Do you mean because all of the 74H* series registers would have within them lots of different logic gates? I don't think this invalidates the premise -- ie. if you were using a CPU you'd still have registers.
There's more than just registers and flip flops there. The 74HC08 is a quad 2-input and gate, and the 74HC32 is a quad 2-input or gate. Arguably the demuxes (74HC138 and 74HC139) are simply combinatorial logic too.
But I'm of the opinion that the lack of an integrated logic ALU still makes it cute enough for discussion and praise, despite the anachronism of it's constituent components.
