What Football Program do the Zags Compare to?

[BobZag]

Boise State?
Utah?
BYU?
West Virginia?
Virginia Tech?
Oklahoma State?
Texas Tech?
Oregon?
Oregon State?
Wake Forest?
Ole Miss?
Auburn?
Iowa?
UCLA?
Montana?

Okay, what football programs do you think Gonzaga's basketball program compares to the most? State your case.

[nonzagzag]

I'm no football expert but I heard a host on Mad Dog Sports on XM last night say that Boise State is becoming "the Gonzaga of college football"

[MickMick]

I would compare them to Boise State/BYU/Utah.

The Zags have been in place for a decade now. You don't see the fans pulling out the respect card nearly as often as they used to.

Until the BCS becomes more inclusive, I would expect the Boise State fans to complain about respect on a national stage (and rightfully so) indefinitely.

I think the original question would have been more suitable in the form:
"What football program is most like Gonzaga?"

Then again, it is that line of thinking that drives our WCC brethren nuts.

Who cares? It is a long summer and it beats another Bol Kong thread.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

Notre Dame

Gonzaga's rise to national prominence as a university has closely followed the similar arc that Notre Dame followed almost a century ago.

It is hard to imagine that Notre Dame, the most famous and one of the very best Catholic universities in the country, was a small, obscure regional school until the football team began upsetting the entenched national programs. The success of the Irish football program dragged a fast-growing academic powerhouse into the national limelight.

When I moved to the east coast in 1996, nobody knew Gonzaga as a university - nobody. People were more familiar with the Gonzaga prep school in D.C. than they were with the university in Washington state.

After a couple of deep NCAA tournament runs, Gonzaga's name became well-known all over the country. The university is now growing very quickly - in terms of student body and academic reputation. The university's overall rise has followed the rise of the basketball team very closely.

We can only hope that Mark Few may one day be remembered as the Knute Rockne of Catholic college basketball.

[MickMick]

In a couple of days, I'm gonna head over to another message board and see how this thread was received. Meanwhile, the fuse has already been lit so....let's have fun with it.

If the Zags can ever get over the hump and get to multiple final fours/title games, the Notre Dame comparison might be valid. There are many,many years and many, many legends separating Gonzaga and Notre Dame.

[BobZag]

I'm going with Boise State. They've basically built a new bigger stadium. They are non-BCS yet compete toe-to-toe with BCS teams. The budget is decent but small compared to the Texases of the world. Boise is similar to Spokane. BSU football is the only game in town, much like Gonzaga basketball in Spokane. BSU sneaks good recruits out of BCS territory, but has solid in-state players, or nearly in-state like the QB from Prosser. BSU is on the rise.

[englishzag]

I would go with Fresno State. They are usually around the top 25 and Pat Hill like Mark Few will play anyone at anytime. He also recruits kids that are not the most highly thought of coming out of highschool but damn they play hard.

[cbbfanatic]

I kinda like the fresno state comparison. I'd say the zags are a final four and maybe another elite 8 away from being boise state or utah, just don't have the postseason punch of those two

And I think the nd (at any point) comparison is a little outrageous

[MickMick]

I kinda like the fresno state comparison. I'd say the zags are a final four and maybe another elite 8 away from being boise state or utah, just don't have the postseason punch of those two

And I think the nd (at any point) comparison is a little outrageous

How many consecutive years have the Broncos played in a bowl game? How many times have they played in a BCS bowl (different than simply a bowl game)? How many times have they played in the BCS title game? How many times have they beaten an opponent ranked in the top 20? The numbers compare favorably to Gonzaga's record. They get to the post season a lot, but without a playoff system, you can't compare "post season" punch. They would likely get knocked out in round 2 or 3 repeatedly.

I disagree. I think Boise State is the best comparison.

[cbbfanatic]

I kinda like the fresno state comparison. I'd say the zags are a final four and maybe another elite 8 away from being boise state or utah, just don't have the postseason punch of those two

And I think the nd (at any point) comparison is a little outrageous

[RenoZag]

( And like Charlie Brown, they NEVER GIVE UP ! )

[CDC84]

Football is a different sport

I feel that basketball is just a completely different sport than football. The TV analyst during the Oregon/Boise State game put it quite well. The problem that BSU has right now is depth. The best of the non-BCS football teams like BSU can put together a starting lineup at both ends that is good enough to beat a BCS powerhouse in a single bowl game, but the Broncos would have real issues competing week after week in the SEC or Big 10 once the injuries pile up and players start getting worn down and substitution patterns increase. Football is a sport where depth means much more than in basketball due to the physical grind that takes place, and I'm just not sure, at this point in time, if BSU can come up with enough under the radar gems and steal away enough high major players to be a big player in a BCS conference. But in a single BCS bowl game after a month's rest, it's a bit of a different story.

Meanwhile, despite being in a non-BCS league in basketball, the Zags are currently putting on the floor almost an entire team that would be playing for mid to upper level BCS programs if they hadn't chosen GU. There is no question in my mind that with the players they currently have, the Zags could compete in a BCS league at a higher level than BSU would in football. But I feel that the depth that's required in football is a big part of that. That's what makes basketball so special. As Coach K says, you only need 7.5 good players and quality coaching to field a really good b-ball team. This is also why I feel that you can't divide basketball programs into high/mid/low major as easily as you can in football.

[roxdoc]

I would say BSU comes the closest to the Zags, maybe not quite there yet. They need another 4-5 years of success to get to our level, but as a non-BCS phenominon on the rise they probably could compare themselves to us (or aspire to get to our level of acceptance)

[SunDevilGolfZag]

I think our current basketball program is much like our own old football program of days gone by. Solid teams in the 1920s up until WW II that competed successfully on a high level and sent numerous players to the NFL (Stockton, Flaherty (HOF), Hares, Canadeo (HOF) -- to name just a few) Our current basketball run of more than a decade is now about half way into the length of the great football era, with many great players (one HOFer Stockton, several NBA players and numerous overseas pro players) and more to come in the next decade. I think GU has found the ability to emulate itself, albeit in a different sport in the modern era. There is a special intangible on Boone Street that has allowed this to happen again. Really pretty neat. No other comparisons needed.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

I kinda like the fresno state comparison. I'd say the zags are a final four and maybe another elite 8 away from being boise state or utah, just don't have the postseason punch of those two

And I think the nd (at any point) comparison is a little outrageous

I would whole-heartedly agree that comparing Gonzaga's current history and program with the history of Notre Dame football is absurd. However, my comparison was to the two universities and two sports programs at a similar stage in their development.

Notre Dame football, circa 1920, was an emerging power that had pulled off a series of upsets over such national powers as Army and Michigan. They still had not won a national championship and they had not yet won a major bowl game. The university was still a relatively small, unaffiliated school. The monumental rise of the Notre Dame football legend beginning in 1913, when Knute Rockne was a player, and continuing throughout his coaching tenure was unprecedented for a small, little-known independent. That rise of the football program was critical to the rise of the university as a whole.

My comparison was made more to show that Notre Dame football made the university a household name. Gonzaga basketball has done the same for this school. The growth of the two universities is following a similar arc, albeit nearly a century later. Gonzaga's administration has very shrewdly marketed the entire university around the publicity that the basketball generates as a way to show off everything else that is good about Gonzaga. Notre Dame did the same thing. It worked for Notre Dame and it is working for Gonzaga.