There’s unfinished business for TCU and Baylor

The American way, as Art Briles likes to say, is not exactly as the Founding Fathers intended. The American way is full of unfairness, injustices, double standards and more hard work.

If they didn’t know that already, both TCU and Baylor do after Sunday’s announcement that, while they are in the club, they are not in the club. Just because both TCU and Baylor are a part of the Power 5 doesn’t mean they are members of the clique that actually runs the place.

This much is now clear: Theirs is a different path than Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State, etc.

Of the many lessons offered by the College Football Playoff committee’s first final four — or as I prefer to call it “The BCS plus 2” — it’s a joke that even after both TCU and Baylor went through hell to get here, the rules are still different.

Coaches and players like to insist all the time that each year is different, yet this final four suggests even the final rankings of a single season are more a reflection of a series of years than just one.

The committee didn’t do anything other than to look at Baylor, TCU and Ohio State and say to themselves, “It’s Ohio State — it must be the best of the three.”

How else to explain that the co-champions of the Big 12 — which according to a ranking done by ESPN that used a variety of factors, was the best in the nation, ahead of the SEC — are behind Ohio State.

Baylor and TCU may be in the club, but they do not have clearance for the Champions Only Room. Baylor and TCU still have to kick it with Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and the rest as they watch Florida State, Alabama, LSU and others walk right on by to the special room.

The only way for Baylor and TCU to change their respective realities is to not lose. And then to not lose some more.

In the short term, the Big 12 does not need to add more teams or even a conference title game. The Big 12 simply needs to have Texas or Oklahoma win the league, or for the postseason field to expand to eight teams to ensure it will be represented when Baylor or TCU wins the one true championship.

Whereas the members of the Champions Club can get away with a loss, or perhaps even two losses, Baylor and TCU need to be perfect to have a prayer.

Despite all of the talk of parity and equality in college football, it’s still the same 10 to 15 schools that run the place. Baylor and TCU aren’t one of them.

The cruel irony for TCU is that it still finds itself fighting the same types of double standards in the Big 12 that it did as a member of the Mountain West Conference. At least as a member of the MWC, the double standard was justified because the schedule was weak.

Now, despite playing in the Big 12, it’s the same thing.

Both TCU and Baylor ran over everyone in a Power 5 league, but the perception is that the conference must be down because the two members of the Champions Only Room are not any good.

If both Texas and Oklahoma were at the top, the committee would view the Big 12 differently.

The sports crime in all of this is how the Big Ten remains in good standing after repeated failings both in nonconference, and in bowl seasons. Ohio State under head coach Urban Meyer may be Top 5 legit, but its conference and its 14-point home loss to a 6-6 Virginia Tech are no better than the Big 12, TCU or Baylor.

The only way for TCU and Baylor to change the perception that they are inferior to the Ohio States of the world is to not lose, and win the few quality nonconference opponents they play. This means that even after the bitter disappointment of being left out of the playoff, both TCU and Baylor must summon the reason to care when they play Ole Miss and Michigan State, respectively, in their bowl games.

What these have shown is how TCU plays Ole Miss in 2014 will affect how the Horned Frogs are viewed in 2015. It is preposterous, but it’s reality.

What these rankings have shown is that fairness and equality are a mirage in college football. Despite all of their recent success, and heavy financial investment, it wasn’t enough for Baylor or TCU to join the Champions Only Club. An invitation is attainable, but there is still more work to be done.

Follow Mac Engel on The Big Mac Blog at star-telegram.com/sports/.

This story was originally published December 8, 2014 at 6:21 PM with the headline "There’s unfinished business for TCU and Baylor."