Maybe we should have seen it coming from the start: There was TCU, a college football juggernaut this season, wound as tight as a rubber band ball and failing miserably to shake the nerves.

Maybe we should have known that the 2010 Fiesta Bowl was going to play out exactly how it did. Boise State, the more experienced team, managed to limit its mistakes and stay within itself on its way to a 17-10 win on Monday night. TCU, a team playing in its first BCS bowl game, looked incredibly nervous from the start and seemingly couldn’t get out of its own way for four quarters.

Chris Petersen’s Broncos had been there before after shocking Oklahoma in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. They knew what playing in a BCS bowl was all about and they executed that way. They were the more settled team and they parlayed patience into a 7-0 lead when TCU made the first mistake of the game when Brandyn Thompson picked off Andy Dalton and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown.

What’s interesting is that wasn’t the best Boise State can look. Kellen Moore, who statistically was the best quarterback in the nation coming into the game, wasn’t particularly crisp and an offense that is predicated on consistency and rhythm looked out of sync from the start.

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I wanted TCU to be successfully – I really did. I kept waiting for its high-powered offense to settle in and start lighting up the scoreboard like it had all season, and for the Frogs to make a definitive statement on national television that they deserved to at least be in the national title discussion.

But it never happened.

TCU’s 17-10 loss to Boise State in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl left little doubt that Glendale was all the Frogs deserved this year. Their No. 1 rated defense was good, but not great as Kellen Moore and the Broncos’ offense routinely moved the ball into TCU territory. Andy Dalton looked nervous the entire night and the same could be said for his offensive line and receivers.

The Frogs failed on many levels last night. They failed to move the ball, they failed to prove that they deserved better and they failed to entertain. I was one of the many who watched them dismantle Utah earlier in the year and think to myself, “Damn, this team is special. This team has something and it can contend with the big boys in the SEC, Big 12, etc.”

But they can’t, or at least, not based on what they showed last night. Special teams score more than 10 points in BCS bowl games when they averaged 35-plus during the regular season. Special teams have quarterbacks that can consistently throw the ball vertical with success. Special teams have receivers that can make plays and make routine catches in crunch time.

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In one of the more impressive beat downs of the college season, No. 4 TCU beat Utah like a rented mule on Saturday night. The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 38-14 halftime lead, in route to a 55-28 victory.

TCU dominated every phase of this game, while racking up 342 rushing yards and holding Utah to just 284 yards.

Let me repeat that: TCU GAINED 342 RUSHING YARDS. Three hundred and forty two. Three…forty…two. That’s an ass-kicking of epic proportions.

TCU proved tonight that Utah didn’t belong on the same field as them. I don’t know how the Utes scored 28 points, because the Horned Frogs flustered freshman Jonathan Wynn (16-of-32 219 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) the entire night, even if his final stats would suggest otherwise. Utah had no clue how to stop TCU and the Utes didn’t help themselves by allowing TCU to block a punt and return an interception for a touchdown.

I would love to see what TCU could do against Florida, Alabama or Texas. Some might suggest that they would get blown out, but don’t forget that Utah handled Alabama last year in the Sugar Bowl when nobody thought a Mountain West team could beat a SEC squad. So don’t jump to conclusions and assume the Horned Frogs couldn’t go toe to toe with one of the top three teams in the nation.

If you haven’t seen this TCU team play yet, you’re missing out. The Horned Frogs have one of the fastest, most aggressive defenses in the nation and an explosive offense to match it. Most would disagree, but I think they could match what Florida, Alabama and Texas bring to the table.

As spring practices wrap up across the country, Andy Staples of SI.com ranked the top 25 college football teams entering the 2009 season. You can see Staples’ rankings by clicking the link above.

I’m intrigued by a couple of teams on his top 25, most notably Ole’ Miss (No. 7), Ohio State (No. 9) and TCU (No. 11).

Ole’ Miss is going to give a lot of SEC teams trouble this year with 16 total starters (8 on offense, 8 on defense) returning from last year, including quarterback Jevan Snead, who enters his second full season as a starter after throwing 26 touchdowns last season. They lost key components in offensive tackle Michael Oher and defensive tackle Peria Jerry, but they essentially return the same team that beat Florida, LSU and stomped Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl last year. (Not to mention also gave Alabama a game in Tuscaloosa.)

Out of the teams Staples ranks in his top 10, Ohio State has the fewest returning starters at nine. But quarterback Terrelle Pryor will only continue to improve with more playing time and running back Dan “Boom” Herron will ease the loss of Beanie Wells to the NFL. The Buckeyes should also have one of the best defensive fronts in the Big Ten, with end Lawrence Wilson and tackle Cameron Heyward set to return.

TCU turned a lot of heads last year after compiling an 11-2 record, including impressive wins over BYU and Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl. They had one of the fastest defenses in the nation last year and they held opponents to a staggering 11.3 points per game. But they lost seven starters on the defensive side of the ball, which was obviously their strength, so it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll stack up with Utah again in the Mountain West.

Another team to keep an eye on is Oregon State, who returns two explosive playmakers in running back Jacquizz Rodgers and wide receiver James Rodgers. But as Staples writes in his top 25 rankings, quarterback Lyle Moevano is coming off offseason shoulder surgery and will battle senior Sean Canfield in preseason practice.

The final votes are in and to the shock and dismay of approximately zero people, the Florida Gators are college football’s No. 1 team. The undefeated Utah Utes are No. 2.

The Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.

Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points.

“I thought we had an outside chance,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. “There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn’t to be.”

Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.

No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4, and will have to settle with finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.

The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10, jockeyed for position in the national title chase.

The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS — it’s not considered a strong enough league to deserve one — but the Utes earned their way in.

Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.

The Pac-10 should do the right thing and bring Utah and BYU (or TCU?) into its conference. Then they could have a conference championship game and Utah and BYU (or TCU?) could show how good they really are.

Imagine if the NFL had the same system college football has. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to witness one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time when the Giants beat the Patriots last year, because the Giants would have been ranked No. 6 in the polls.

On some levels, there might not have been a more underrated team in college football this season than the TCU Horned Frogs. But because of one bad drive in a loss to Utah in early November, TCU will mostly be known this season for knocking off previously undefeated Boise State, 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl.

As impressive as it was to hold the Broncos’ explosive offense to only 16 points, the Horned Frogs could have accomplished more this season – much more. And that’s not a knock on what they did achieve, because going 11-2 and defeating the No. 9 team in the nation in a bowl is pretty damn impressive. But imagine if TCU hadn’t wilted in the final minutes against the Utes?

For those who missed the best game in the Mountain West this season, TCU’s defense had stifled a Utah offense that averaged over 35 points per game in 2008 for 57 minutes. But two missed field goals in the fourth quarter kept the Utes in the game down just 10-6 and before you knew it, Utah drove the length of the field, scored the game-winning touchdown and left the Frogs in disbelief. Their 13-10 win essentially became a springboard for Utah to roll through the rest of its schedule and earn a trip to the Cotton Bowl to take on Alabama on New Year’s Day.

TCU’s defense was one of the fastest and most underrated units in college football this year. Their talent was on display Tuesday night, as they came up with big play after big play to contain an otherwise dynamic Boise offense. Even when they trailed 13-7 midway through the third quarter, you got the sense that if the Frog offense could just muster another touchdown that the defense would shut the door.

TCU’s offense eventually added another 10 points and when Boise had a chance to march down the field on its final drive for a win-stealing score, the Frog defense wasn’t going to be beaten the same way they had by Utah earlier in the year.

Nothing against the Utes because they’re another vastly underrated team, but I would have loved to see what TCU’s defense could have done against an SEC team like ‘Bama. But, we were one bad drive away from seeing that matchup.