Why any system that excludes the Horned Frogs is rubbish.

Barring a colossal upset at the top of the polls this weekend, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that undefeated TCU doesn't have a chance of overtaking Texas or the winner of the SEC Championship game for one of the two slots in January's BCS title game -- and the Frogs may not even make it even with the benefit of a shocker, depending on how the dominoes fall. Assuming TCU finishes off 1-10 New Mexico to complete a perfect regular season, here's why that should bring out the rhetorical torches ad pitchforks (again) against the BCS' "two-team playoff":

• Quality wins. The Frogs have as many wins over teams in the current BCS top 25 as Alabama (three apiece) and more than Florida and Texas (one apiece) combined. In fact, TCU's best wins -- at No. 18 Clemson and No. 19 BYU and in a home romp over No. 21 Utah -- give it as many wins over ranked teams as any team in the country, and puts the Frogs' overall strength of schedule within a hair's breadth of the Tide's, Gators' and Longhorns' according to BCS computer gurus Jeff Sagarin and Anderson & Hester.

• Dominance. It's easy to knock the Frogs' schedule, but they pound lesser teams into dirt at the same grisly rate as more storied heavyweights: The last six games (including the 31-point win at BYU and 27-point win over Utah) were all out of hand by halftime and eventually decided by at least four touchdowns; TCU has only trailed in the fourth quarter once, in the comeback win at Clemson, which has only lost one game since en route to the ACC title game. The average margin of victory (27.1 points per game) is right behind Texas' as the most lopsided number in the nation.

This is the biggest difference between TCU this year and last year's undefeated Mountain West darling, Utah, which was a master of the squeaker. The Utes won four games in '08 by three points or less (including a stunning, last-second comeback over TCU in which they were outgained by 141 yards), and employed an All-American kicker who was 11-for-11 on field goals in those four games. Against an arguably identical schedule, the Frogs are blowing the doors off and haven't left anything up to the kicker.

• No weak links. The lopsided scores are a direct result of uncanny across-the-board production. TCU only has one real star, defensive end Jerry Hughes, but is good at everything -- literally everything. The Frogs currently rank in the top 10 nationally in pretty much every conceivable facet of the game:

• Scoring Offense (No. 5)
  • Total Offense (5)
  • Scoring Defense (6)
  • Total Defense (4)
  • Rushing Offense (5)
  • Pass Efficiency Offense (9)
  • Rushing Defense (6)
  • Passing Defense (3)
  • Pass Efficiency Defense (5)
  • First Downs Gained (7)
  • First Downs Allowed (1)
  • Third Down Defense (3)
  • Kickoff Returns (1)
  • Sacks Allowed (6)
  • Time of Possession (10)
  • Blood-squirting Mascots (1)

For the general ethos, look no further than the nation's fifth-ranked running game, which has three running backs over 600 yards on the ground for the season -- two of them freshmen, running behind a largely rebuilt offensive line -- but none over 700 yards. Exceptionally efficient quarterback Andy Dalton has chipped in nearly 500 rushing himself.

• They're not a one-hit wonder. Not that anything outside of this season's resumé should explicitly count toward anything, but TCU has obviously established itself as one of the most consistent, bankable programs on any level. The Frogs are the only team in the country to win conference championships in three different leagues this decade, taking the WAC (2000), C-USA (2002, with a co-championship in a near-BCS run in 2003) and Mountain West (2005 and 2009); since hopping to the MWC, they've reeled off four 11-win efforts in five years, matched only by USC and Boise State. Under Gary Patterson since 2001, the program ranks right alongside the elite in terms of year-in, year-out excellence. This season is only the first time the Frogs have put it all together at once, without a hiccup.

None of which is to argue that TCU is necessarily better, has a better resumé or is more deserving than any of "The Big Three" obviously on a collision course for Pasadena. It's only to argue that any system that doesn't even allow the likes of the Frogs* the chance to compete for a championship on the field doesn't deserve to bear the term.

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Or Cincinnati, as we'll see later this week.