How Can Cincinnati Bearcats Get Into College Football Playoff?

The Cincinnati Bearcats find themselves in the thick of the College Football Playoff hunt this season, as they are ranked in the top-five in multiple college football polls halfway through October.

And with college football odds listing them at around 25/1 to win the national title, there is a genuine chance for Cincinnati to get to the playoff. In order for them to get there, they need to do these three things.

Keep Winning

The most important thing that Cincinnati has to do in order to make the College Football Playoff is to keep winning football games. A Group of Five team has never made the playoff, even with an undefeated record, let alone a Group of Five team with a loss.

Therefore, the first step for Cincinnati will be to get through this season without a loss on their record in order to have a realistic chance.

Fortunately for the Bearcats, their schedule definitely sets up nicely for a run at an undefeated season. Cincinnati is set to face just one team that is currently ranked in the top-25 in the polls, with that team being 23rd ranked SMU.

There shouldn’t be another game this season where the Bearcats aren’t favored to win, and they are expected to make it to the AAC championship game unscathed.

More Style Points

In addition to winning games, Cincinnati will have to continue to win games convincingly in order to prove themselves worthy in the eyes of the College Football Playoff selection committee.

The concept of “style points” is often used to keep teams from smaller conferences out of the playoff, as those teams tend not to have the depth of talent needed to blow opponents out. But Cincinnati is more than capable of winning each game remaining on their schedule by large margins.

Last time out, the Bearcats beat Temple 52-3, with their 49-point victory being exactly the type of performance needed to impress the selection committee.

Cincinnati has also beaten Indiana and Notre Dame by two possessions each this year, which will be just as well-received as a huge win over a team from a smaller conference.

Keep Cheering For Chaos

Finally, Cincinnati just needs to keep cheering for chaos to unfold among the teams around them in the college football rankings. There was plenty of said chaos last week, as number one Alabama lost their first game since 2019, and Penn State suffered its first loss of the season.

Those two results vaulted Cincinnati into the top-four, where they will hope to remain for the rest of the season.

There are some other clear opportunities for the top teams in the country to lose this season, which could move Cincinnati further up the rankings when all is said and done. Iowa is going to have to go through a gauntlet of a Big Ten schedule before presumably playing Ohio State or Michigan in the Big Ten title game.

And with Oklahoma and Georgia susceptible to upsets as well, the Bearcats could continue to rise in the rankings by simply not losing.