5 college football teams that can make their first New Year’s Six bowl this season

Luke Fickell can lead Cincinnati to the top of the Group of 5.

If some team will represent the Group of 5 in a New Year’s Six bowl for the first time this season, how about the Cincinnati Bearcats? Cincinnati has plenty of things going for it that could translate into something marvelous like a Cotton Bowl or a Peach Bowl date. Simply put, they play in the right conference, in the right division of that conference and have the right head coach.

Cincinnati popped last year under head coach Luke Fickell, who is poised to land a high-end Power 5 as early as 2021. The American has been a hotbed of coaching talent. Look no further than Scott Frost going from the UCF Knights to his alma mater Nebraska Cornhuskers or Tom Herman going from the Houston Cougars to the Texas Longhorns. Mike Norvell is the latest AAC coach to do this.

Norvell led the Memphis Tigers to the Cotton Bowl last season and now leads the Florida State Seminoles. In the six years of the College Football Playoff era, the American has sent four teams to New Year’s Six: Houston, UCF twice and Memphis. No wonder Herman, Frost and Norvell have all netted more high-profile jobs. Fickell has the best chance to be next from his Group of 5 school.

As for the division, Cincinnati plays in the American East, which now only has five teams with the UConn Huskies going independent. Though the Bearcats do play Memphis again in the regular season, losing to them won’t prevent them from getting to the conference title bout. These rivals play in opposite divisions these days. Cincinnati has the feel of being this year’s Group of 5 team.