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He knows that the Big East doesn't get much respect on a national level.

And he understands that prognosticators are hoping for a BCS title game that matches an unbeaten Texas team with an undefeated Southeastern Conference champion, either Florida or Alabama.

All Kelly wants is for Cincinnati to be given fair consideration should his Bearcats (6-0, No. 5 in the BCS standings) remain undefeated through six more games.

"We've said from Day One we just want to be part of the debate," the Cincinnati coach said Monday on the Big East conference call. "That's it. Let us be part of it. Don't exclude anybody because they have red jerseys or their name is Cincinnati and it's not a household name. Just let the teams play and figure it out. We may lose our next six games.

"I just think it's a silly conversation to have at this point. We're six games into it. But what's even sillier is to exclude those that are playing on the field and winning football games. Let them keep playing and see how this thing pans out in six weeks."

A Big East program has not competed for the national championship since Miami lost to Ohio State 31-24 in double-overtime in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.

Now the Bearcats have thrust themselves into the national championship conversation by winning their first six games entering Saturday's homecoming tilt with Louisville (2-4, 0-2 Big East).

After that, Cincinnati goes to Syracuse (2-4) before hosting UConn (4-2), West Virginia (5-1) and Illinois (1-5). The Bearcats close the regular season Dec. 5 at Pittsburgh (6-1).

"There's a lot of football to play between now and the end of the season," said Nick Carparelli, the Big East associate commissioner for football

"I think if Cincinnati were to keep winning each week, certainly that's going to make a strong statement. But they're going to have to beat a lot of good teams on the way to getting there."

The top six teams in the initial BCS standings released on Sunday, and seven of the top eight, are unbeaten.

Florida (6-0) is No. 1, followed by Alabama (7-0), Texas (6-0), Boise State (6-0), Cincinnati and Iowa (7-0). After USC (5-1) at No. 7 comes unbeaten Texas Christian (6-0) at No. 8.

If Florida and Alabama meet as unbeatens in the SEC championship game, the winner of that game would play for the national title.

If Texas also remains undefeated, the Longhorns would likely face the Alabama-Florida winner in a game that would seemingly make college football fans happy.

"If we win out, we'll be in the right place," Texas coach Mack Brown told The New York Times. "That's what we've got to do. We found last year that we thought we shouldn't have dropped when we did. We're going to try really hard not to let the system put us where they want to this year. We're not as excited about the system as some."

But if the Texas-SEC champion game doesn't take place, then we could be headed toward another muddy college football resolution.

Jerry Palm, an independent BCS analyst and the publisher of collegebcs.com, said it was unclear whether Cincinnati would get a shot at the national title game over a one-loss USC program because of the history of the schools.

"That would be an interesting test case," Palm told the Times. "We have not had an undefeated major conference champion finish behind a team with a loss. It's never happened. There haven't been a lot of chances for it to happen."

Kelly understands that his program lacks tradition and is battling the perception that it's not an established power.

"I think if our name was West Virginia or Syracuse or Pittsburgh we wouldn't be having this discussion," Kelly said. "I don't hold anyone accountable for that, other than we've only been at this a very short period of time. Hopefully, we continue to win and if we're here next year at this time we won't have to have this conversation."

Whether Cincinnati continues to win could depend on whether senior quarterback Tony Pike is able to return this weekend.

Pike, a Heisman Trophy candidate, injured his left wrist in last Thursday's nationally televised win over South Florida. Kelly said he should know Pike's status later this week.

"Our medical people will handle it," Kelly said. "They're going to make the determination. We'll have a better feel on that this week."

Backup quarterback Zach Collaros capably filled in for Pike last week, throwing for 72 yards and running for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

Kelly said he will choose from among Collaros, Chazz Anderson and Pike after Thursday's practice.