Boise State, generally dismissed by college football voters (coaches and writers), defeated previously-unbeaten TCU last night in the meaningless Fiesta Bowl. The Broncos were widely viewed as the 5th best unbeaten team in the country, and probably won’t garner a single 1st place vote when the final polls are released. That’s pathetic. What isn’t: As our college football writer has mentioned a few times, the Broncos return a large portion of their team next year (21 of 22 starters!), and should be a title contender. The rest of the media has noticed.

If the Broncos open the season in the top three – there’s no reason they shouldn’t – and beat Virginia Tech in the opener [ADD: and Oregon State] then run the table in league play … Boise State should be playing in the BCS Championship. And we’ll be one giant step closer to destroying the worthless BCS and implementing a playoff, which is what the masses want. We’ll post our first stab at the preseason Top 10 on Friday, and then take another whack after everyone has declared for the NFL.

But right now, it is looking like: 1) Boise State, 2) Ohio State, 3) Alabama, 4) Oregon, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Georgia Tech, 7) Oregon State, 8 ) TCU, 9) LSU, 10) Iowa. Just missed: Wisconsin, Miami, Texas, Arkansas. [AJC]