A trip for BSU to Kalamazoo, where this weekend’s game has major CFP stakes

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Most television screens across the country early Saturday afternoon will be tuned in to ESPN as Oklahoma travels to No. 2 Georgia. The SEC matchup will be billed as a huge game in the College Football Playoff picture.

Down the road in Knoxville, No. 1 Texas will play No. 14 Tennessee in another huge game. Up north in Ann Arbor, No. 18 Michigan will host No. 17 Iowa in a Big Ten matchup with a lot at stake.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Michigan and airing on ESPN 2, the actual game of the weekend with do-or-die CFP implications will be playing at the same time as the Wolverines and Hawkeyes, and as the Bulldogs and Sooners.

Boise State (2-1) travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to take on Western Michigan (2-1) on Saturday afternoon in a Group of Six battle that more than likely will kill the CFP hopes of the loser.

“We’ve got to win this game to have our shot in the College Football Playoff, just like they do,” Boise State fifth-year quarterback Maddux Madsen told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

So what makes this game so important in the grand scheme of things? Boise State (Pac-12) and Western Michigan (Mid-American) both compete in conferences that are part of the so-called Group of Six, along with BSU’s former home, the Mountain West, and the Sun Belt, American and Conference USA.

Just one spot in the 12-team CFP is guaranteed to the highest-ranked team from these six conferences. Meanwhile, the other 11 spots will be filled by the four champions of the Power Four leagues — SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and ACC — and seven at-large teams, which likely will come from those four conferences. That leaves six conferences — which house 69 of the 138 teams at the FBS level — fighting over one spot.

And these two teams, who will have a battle of the Broncos, are right in the thick of the race.

ESPN has Boise as the G6 favorite to make the playoffs with a 19% chance, just ahead of the Sun Belt’s James Madison (18.7%). Western Michigan is seventh in the pecking order at 5%, partly because the program’s conference slate is perceived as weaker than other competitors.

However, if the officials had not magically found an extra second for Michigan to pull off a Hail Mary, Western Michigan would have a victory over the Wolverines on its ledger and possibly be the G6 favorite at the moment. That makes this weekend’s game against Boise State ultra-important to WMU, having already “lost” in that highly controversial season opener.

With nothing but a MAC schedule ahead, this is Western Michigan’s last chance to secure a resume-boosting win. Boise State’s season-opening loss came to Oregon, and the Broncos have a win over another possible G6 contender, Memphis, on their schedule, but whichever team claims the CFP spot will have to be as close to perfect as possible.

Boise State might have a little more room for error, but it’s tiny. Even if the Broncos out of Boise were to finish 11-2 with a Pac-12 championship, a loss to Western Michigan could loom large if the Broncos out of Kalamazoo — defending MAC champs — were to repeat and had a win over BSU to display to the playoff committee.

“There’s a lot of high expectations in this game, and that’s the best part about it,” Madsen said. “It’s a challenge that we’re all really excited for.”

Boise State at Western Michigan

When: 1:30 p.m. Mountain time Saturday
Where: Waldo Stadium (30,200, Turf)
TV: ESPN2 (Jay Alter, Tom Luginbill, Lauren Sisler)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM and KBOI 93.1 FM/Sirius XM Ch. 84 (Bob Behler, Michael Callahan)
Records: Boise State 2-1, 0-0; Western Michigan 2-1, 0-0 Series: First meeting
Vegas line: Boise State by 7 points
Weather: High of 71, low of 43, humidity 60%, sunny, 0% chance of rain.