Oregon Passes Boise State

The latest college football rankings have been released, and there is a controversial shake-up at the top that may leave people baffled.

Former No. 3 Boise State traveled to New Mexico State for a conference battle on Saturday and defeated the Aggies, 59-0, in a game that was over as soon as it began.

Later that night, the Oregon Ducks played host to Stanford. The Cardinals jumped out to an early 21-3 lead, but the Oregon offense led by LaMichael James became too much for the Cardinals to handle.

Chip Kelly's team was able to cut the deficit to seven by halftime, and they quickly seized control in the second half, outscoring Stanford by 14 in both the third and fourth quarters and eventually claiming a 52-31 victory.

So, after winning a game by 59-0 on the road, isn't it expected that the voters respect you enough to at least keep you at your current ranking?

For the Boise State Broncos, that is not the case.

Coming into this weekend, Boise State had faced Virginia Tech and Oregon State, two very highly respected teams coming into this season. But Oregon had olny gone up against one FCS opponent and three other mediocre teams.

Yet in the voters' minds, Oregon's one big win this weekend—its thrashing of Stanford—has proven to be more impressive than all of Boise State's victories, and Oregon has leaped over Boise State in both the AP Poll and USA Today Poll.

Oregon currently has one of the top offenses in the country, averaging 56.6 yards a game. Arguably, its next toughest game will come on Oct. 30 against USC, a team who was removed from the Top 25 after a loss to Washington.

As for Boise State, its offense continues to impress, putting up 45 points a game. Not only has the offense been dominating, but the defense is holding its own ground, only giving up 15 points per game.

But this change in the rankings contributes to the already heavily discussed topic surrounding Boise State—will its lack of schedule strength hold them back from becoming a national championship contender?

This topic has become discussed more frequently every year as Boise State continues to prove they can hang with even the most prestigious college football programs. But being a member of the WAC continues to plague them.

In my point of view, there is only one solution to the problem—one simple, yet effective solution:

Give Boise State a chance at a national championship.

All they ask for is a chance—a chance to prove that they can compete for a national championship—a chance to prove they are as good as the rankings represent; a chance to prove that no one has given them the respect they deserve.

All they need is a chance.

This is a program that has continually proved doubters wrong by defeating opponents when the entire nation is showing.

Year after year, they beat teams that are expected to beat them.

But people still continue to make excuses for the success they have obtained.

The most popular excuse: They don't have a strong enough schedule.

Here's a fact for all the people who accuse Boise State of not playing tough enough competition: Big name programs such as Alabama refuse to accept an offer to play Boise State.

Boise State does not ask to play them on the "blue turf;" Boise State does not ask to switch locations every year. But teams still refuse to play them, even when it has the opportunity to play them on their home field.

So before you go off and make accusations about the "marshmallow" schedule Boise State has, please consider that it is not their fault.

As stated before, give Boise State a chance. One chance.

Now, as for the rest of the rankings, not much comes as a surprise.

Two big name programs—USC and Texas—have been removed after suffering losses. This is the first time Texas has fallen out of the rankings in 10 years.

Here are your rankings for Week 5 (AP Top 25 Poll):

Dropped from rankings: USC 18, Texas 21, Penn State 22

Others receiving votes: West Virginia 83, Kansas State 69, USC 52, Texas 33, Northwestern 25, Oregon State 12, Baylor 10, UCLA 8, Virginia Tech 8, North Carolina State 4, Penn State 1