Who’s the favorite for the 2011 BCS National Title Game?

Yep, easy logic would land any marginally informed college football fan at the Alabama Crimson Tide.

A repeat doesn’t seem too unlikely seeing as freshman running back Trent Richardson, redshirt junior quarterback Greg McElroy, coach Nick Saban and yes, Heisman winner sophomore running back Mark Ingram all return.

But of the entirety of the rest of the Football Bowl Subdivision, who would be be next in line?

Well I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t count out Boise State.

Yes, the very same Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference,  Fiesta Bowl Statue of Liberty and Battle of BCS-Buster fame. In years past, the best the Broncos could possibly hope for was a BCS bowl bid, but this year might just be a little different. First let’s look at the Broncos non-conference opponents:

vs. Virginia Tech (Sept. 6th)
vs. Wyoming (Sept. 18th)
vs. Oregon State (Sept. 25)
vs. Toledo (Oct. 9)

Then they’ll have an eight-game Western Athletic Conference schedule, during which they went 8-0 last season. Not too tough a schedule, right?

Now think about where they might start the season in the polls… In all likelyhood top-10 if not top-five on the strength of their Fiesta Bowl victory over TCU at the end of last season and the fact that they’re returning almost all of their starters from last year, including quarterback Kellen Moore.

So a couple losses combined with moving slowly up the rankings with wins over very beatable teams, plus the always friendly computer rankings for an unbeaten team, and what might we have? An undefeated Boise State team playing for the BCS National Championship Game.

Yes you heard me right. The Boise State Broncos could very easily make their way to the National Title Game next year, and all they would really need is to go undefeated and have three or four teams lose ahead of them. If the past few seasons are any indication, more than three or four preseason top-five teams are going to lose at least once before the season is up meaning that Boise has a legitimate shot.

Forecasters and gamblers alike also like this proposition, as Boise State has been installed as the second favorite to win the BCS national title, at 12/1 odds according to bodog.com.

Could this finally be the year? Its still far far away, but this just gets you to thinking….