By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Five losses in their last seven games haven't been enough to eliminate the Cincinnati football team from bowl consideration.

If that's not amazing enough, consider this: The Bearcats could still be alive for a bowl bid even if they lose this week at Memphis.

"We're not even bowl-eligible," UC coach Rick Minter said Monday. "A lot has to happen before we can worry about going."

But it's not that far-fetched. If UC (5-5) wins one of its two remaining games - at Memphis (7-3) and at home Nov. 28 against Louisville (7-3) - it could qualify for one of Conference USA's five bowl bids.

For that to happen, Texas Christian would probably have to remain unbeaten and receive an invitation to one of the four Bowl Championship Series games.

That would free up another C-USA bid for a sixth team, possibly UC, which needs six wins to become eligible for a bowl game.

It's no wonder that the Bearcats, who were drilled by TCU 43-10 last week, will be Horned Frog fans Thursday when they play Southern Miss in a showdown for the C-USA championship.

"At this stage, we have to continue to root for TCU," Minter said. "Maybe that opens up an extra slot if we're good enough to crawl into it. We'll take advantage of that."

If TCU plays in a BCS bowl, UC could extend its bowl streak to four by winning one of its remaining two games, providing that whoever wins Saturday's game between Alabama-Birmingham and South Florida loses its final game.

But the way the Bearcats are playing, winning that one game may be a problem.

After a 3-0 start, UC has won only two games - against winless Army and Division I-AA Rhode Island. And they had to struggle to win both of those games.

"We're not scoring points," Minter said. "If we give away more than we score, we're not going to be successful. That's what we're doing right now."

C-USA bowls

A look at the five bowls that will accept C-USA teams with at least six victories:

Liberty Bowl: Dec. 31, Memphis (C-USA champion vs. Mountain West champ)

GMAC bowl: Dec. 18, Mobile, Ala. (C-USA at-large vs. MAC or Western Athletic at-large)

Hawaii Bowl: Dec. 25, Honolulu (C-USA at-large vs. WAC at-large)

Fort Worth (Texas) Bowl: Dec. 23, (C-USA at-large vs. Big 12 foe)

New Orleans Bowl: Dec. 16 (C-USA at-large vs. North Texas)

Up next for UC

• Saturday: at Memphis (7-3, 4-2 C-USA), 2 p.m.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com