First off, Boise State is the only team that was available with a higher BCS ranking (9 instead of 10 for OSU).
And the BCS at large spots are all about money. Ohio State is probably the second biggest draw in college football behind Notre Dame. Boise State, being in Idaho, couldn't even come close to competing for that.
Those are completely different situations.
And yes the SEC sucks balls in basketball this year. Any team that doesn't win 12 conference games shouldn't get consideration. The league was bad last year, and it's worse this year. Alabama was weak, and then they lost Steele. We were young to begin with, and we've lost almost all of our backcourt, still working on messing up the rest of their knees. LSU is decent, not great. Arkansas has the biggest OOC wins in the league, and they are getting smoked in SEC play. Florida is decent, not great. UT is decent, not great. There isn't a single SEC team in the Top 25, and that's because none deserve it.