2020 has been a year full of oddities, and college football has had plenty of them. Although the Big 10 and Pac-12 are joining the party, this could be the first year in the playoff era that a Group of 5 team could have a shot at a national title.
The University of Cincinnati remains undefeated on the season and is looking to gain momentum after annihilating then #16 SMU last week. The 42-13 beatdown propelled Cincy to #7 in the country in the AP Poll.
UC falls only under Notre Dame, Georgia, and Oklahoma St. for a spot in the top 4. I think there’s a legit case to be made for an undefeated conference champion Cincinnati over a one-loss non-conference champ like Georgia, Florida, or Notre Dame, depending on how things shake out.
In my opinion, Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State are locks for the playoff. There aren’t really any serious threats to any of them running the table and becoming conference champs, barring unforeseen chaos.
Those standing in their way
Following them, I think it’s basically impossible for Notre Dame to go undefeated, considering they still have to face Clemson in 2 weeks, and UNC 2 weeks later. Odds are they’ll again face Clemson in the ACC championship which spots them at least 2 losses, basically eliminating them from playoff contention.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys are the pioneers of underachieving. Although they have two of the nation’s best offensive stars in Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace, I really can’t see the Pokes being solid enough all around to win the Big 12. Their season still holds matchups against ranked division rivals in Kansas State and Oklahoma, but UT and TCU could just as easily sneak in an upset. It’ll be a gauntlet for the rest of the season, and OSU has a history of not getting it done when it counts. Their last and only title came in 1945, which was claimed in 2016… (I’m confused too.)
This isn’t to say it’s all smooth sailing for the Bearcats, as they’re going to have to overcome Memphis this week, who beat them in back to back weeks last season. They’ll also have to defeat an underrated Tulsa team who kept it close against Oklahoma State and also took down UCF. Even with that, UCF is still a good team that certainly won’t make it easy for them.
Why not?
QB Desmond Ridder continues to improve in his junior season, establishing himself as one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. However, Cincy’s suffocating defense is certainly their strong suit, holding opponents to just 12.5 PPG through 4 games on the season.
It would be egregious to say that an undefeated Bearcats team is better than someone like UGA, but they might end up being the most deserving of the final spot. I don’t know that this team is stronger than UCF’s “national champs” team, but this just might be the year where things fall into place to send a non-Power 5 team on a quest for greatness.
The top three teams in the country hold a significant gap over the rest of college football, so I think it’d be fun to throw in Cincy for the hell of it just to see what happens. This also reinforces the fact that the Group of 5 matters and is deserving of a chance, even if Clemson/Alabama destroys them. 2020 is a crazy enough year as it is, throw the Bearcats in and just see what happens.
