I thought it at the time, but it was confirmed this weekend: this 2009 TCU team is the best team I have ever seen in the MWC. Maybe the 2004 Utah Utes were better, but I'm not sure. TCU ran all over a decent MWC this season. They made a good Utah defense look ridiculously bad. They made a good BYU offense look like a high school team. They won two ACC road games, one against a current division leader. They are just plain good. They have a much better resume than any of the previous BCS busters, but it looks like they have a near zero chance of being able to prove it. My one hope is that if Boise State and TCU both make BCS bowls they get to play BCS teams instead of having to play each other.
Having poured over potential at-large teams, the competition for bids looks like this:
SEC gets 2 teams
Big 12 could get 2
Big 10 could get 2
Big East, ACC, Pac 10 get only 1
TCU gets a spot.
There are a few scenarios that would "steal" a potential BCS bid: Texas losing the Big 12 championship game, Iowa and Penn State both finishing 10-2 and creeping into the top 10, Oklahoma State finishing 10-2 with an impressive national TV audience game Thursday against CU and winning at Oklahoma to close the season to finish in the top 9. There are 8 guaranteed BCS spots at this point: 6 BCS conference champs, SEC 2nd place finisher, and TCU. Texas will go to a BCS game, so a loss in the Big 12 title game means 9 spots are spoken for. A top 10 (or even 12) Penn State or Iowa is very likely to get a BCS bid. A 10-2 Oklahoma State would most likely get a bid as well, if there is still one left to take, unless the ratings for the CU-OK State game are absolutely horrid this Thursday, which they might be. If Georgia Tech, LSU, Ohio State, and Oregon win out, it might maintain enough of a buffer in the standings between Boise State and the Big Ten/12 teams for the Broncos to get to a BCS game. I think this one comes down to the wire. If Boise State gets in the top 5, can they really get left out? It all comes down to dollars in the end, and we'll see how much "respect" the Broncos' fans are getting come December 6th...
I thought Utah would lose as they don't seem to be a very good team this year, but I did not think they would get blown out. I thought they could, but didn't think they would. I do think TCU could play anybody this year. I pity the team that gets them in the bowl game. They make good teams look terrible.
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