Boise State won a nation's heart with laterals and sorcery two years ago, but their days as adorbable indie princess underdogs are over.

The Horned Frogs of TCU scoffed at BSU's early 13 point lead, rallied with 17 unanswered points, then intercepted a crazy lateral on the final play to beat the Broncos at the Poinsettia Bowl. Now Boise is just another 12-1 team that wasn't quite good enough. (And the dream of a playoff grows slightly fainter.)

It's sort of like what happened with Gonzaga all those years ago. For awhile it was cute when they would knock off top seeds in March and reach the Sweet Sixteen or whatever, but now they start the preseason in the Top 10 and everyone points and laughs when they lose to teams like Portland State at home. Ha ha! Your plucky underdog act only works for so long.

Horned Frogs rally to hand Broncos 1st loss [AP]
Portland St. upends Gonzaga [SF Gate]
Butler fouls up Xavier's night [Cincy Inquirer]

Send an email to Dashiell Bennett, the author of this post, at dashiell@deadspin.com.