Cincinnati fans thinking too far ahead

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all enjoyed the success of the UC football team this season.

Truthfully though, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The Bearcats are 5-0 this year and are a very good football team, but they are nowhere near ready to play for a national title.

They still have a chance at playing for the title, but the team will stumble somewhere along the way; it will be against South Florida Thursday night on ESPN.

Believe me, I don’t want the Bearcats to lose. I hope they shut down the Bulls. I’d like to go to Pasadena as much as anybody.

Even if they did play for the national championship, a team like Florida or Texas would run all over them. I’m not sure UC  wants that at this point. They aren’t a good enough team yet and don’t get the recruits necessary to beat the best teams in the country.

They are certainly on the right track, but I think UC should be perfectly content with another Orange Bowl appearance. I’m not saying that anyone wouldn’t be content with another trip to Miami either, but UC needs to win a big bowl game before they start thinking about winning national championships.

In the Orange Bowl last year, the difference in the caliber of players really showed.

This year, quarterback Tony Pike hasn’t played against defensive backs with the skills that the Hokies squad had last year.

Once he plays against those types of players again, people will begin to realize that he’s not the quarterback everyone thinks he is.

South Florida is a great test for Pike against a Bulls defense that hasn’t given up more than 20 points in a single game all season, including holding Florida State to only
seven points.

The Bulls have 16 takeaways this season, seven interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. Brian Kelly thinks South Florida’s defensive line can play with anybody in the country, including any SEC or Big Ten team.

Not to mention, the Bulls’ B.J. Daniels has stepped in nicely to replace injured quarterback Matt Grothe. Daniels has rushed for 342 yards this season in five games.

Even if UC doesn’t lose to South Florida, there are plenty of other opportunities for UC to pull a game like they did against UConn last season.

The loss might not be the worst thing for UC though. It may drop them down a peg and realize that they don’t have the Big East wrapped up as easily as they thought they would.

So the question remains. Should we want the Bearcats in the national championship against a team that will most likely beat them by 20 points or should we hope for one more Orange Bowl and have a good shot at winning it.

Do we want our team to be the one that everyone talks about after the national championship as the team that shouldn’t have been there?

Absolutely not. Trust me, we don’t want to have to play Florida. Sure, it would be exciting to play for a title. It would actually be one of the greatest accomplishments for this school.

I just don’t think this team is as good as its No. 9 ranking. And if they play like they did against Miami (OH), UC may lose more than just one game.

Does anyone really think that UC can hang physically with Texas or Florida? Look at what happened last year against Oklahoma. Even a defense with Connor Barwin, Mike Mickens and DeAngelo Smith was torched for 52 points.

This year’s defense is good, but not what they were last year. The bottom line is that UC would be embarrassed in the national championship.

They need to play in bowl games they can win until the big time recruits start committing
to Cincinnati. UC could beat a team like Virginia Tech this year and gain  some respect.

So let’s try to win the Orange Bowl once before we start going crazy with the national championship talk.

Think UC will beat South Florida? Will the Bearcats make it to the National Championship? E-mail Garrett at sabelhgt@mail.uc.edu