team was among the elite but likely wouldn't get a chance to prove just how elite on the football field.

Patterson flat out refused to rock the boat and demand entry as others had done before him. His silence may have paved the way for the BCS and its bowl partners to feel comfortable matching up the Frogs against the first ever non-automatic qualifier in a BCS game.

Patterson defended his inaction Sunday.

"Our commissioner has done a great job in talking for the Mountain West," said Patterson, who will add to his coach of the year hardware this week with the Eddie Robinson Award. "I believe the only way we can do anything about it as coaches is we got to go win. We've got to play a great schedule and you've got to go win, and your kids got to do it the right way.

"We haven't whined about it. We haven't done anything except try to do the best we could on the field and try to be who we needed to be. I think Boise State has done the same thing."

Like Patterson, Boise State coach Chris Petersen isn't all that sure the BCS is the most fair and best system for naming a national champion each year. No matter what this season, two teams will finish undefeated this season but only one of them had a chance to play for the national championship.

"It's a process," Petersen said. "Nothing happens overnight.

"And I've been feeling like the whole BCS formula and process is getting better. It is working.

"A few years ago, for Boise State to even be mentioned in it, a lot of people wouldn't have thought that. Now you have two of us in game like this. We're making progress."

Maybe so, but what's next?