The NCAA basketball tournament, unlike college football’s postseason, has always embraced the underdog, from isolated bowls through the BCS to the present four-team playoff.
The upstarts got a chance to face a blue blood in a huge bowl game every now and then, from Tulane to Utah, Boise State to TCU, and then UCF, but they never entered the postseason with a legitimate chance to win a national championship.
The first Cinderella squad in college football has arrived: Cincinnati has shattered the glass ceiling.
After being selected to the College Football Playoff on Sunday, the Bearcats will play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. On Dec. 31, Michigan will play Georgia in an Orange Bowl semifinal, with the winner advancing to the national championship game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.
Fourth-seeded In the eight-year history of this postseason structure, Cincinnati is the first team from a non-Power Five league to reach the CFP. The Bearcats (13-0) won the American Athletic Conference and are the only unbeaten team in the country heading into the postseason.
“Today is a watershed moment in history. It is, in fact. “This is historic in the realm of athletics,” AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco stated. “This is definitely something that a lot of people never expected to witness.”
Prior to this season, no team from the so-called Group of Five conference has ever made the playoffs.
“We don’t want to be the flag bearers for the smaller schools.” Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell stated, “We simply want to be ourselves.”
Tulane were undefeated in Conference USA and didn’t even gain a bid to one of the flashy bowl games when the Bowl Championship Series began in 1998. Scott Cowen, the former president of Tulane University, was one of the first to criticize the BCS as an exclusive club.
Utah went undefeated as a member of the Mountain West in 2004 and advanced to the Fiesta Bowl, but only got to play a mediocre Pittsburgh squad, meaning the Utes had no chance of finishing first.
During its stint in the Western Athletic Conference, Boise State built a reputation as a possible BCS disruptor, winning the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma in 2007. TCU was a member of the Mountain West when it defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl in 2010.
Power Five conferences eventually snatched up Utah and TCU. Ask them to join you if you can’t beat them.
In 2014, the playoff increased the number of teams with a chance to win the national championship from two to four, although it didn’t seem to aid the underdogs.
In 2017 and 2018, UCF won 25 consecutive games and never finished lower than ninth in the selection committee’s standings. The Knights went so far as to declare themselves national champions after finishing the 2017 season as the only unbeaten team in major college football.
Cincinnati laid the groundwork for this year’s run by being undefeated in the regular season before falling in the Peach Bowl to Georgia on a late field goal.
Aresco admitted that this run has been bittersweet for him at times. Cincinnati, along with UCF and Houston, will be moving to the Big 12 in the near future.
With little argument, the Bearcats made history. Gary Barta, chairman of the playoff selection committee, said there was strong consensus for Cincinnati to be ranked fourth, ahead of No. 5 Notre Dame, which had only one loss – at home against the Bearcats in early October. Ohio State came in sixth place.
Alabama coach Nick Saban stated, “This will be a big challenge for us in every way, shape, and form.”
If things had gone differently in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, the Bearcats might not have been as comfortable on the field. Oklahoma State, who entered the game ranked fifth in the CFP rankings, came up just short of scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of its loss to Baylor.
Cincinnati’s success, according to Saban, is a healthy development for the sport, as he played at Kent State in the Mid-American Conference.
“I firmly believe that everyone who plays Division I college football should believe that they have a chance to make the playoffs,” Saban stated.
It’s the third time two teams from the same league have made the CFP, and the second time the Southeastern Conference has done it. Years ago, Alabama won the national championship after defeating Georgia in overtime.
Only two Power Five leagues will be represented this season: the SEC and the Big Ten, as conference officials propose increasing the postseason from four to twelve teams as soon as 2024. For the first time, the Atlantic Coast Conference was left out. For the second year in a row, the Big 12 was shut out, while the Pac-12 will be without a team in the playoffs for the sixth time.
The following significant bowl games have also been determined:
On Dec. 30, Michigan State (10-2) will face ACC champion Pitt (11-2) in the Peach Bowl.
On January 1, Notre Dame (11-1) will face Oklahoma State (11-2) in the Fiesta Bowl.
On January 1, Pac-12 champion Utah (10-3) will face Ohio State (10-2) in the Rose Bowl.
On January 1, Mississippi (10-2) will face Baylor (11-2) in the Sugar Bowl.
Cincinnati’s reward for achieving history will be a game against the defending national champions at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.
After dealing Georgia its first loss of the season in the SEC title game on Saturday, the Crimson Tide are in the playoffs for the sixth time.
Prior to their game against Georgia, Alabama (12-1) appeared to be one loss away from being eliminated from postseason contention. Instead, Bryce Young and the Tide destroyed Georgia’s feared defense to claim the top seed.
Since 2009, Alabama’s dynasty has won three playoff crowns and three BCS championships.
Georgia (12-1) made the playoffs as the third seed, becoming the second team to lose its conference championship game and still make the field. Last season, Notre Dame did the same thing, losing a rematch with Clemson in its lone season in the ACC, which was necessitated by pandemic-affected schedules.
When the Bulldogs face second-seeded Michigan (12-1) in the Orange Bowl, they will be making their second appearance in the CFP. Coach Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines are in the playoffs for the first time since 2004 after winning the Big Ten. Michigan, which finished 2-4 previous season, is also the first team to make the playoffs after being ranked outside of the AP Top 25 heading into the season.
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