Cincinnati-USF: Winner Could Reach BCS Championship Game

Could the winner of Thursday night's Big East showdown make it all the way to this year's BCS Championship Game?  Could this be the year the Big East sends a team to play for the national championship?

An emphatic YES! to both questions.  The winner of the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0) and South Florida Bulls (5-0) game could be making their first big step that leads to a Jan. 7 visit to the historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

There are three reasons that makes this scenario a real possibility. First, the Big East is a solid football conference this year. Second, both these teams have had aggressive out-of-conference schedules, and third, the Miami Hurricanes became a key variable to the equation when they defeated Oklahoma.

I know the Big East was supposed to be a real joke because they "didn't have a team in the preseason top-25 rankings."  There was talk about having their automatic BCS bid revoked and given to the Mountain West Conference.

Well it turns out that three or four Big East teams could work their way into the top-25 in the coming week. Unless Cincinnati destroys USF, there's no reason to think that either of these teams would drop out of the rankings. Moreover, if West Virginia wins this week, they have a good chance of becoming ranked in the next poll.

Same thing for Pittsburgh. If they beat Rutgers on the road this week, they're most likely going to join the party.

Both Cincinnati and South Florida decided to schedule some tough out-of-conference games in 2009.

Cincinnati has beaten Oregon State on the road when they were ranked, they beat Fresno State and they'll get to play Illinois on Nov. 28.

The Bulls, in case you didn't see it on the tube, beat Florida State on the road and they punished the Seminoles in the process.  The 17-7 score wasn't reflective of how much they dominated on both sides of the ball.

They have another game with another Florida team that's also scheduled for Nov. 28—the Miami Hurricanes. The game is in Tampa.

Miami, you might remember used to belong to the Big East Conference and they have become the key ingredient to allow an undefeated South Florida team to make a very potent argument that they would deserve a title shot.

When the Canes beat Oklahoma, they jumped way up in the polls and this could be the quality win that catapults USF into the national championship picture.

Of course before either of these teams start thinking about a possible chance to play in the BCS Championship Game they have to take care of business in the Big East, and that will not be easy.

Aside from Syracuse and Louisville, any Big East team is capable of beating any other Big East team this season. 

Even Syracuse can't be considered an easy "W."  They're probably the worst team in the league, but last year they beat Notre Dame on the road and this year they beat Northwestern.  They also took Minnesota into overtime before losing.

Thursday night's game could be another one of those special Big East thrillers and it could become another huge win for ESPN.

This game could be called "Tale of Two Quarterbacks."  Most people know about Cincinnati's 6'6" Tony Pike—a true Heisman candidate—but the country will get a chance to see USF's freshman sensation B.J. Daniels.

Daniels took over the starting quarterback position when long-time starter Matt Grothe went down for the season, and possibly for his career, with an ACL injury.

Against Florida State Daniels passed for 215 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 126 yards.  Against Syracuse he passed for 208 yards and two touchdowns. His 2009 quarterback rating is 175.66.  Jimmy Clausen's quarterback rating in 179.3 and Tim Tebow's is 165.9.

Whoever emerges as the winner in Thursday night's game is going to get a lot of respect from the pollsters.  If South Florida upsets Cincinnati their stock goes up and if Cincinnati wins another road game against a ranked opponent, their stock goes up.

Most college football gurus believe that either Florida or Alabama will be one of the teams to play for the National Championship.  Texas would be the next choice but if the Big 12 doesn't produce an undefeated team, that's where an undefeated team from the Big East or Boise State comes into the picture.

If Texas ends up with at least one loss and it happens to be against Oklahoma who they play this weekend, then the perfect storm could start to form.