Brian Kelly says it was Kirk Herbstreit who asked the question, but it really doesn't matter. When television sinks its vampire fangs into a subject, it sucks it dry. Welcome to this week's victim: At some point, Cincinnati football became Rodney Dangerfield trying to get into Bushwood -- a crass, loudmouthed outsider in a ballroom full of tuxedos.
The question for this vampire weekend: If Cincinnati goes undefeated, does it deserve to play for a national championship?
The logical answer: What are you smoking? Of course, Cincinnati deserves a shot. It needs help at the top, but that's not the argument in the third week of October. The rules suggest it has a better shot than BYU, TCU and Boise State, the usual subjects of this conversation. It already has been to the Orange Bowl as champion of the Big East, which is guaranteed a spot in the BCS.
Remember?
When we weren't looking, the line between the haves and have-nots was suddenly re-drawn. It now exists between the 24 teams that make up the SEC and Big 12, and everyone else. Those two leagues have won the past four national championships. The Big East? None. Cincinnati? Especially none. It has chased that automatic BCS berth for all of five seasons.
Should it matter?
You see where this is headed. Herbstreit, or whoever, plants the seed, the seed germinates in the head of a voter and -- poof! -- suddenly you have the unbeaten champ of a major (BCS) conference sucking on an Orange (Bowl) again.
It's athletic segregation by talk-show domination.
Cincinnati has become the latest national talking point because it debuted at No. 5 in the BCS and has the coach and players to run the table. But Cincinnati does not have the history, which bothers a lot of people. The Big East was disparaged at the start of the season for having no ranked teams. Now it has three in AP, one more than the Pac-10 and as many as the ACC and Mountain West. One of those, Pittsburgh, have won a national championship.
But while Cincinnati plays in the same conference as those traditionals, it is not perceived as one of them. The perception is that Cincinnati has been good enough to rise to No. 5 but not good enough to stay there if it keeps winning.
That's hypocritical, but what isn't in this system? All we can do is migrate to the next-newest story and dissect it. This week, Cincinnati is it. TCU, BYU and Boise State are almost old anecdotes at this point. Boise has played and beaten Oklahoma in a BCS bowl. BYU has won a national championship. TCU is an annual tease.
Cincinnati is -- hold on to your computer indexes -- different. Different because when you think about Cincinnati, you think about chili, Bob Huggins and maybe the Bengals or Reds. You do not think about college football.
You know America. Unless it looks, talks and smells like us, then different is bad.
"Close down all the other football teams and have six teams play for it and we'll all play for something else," said Kelly, Cincinnati's third-year coach. "It's almost silly. We're already picking the national champion."
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| 'We're so ingrained to thinking about the traditional powers,' Brian Kelly says of the bias against Cincinnati. (US Presswire) |
Without the Cincinnatis, this season has been a bit boring. Same teams. Same stories. There definitely has been a Tim Tebow blowback, which is essentially, "Please, no more." Alabama is either No. 1 or 1-A, seemingly on a collision course with the Gators. That would be, what, 'Bama's 72nd national championship?
After that, it's Texas. The season has become like watching the Yankees each week. That is meant in the worst possible way, New York. No other sport wants an underdog as badly but does everything it can to keep a Rodney from getting into the club.
"We're so ingrained to thinking about the traditional powers," Kelly said. "Quite frankly, we're not one of them. We haven't been around long enough to be considered. If our name was West Virginia or Syracuse or Pittsburgh, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
That doesn't make it right. College football is the only sport where perception means more than the won-loss columns.
Yes, Cincinnati needs help down the stretch to reach the top two -- probably a loss by Texas because Florida or Alabama are on a collision course for elimination in the SEC title game. But it would be interesting to see if college football's cognoscenti would elevate the Bearcats if they were the only other undefeated option from a BCS conference.
Would an undefeated Cincinnati be valued more than a one-loss USC, Florida, Alabama or Texas?
"We said from Day 1, we just want to be part of the debate. That's it," Kelly said. "Don't exclude anyone because they have red jersey or their name is Cincinnati and it's not a household name."
Cincinnati would be a welcome addition to what is becoming Groundhog Day in the sport. That Kelly even took the job is a mild surprise, but he saw something. The program had spent 121 years, going to 11 bowl games, winning six. It was famous for producing Sandy Koufax, Oscar Robertson and President William Howard Taft. Sid Gillman coached there for six years. Nice press guide filler. Not great football.
Kelly arrived and in two quick seasons led the Bearcats to that Orange Bowl (a loss to Virginia Tech). The only reason Cincinnati was in that position is because of the ACC raid on the Big East four years ago. The Big East needed members, fast, to stay a viable BCS conference. Cincinnati got an early invite and took off -- at least in football.
It has beaten nine ranked teams since 2005, eight of those under Kelly. It had beaten a total of four between 1936 (the first AP poll) and 2005. There was a time when Cincinnati's quarterback being day-to-day wouldn't make the agate page. Now Tony Pike is a Heisman candidate, and his condition for Saturday's game against Louisville is a national headline.
Kelly's rise in the profession has been as sudden as Cincinnati's. This is his third job since 2003. Everywhere he has been, he has won. There have been baby steps from Division II Grand Valley State to Central Michigan to Cincinnati. The buzz about him leaving began almost from the time Kelly first started having success.
Washington and Tennessee showed interest after last season, but Kelly stayed put. He's a fixer. He lays hands on things and they get better. When the defense lost 10 starters, he took a bunch of guys from offense and converted them. Former Notre Dame quarterback Demetrius Jones transferred to Cincinnati to have a chance to play. He's playing, all right -- as a linebacker.
"He couldn't transfer again," Kelly said. "He was going to play a position that I thought could help him and could help the team."
A new practice field was a deal-breaker, so he had it written into his contract. The money was raised privately, and the new facility is on schedule to open soon.
The prevailing feeling is that Kelly's next move will be to one of those traditional BCS conference programs. Soon. The reality is, well, who knows? Kelly could cash in on this two-year run and bolt after this season. He could also be "stuck" if there are no viable openings. Kelly and we will be left to wonder how his talents would translate to a bigger, better program.
"Maybe the question is the answer," Kelly said of his future. "It's nice to build something. It's nice to know you're not having to be compared to Darrell Royal or Bo Schembechler or John Robinson or Pete Carroll or Lou Holtz.
"If this was a Fortune 500 company, I'd want to fix the business, turn it into a blue-chip stock. Here, we wanted to fix the program and change the perception and make it relevant. We're relevant. Now we have to keep playing."
