The Bearcats might not have been so comfortably in the field had things gone differently at the Big 12 championship game Saturday. “This will be a real challenge for us in every way, shape and form,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. 5 Notre Dame, which had only one loss - at home against the Bearcats in early October. Playoff selection committee chairman Gary Barta said there was strong consensus for Cincinnati at No. The Bearcats made history with little debate. Cincinnati, along with UCF and Houston, will be leaving the American for the Big 12 soon. The Knights went so far as to declare themselves national champions after they were the only team in major college football to finish the 2017 season unbeaten.Ĭincinnati set the foundation for this year's run by going unbeaten in the regular season last year before losing to Georgia on a late field goal in the Peach Bowl.Īresco conceded this run has felt bittersweet at times for him. UCF won 25 straight games over 2017 and ’18 and never did better than eighth in the selection committee’s rankings. The playoff doubled the number of teams that had a chance to win the national title from two to four in 2014, but it didn't seem to help the little guys. If you can't beat them, ask them to join you. Utah and TCU ended up getting scooped up by Power Five conferences. TCU was in the Mountain West when it won a Rose Bowl against Wisconsin in 2010. 1.īoise State created a brand out of being a potential BCS buster during its time in the Western Athletic Conference, winning a remarkable Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma in 2007. Under then-coach Urban Meyer, Utah went unbeaten as a member of the Mountain West in 2004 and reached the Fiesta Bowl, but only got to play a so-so Pittsburgh team, meaning the Utes had no shot to finish No. Former Tulane President Scott Cowen was among the first to attack the BCS as an exclusionary cartel. When the Bowl Championship Series started in 1998, Tulane went unbeaten in Conference USA and didn't even get a spot in one of the glitzy bowl games. We just want to be us,” Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell said. “We don’t want to carry the flag for the non-big schools, so to speak. Previously, no team from a so-called Group of Five conference had ever even come close to making the playoff. “This is something probably many, many people never thought they would see.” In the world of sports, this is history,” AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said. The Bearcats (13-0) won the American Athletic Conference and head into the postseason as the only unbeaten team in the country. 10 in Indianapolis.įourth-seeded Cincinnati is the first team to reach the CFP from a non-Power Five conference in the eight-year history of this postseason format. 31 and the winners will play for the national championship on Jan. Michigan will face Georgia in the Orange Bowl semifinal on Dec. The Bearcats will play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve after being selected to the College Football Playoff on Sunday.
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