Oregon State coach Mike Riley has a unique perspective on the national championship race even though his Beavers have played just three games. Two of those have been on the road against No. 5 TCU and No. 3 Boise State.

After the loss to the Broncos on Saturday, Riley was not interested in talking about which team was better and offered a smile when saying he forgot whom he had voted higher in the USA TODAY Coaches poll.

"I don't want to sit here right now, right after the game, and say who is better," he told The New York Times. "You know what I mean? Not right now. I have a hard time with it. I'm respectful of both of those programs."

His did say he respects both programs and considers Boise State and TCU more than deserving of their top-five rankings.

"I give both TCU and Boise tons of credit to be where they are," Riley told The Times. "I would not in any way begrudge their positions one bit. They're both fine programs with really good players; they're good teams, and they're well coached.

"In that top five in the country, I don't know if you're going to pick five better football teams than these two teams that we just played," he said. "I think that they all around — special teams, offense and defense — are talented."

Riley also said the Broncos and Horned Frogs have enough speed to hang with the rest of the country.

"Both of these defenses have been about as quick and fast as we've played against," Riley told The Times. "Ever."

-- Erick Smith

Follow Erick on Twitter at @erick_smith