Play.
Can Alabama beat Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl?
Alabama looks to continue its winning ways in the playoffs, but Cincinnati looks to play spoiler for a ticket to the National Championship game. (0:51)
4:36 PM
Cincinnati's players and coaches downplayed the role the underdog label may play in the College Football Playoff Semifinal game against Alabama.
The Tide are a 1312 point favorite against the Bearcats, who went 13-0 this season and have won 23 of their last 24 games. Their only loss during that time was a 24-21 loss to Georgia in the 2020 Peach Bowl.
Mike Denbrock said he doesn't think the Bearcats are being fueled by any added motivation.
Denbrock said that each kid will have his own motivation. We feel like we've earned our way here. We feel like we belong here, so for there to be any outside motivation that's needed to get these guys ready to roll, there's enough of a challenge that's going to be standing across the field from us. That deserves our full attention.
Some people forget that the seniors on the football team did everything they were asked to do to get to this point. They've been successful 13 times in a row, and the opportunity that's in front of us to play next, we're well aware of how difficult it will be, how much of a fight and struggle it will be.
"We're excited to get down here and play Alabama and show everyone in the country what we can do against a top team," said Ridder, the nation's winningest quarterback with a career record of 44-5.
There have been few close semifinal games. Eleven of the 14 were decided by double digits. The first group of 5 teams to make the playoffs is Cincinnati.
Dylan O'Quinn said that he wasn't worried about the focus being on them. Everyone puts their pants on the same way, even though we've heard a lot about David versus Goliath. Everybody plays football, so we want to be ourselves.
The junior running back said that the Bearcats don't need to do anything extra because they're a decided favorite.
Ford said that being us will be enough to prove that we belong here.
After a three-game stretch in which the Cincinnati didn't play their best football, the Bearcats won their last four games by a combined 88 points.
