Do I have to blog about TCU?

The first piece of college mail I got, probably in 1996, was from Texas Christian University. I did not apply to TCU, but I got a second chance to interact with this fine university in 2005, when after graduating from Columbia University I was recruited to be a sports reporter in Abilene, Texas. I was promised the following: a chance to cover big-time high school football in Texas, and maybe to get some college sports experience at TCU. I chose once again not to be a part of western Texas, partly because while looking at www.apartments.com, I discovered most of the housing there was mobile homes.

I am many things, but I am not going to live in a mobile home.

So it is with great pain that I write about the TCU Horned Frogs, who are currently ranked #4 in the country. They are undefeated, which is great. They destroyed Utah this week, and now all of a sudden people are saying the Horned Frogs are for real.

Do I think they could beat Florida, Alabama or Texas? Hmm. No.

But I never would have thought that Boise State would win the best college bowl game I've ever seen in my life a few years ago so what do I know?

I mean, I thought BC might be able to put the hurt on UVA, who lost to a Div. I-AA team earlier this season (and not even a good Div. I-AA team, but William and Mary!). And yet we very nearly lost.

And I also thought Notre Dame might beat Pitt.

Well, let's get into that a bit.

I had a talk with my dad, from whom I learned quite a bit about college football in my youth. He also happens to be a very big ND fan. But he also is the kind of man who, when the team starts to look like shit, turns to the Oregon game and tries to forget about it. When I was little, when ND started losing he would go out and mow the lawn.

There aren't enough lawns in the world this season.

Look, I think, individually, these are some great guys. Jimmy Clausen is one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the U.S., although his obnoxious little pinched face gets old. Michael Floyd is back, and he's spectacular. Golden Tate has the best name ever (better even, in my opinion, than the guy named Yourhighness who almost played at BC) and is a good runner. ND regularly has a top 5 recruiting class.

And yet, in talking with my dad, he made a great point: they get worse every week.

He's 100 percent correct.

When ND started the season, there was fire. They looked great. That is a thing of the past. Don't get me started on Charlie Weis's cocky, unacceptable decisions (like, for example, 3rd and 26 -- yeah, we should run the ball). I guess he learned it from the best -- if you were paying attention, ridiculous Bill Belichick decided it was a good idea to go for it on 4th and 2 at his own 28 with 2:08 remaining against the undefeated Colts. If he'd been right, it would have been epic. He was wrong, and that's why everyone is talking smack even though it's Monday. Kind of gets rid of that mystique.

Also gone is USC's dominance, apparently. The Trojans dropped their third this season, to what I can only believe is an incredibly underrated Stanford team. I told Dad, he of the mowing lawns, that I didn't remember the last time Southern Cal dropped three regular season games.

The answer? 2001. Kristen totally knew that.

Okay, that's all I can do right now.