If there was ever a dream for a Group of 5 Team intruding the CFP under this format, it died Tuesday Night. The undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats, ranked as high as 7th this season, came in at number nine in the latest edition of the rankings. This was after two straight weeks of cancelled games due to COVID-19 protocols in the lead up to Saturday’s AAC Championship vs. Tulsa.
Cincinnati is ranked behind three two loss teams: Florida, Iowa State, and Georgia. All of whom have extremely questionable resumes or have shown a drop in form in recent weeks. Florida is coming off a horrendous home loss to a struggling LSU team on their third Quarterback. Iowa State has two ranked wins but losses to a lower ranked Group of 5 team, Louisiana, and an Oklahoma State team that has fallen off. Finally, Georgia has zero wins in the Committee’s current top 25 and has looked over matched against elite opponents.
Cincinnati’s resume is not perfect, it lacks marquee wins besides 7-2 Army and an SMU team that has struggled. A team though can only beat who is put in front of them and the Bearcats have yet to faulter in the first nine games they have played. College football fans will surely have to wait yet another year at least to see a team outside the power structure given the chance to compete for a title.