Is Cincinnati a lock for College Football Playoff?
Cincinnati completed the perfect season with a big win over Houston in the AAC Championship. Are the Bearcats a lock for the College Football Playoff now?
Some fans were shocked that the committee put the Cincinnati Bearcats into the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings a couple of weeks ago. However, the undefeated team deserved every bit of that. And the job at hand was quite simple: Beat Houston in the AAC Championship Game and the playoff was in sight.
The Bearcats indeed took care of business. Luke Fickell’s team dominated the second half after going into the locker room up just 14-13, pulling ahead with 21 unanswered points and ultimately winning in a dominant 35-20 affair.
Now 13-0 and with a perfect season completed, the big question remains: Does this mean Cincinnati is now a lock to become the first Group of 5 team to make the College Football Playoff?
Cincinnati College Football Playoff odds: Are Bearcats a CFP lock?
It would be a shock of magnificent proportions if the Bearcats weren’t one of the top four teams in the final CFP rankings.
The biggest threat to Cincinnati making the College Football Playoff was Oklahoma State, ranked one spot behind them at No. 5 in the latest rankings from the committee, and if the Cowboys were to win over Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game. But with the Pokes falling — albeit in heartbreaking fashion — that took away the biggest threat.
Fickell’s team has answered every single test this season, from beating Notre Dame to running through the AAC all the way to the conference championship game.
You can never say anything is 100 percent certain in college football because, well, that’s kind of how this thing works. But Cincinnati is as close to a lock to make the College Football Playoff as you’re going to find in this wild, wild sport.
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