Cincinnati Continues Bearing Down, But Rarefied Air May Be Out of Reach

I’ve sung the praises of Cincinnati before, and the Brian Kelly Admiration Society counts Brian Cook as a member. But last night is a new high: What the Bearcats did in Tampa, in a perfect world, would vault them into legitimate consideration for the BCS title game.In beating USF 34-17 on the road, they earned just the sixth true road win in a game matching ranked teams this year. The other five wins belong to USC (which has two), LSU, Alabama, and Florida. In rolling up 31:18 of possession, the Bearcats held the ball longer than an FBS school for the first time this year; they’re last in the country in time of possession, even after last night. In doing both of the above after starting quarterback and fringe Heisman candidate Tony Pike left with a left arm injury -- backup Zach Collaros came in and rushed for 132 yards in the second half -- they earned points for degree of difficulty.

This win just adds to a resume that includes a destruction of Rutgers at Piscataway, a ten-point win over Oregon State in Corvallis, and a win over Fresno State with just 16:18 of possession. Put that up against any other undefeated team: The Bearcats’ resume looks better than all except Florida and Alabama.

Now take that point and put a hat on it so that no one will notice. College football already has.

Because they play in the oft-dissed Big East, because they started this season unranked, and because their potential record-polishing wins going forward would come against Connecticut, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, it’s nearly impossible to imagine Cincinnati hopping past enough schools to be considered a threat for Pasadena, even by going undefeated. Instead, the Bearcats must hope for losses by a non-BCS conference school, upsets of the Big Three (Florida, Alabama, Texas), and second losses for higher-ranked BCS schools.

That’s a shame, because Boise State does not look better than Cincy, and is ranked ahead of them because of an early-season win over a then-overrated team, and the Virginia Tech/USC/Ohio State troika of one-loss teams is in front of the Bearcats because their lofty preseason rankings gave them room to flop and still land ahead of hard-charging teams from the outskirts.

Cincinnati can blame whatever it wants: Their perpetually overlooked conference, the Big East, which hasn’t put a team in the final BCS top five since Miami and Virginia Tech bolted; the inherent bias of preseason polls; or the change-averse and big-name-blinded voters who take every opportunity to reward brand names at the expense of little schools.

The fact remains that Cincy’s run at the BCS title game seems to have been sideswiped at the starting line by teams that were ranked higher to begin the year and can cruise along easier roads, despite their best efforts to avoid going gentle into that good night. Any yelling, though, may just be impotent raging against the dying of the light.

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