TCU and Cincy: Good, But Not That Good

First of all, congratulations to the TCU Horned Frogs for completing a perfect regular season today by blowing out the New Mexico somethings. It's impressive no matter what conference you're in to go undefeated, and I commend them for that.

As for Cincinnati, they need to beat No. 9 Pittsburgh next week to also finish the season undefeated. That's going to be a tough game for the Bearcats and if they pull out a win then they jump ahead of the Horned Frogs in my book.

The bowl selection committee has to be counting their blessings that Auburn didn't upset No.2 Alabama on Friday because that could have created a whole mess of problems.

Here's the deal. I don't want to jump on my SEC soap box, but you can't tell me that TCU deserves to be ahead of a one-loss Florida or Alabama. They don't face nearly the same competition as Florida and Alabama do on a weekly basis.

Teams like Auburn, Kentucky, and Georgia would be the best team in the Mountain West conference if they played in it. Sorry all you Horned Frogs out there, but that's just the way it is. Schedule tougher teams on your non-conference schedule instead of scheduling the cupcakes to pad your record.

However, I do have a little more respect for Cincinnati. They play in the Big East which is way better conference than the Mountain West ever dreamed of being. Cincy has blown out respectable conference opponents such as South Florida and Rutgers.

They also challenged themselves way more by playing Oregon State and Illinois. Now these two non-conference opponents may no be the cream of the crop from their respective conferences, but they're still solid opponents.

Once again, let me play devil's advocate. I can't see Cincinnati's offense being nearly as effective against an SEC defense that is simply more athletic. The SEC sends more defensive players to the NFL than any other conference. Even Texas's defense is better than any defense the Big East has to offer. That's where Cincy trips up for me.

Now TCU and Cincy most certainly deserve BCS bowls. Just not the National Championship. For all of the SEC haters who are out there, hate mail can be received at cmm5g@mtsu.edu.

TCU's non-conference schedule: Virginia (3-9), Texas St. (7-4 in FCS), Clemson (8-4), Southern Methodist (7-5)

Cincy's non-conference schedule: Southern Missouri St. (2-9 in FCS), Oregon St. (8-3), Fresno St. (7-4), Miami-Ohio (1-11), Illinois (3-8)