TCU's BCS Championship Hopes Dashed

For a moment late Saturday night, many of us celebrated either internally or out loud as we watched the clock appear to run out on Texas and as the Nebraska Cornhuskers stormed the field at the end of the Big 12 Championship Game.

The sanctum of the BCS had been slammed to the surface with the same fervor Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had sent UT quarterback Colt McCoy to the turf with all night.

There was certainly a party going on in Fort Worth as TCU could have been the direct beneficiary of huge upset by the Cornhuskers. But minutes later the celebration was stopped, as instant replay had proven there was still a second left on the clock after a McCoy scramble and then threw out of bounds at the Nebraska 29.

That was more than enough time for Texas kicker Hunter Lawrence to boot a 46-yard, game-winning field goal that likely propelled the Longhorns into the BCS national title game while simultaneously delivering a gut punch to the national championship dreams of BCS outsider TCU.

Just like that, the TCU Horned Frogs' season of perfection was reduced to a trivia question instead of something tangible which could have rocked the exclusive BCS club. Oh sure, fourth-ranked TCU will be awarded a BCS bowl bid tonight. It's likely to be in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl after the Horned Frogs put together a 12-0 season as a member of the Mountain West.

But there is an overwhelming belief out there that the BCS was saved serious embarrassment when the officials of the Big 12 Championship Game, right or wrong, decided to put one more second on the clock Saturday night.

Had they not, Nebraska wins and the BCS is in a dilemma no monarchy wants to be. Do you share the power with your deserving cousin or do you take the easy route, which in this case is anointing your tolerable little brother, 12-0 Cincinnati of the Big East?

Either decision would have brought out the detractors.

Fine, the Horned Frogs, paced by quarterback Andy Dalton, defensive end Jerry Hughes and head coach Gary Patterson, were dominant all season. They beat a good Clemson team on the road along with recording quality wins against BYU and Utah in league play. But where were the Top 10 wins? Can we honestly assert TCU would have gone undefeated in the SEC or Big 12 this season? What makes this undefeated Horned Frogs team any more deserving to be the first non-BCS team to break into the national championship game when undefeated teams like Utah and Boise State in the past couldn't?

Those are chief among the questions that would have been asked.

Had the BCS, between its human polls and computer poll, allowed the Cincinnati Bearcats to spring from fifth in last week's BCS poll into the national championship game against Alabama, all hell would be breaking loose more than it is today. Most are more uncertain than ever that the Longhorns deserve a shot at the BCS national title after their lackluster 13-12 win over a three-loss Nebraska team.

Believe it or not, the chorus of complaints might have been deafening had Cincinnati been the one being pitted against Alabama instead of TCU. Heck, the Bearcats needed a missed extra point and a waning moment touchdown Saturday against Pittsburgh to save itself from defeat and secure the Big East title.

But let's not get twisted; for many college football fans, this has a lot less to do with TCU getting messed over and much more to do with the disdain that is out there for how college football crowns its national champion. Human and computer polls come up with a nearly unexplainable formula that is designed to pit the two best teams in the country for the national title.

A great number of fans want to see that decision made on the football field in some form of a college playoff or tournament. The college presidents have been steadfast against any such system -- and when you look at the revenue stream created by the current bowl system, it's easy to see why.

But if ever there was year that makes a strong case for settling the national champion on the field, it's this season. Five teams will go into the bowl season undefeated. Only two of them will get to play for the top spot. The other three -- TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State -- will just have their memories and dreams of what could have been.

Something has to be wrong with that picture.