What makes Cincinnati different?

Now given that title, and after their victory last night over West Virginia 24-21, I could begin to talk about how Cincinnati is this great team, and they have all these intangibles, including a great coach, quartback(s) and wide receiver. Nope, not this time. Instead I have a question for that question, why is Cincinnati not getting the respect that other teams would?

Three years ago West Virginia is being coached by Rich Rodriguez and they are on their way to the National Championship and nobody has a problem with that, except for Pittsburgh who beat them in the season finale. That year Pat White and Steve Slaton were leading what was a very good team, and everybody agreed with that statement. West Virginia was not the preseason pick to be in the National Championship, but they were a school that people could see in there, and from the Big East, a respectable conference.

Now we have Cincinnati, a team that won the Big East Conference last year, and now find themselves with wins over the third and fourth teams in the conference (with a matchup with number two Pittsburgh, still to come) still being looked at as a team that can not be in the National Championship. Now there are a lot of reasons to get rid of the BCS and have a playoff, and not all of those apply to this situation, but I just do not comprehend this. The Big East has had a team get that type of respect before, and would again if this were Pittsburgh or Syracuse, teams with storied traditions. How about when Miami was in the Big East?

To throw TCU and Boise St. away, which is another thing that gets me, is one thing because they do have lesser schedules. Cincinnati though is a different story and it just does not make sense to me, and probably will not. Is it their fault that Illinois, who was in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago, has taken a nose dive and now is a game that looked to be season setting, but is now a should win?

Hey Cincinnati, TCU, Boise State, you guys may go undefeated, and you may not, but in the end we are telling you it does not matter. Get some tradition and we will talk to you in about 30 years. Just what college kids, and football fans, need to be told.