Region teams tops in football

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The high desert is quickly turning into Florida.

Well, in football it is anyway.

We here in the upper portion of the Rocky Mountain region may never be blessed with palm trees, MTV-worthy spring break destinations or constant warm weather like the Sunshine State, but in the world of college football, today we are Florida's equal.

Seriously.

For years and years, Florida has been the hotbed of college football. Everywhere you go in the state, there is a powerhouse program. Florida State in the north, Florida in the middle and Miami in the south. Recently, South Florida has joined that group as well.

Every year, those teams are good and at least one of them is expected to qualify for a BCS bowl. On occasion, two of them have played each other for a national championship. It's a mighty impressive region.

But right now, pound for pound, the high desert is better.

No matter what direction you look, there is a current or soon-to-be Top 25 ranked team within easy driving distance.

And not one of them is blessed with nationally televised games, an easily accessible and populated recruiting area or major conference affiliation. No matter what they do, they are stuck with the "mid-major" label. If they lose one game, they have no shot at making a BCS bowl game.

No other region can produce the same number of quality teams while facing so many obstacles.

Three hours to the west you'll find Boise State, the king of all mid-majors. Winners of the Fiesta Bowl, copyrighters of the Statue of Liberty play and owners of the Smurf Turf, the Broncos once again reminded us all how good they were Saturday by vastly outplaying No. 17 Oregon -- in Autzen Stadium no less -- 37-32 and added a signature victory to its undefeated start.

With only two difficult games remaining on its schedule -- a trip to Southern Mississippi and a home game with No. 25 Fresno State -- it's reasonable to think Boise State will land itself another BCS bowl game this year.

Three hours to the south you'll find Utah, a team with exactly the same aspirations. The 20th ranked-Utes were the first mid-major program to ever win a BCS bowl, and this season they are on their way back to that national stage. Utah started its season just as fast as Boise State, standing at 4-0 with a marquee win at Michigan on its resume.

On Saturday the Utes beat Air Force 30-23 and will only be content from here on out if they finish the regular season unbeaten. Do that, and they will definitely earn an at-large selection from the BCS because ...

If you keep driving an hour past Utah's campus and downtown Salt Lake City, you'll find the final opponent on Utah's schedule -- the best non-BCS team of them all right now.

BYU, yet another 4-0 regional team, is pounding opponents on a USC-type clip. The Cougars own victories against two Pac-10 teams and haven't allowed a single point in two weeks. Last Saturday, No. 14 BYU drew the attention of national media with a 59-0 gutting of UCLA and followed it with an equally impressive 44-0 demolition of Wyoming on Saturday.

If the Cougars run the table from here, there will be no keeping them out of the BCS.

This is normally the point in the column where you're supposed to point out that if you haven't been taking these teams seriously, it's time to start doing so. But most everyone already is.

East Carolina stole most of the mid-major spotlight to start the season, but now that the Pirates have lost to N.C. State and their dreams of a run to the BCS are all but over, the praise and royal treatment they received can shift to northern Utah and Idaho.

If the region's tantalizing trio can continue playing this well, it's possible that two of them could land at-large bids to a BCS bowl. No more than one non-BCS conference team has ever earned such bids in the same year, but that streak could come to an end if Boise State, BYU and Utah finish with only one loss between them.

They could even wind up playing against each other.

Picture Boise State vs. BYU in the Fiesta Bowl for a second, and try to imagine just how improbable, yet possible, a BCS bowl matchup that is.

Only the high desert could make it happen.

Kellis Robinett's column appears on Sundays. Call him at 239-3136 or e-mail krobinett@journalnet.com with comments or story ideas.

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