Play.
Fickell is up for the challenge of Alabama.
Kirk Herbstreit sat down to talk with the coach of the Cincinnati team about the upcoming game against Alabama. (3:20)
6:30 AM
The Cincinnati Bearcats will not be playing on their own. The College Football Playoff semifinals will be played on the field of the Jerry Dome. They shouldn't do that under their own flag. They should run out behind the banners with the logos of the Bowl Championship Series and would-be CFP crashers who came before them.
The black and gold of UCF, the blue and white of BYU, the blue and orange of Boise State, and the angry little Green Wave of Tulane are all included. When it's time for the coin to be thrown for the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Gang of 5 conferences should all march out of their current conferences and join the American Athletic Conference. Bring out Gary Patterson and McKenzie Milton, and let them stand out in the middle of the field with the actual captains.
You should have brought them all to Arlington, Texas, this weekend, because like it or not, you also represent all of them and all their greatest seasons, years since lost in the shadows.
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When asked about his team's larger role earlier this season, Cincinnati coach Fickell said he didn't know. I know what our goals are and how difficult it is to accomplish them alone. If our success means something to other people out there, I appreciate it, but I don't think they see us as a surprise story. We expect that to happen.
They should. The Bearcats have lost one game in the past two years. Since Fickell's first year on the job, Cincinnati has posted a four-year mark of 44-6, with double-digit wins in every season except last year's 9-1 pandemic-shortened schedule.
The success of the Bearcats makes them want us to know that they are not an underestimation. They don't like the idea.
"We've heard a lot about David versus Goliath," said Dylan O'Quinn, a junior offensive lineman. Everyone puts their pants on the same way.
Alabama wants us to know that it doesn't consider the Bearcats as an underdog. The Tide are trying to convince us that they are the favorite.
Will Anderson Jr. said that he felt like the underdogs in the game. We have been disrespected all year.
The player who has already won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and been named to every All-America team known to man, let alone anyone and everyone on either of these teams' rosters and coaching staffs, we ain't. There is only one cat that is an outsider in this playoffs. A cat.
Cincinnati is a big favorite at the betting window. It is the first school from outside the Power 5 to make the four-team CFP. The defending national champion is facing the Bearcats. The University of Cincinnati spent over 70 million dollars on athletics. Alabama, Georgia and Michigan averaged $164 million.
Cincinnati is an underdog.
Play.
Molly shares how Alabama and Cincinnati are adjusting to the change in COVID-19 protocols and how the biggest game in program history is being handled by the Bearcats.
Fickell said this week that it doesn't matter. We know. We have an idea. If you want to have a chance at the title, you have to beat the champ. We have a chance to beat the champ. We've always said that the best team doesn't always win the game. That's the reality. The teams that play the best are the ones that win the game.
When asked about representing every little guy, Fickell smiled and said, "We'll take all the support we can get."
Many of it comes from people who have been in Cincinnati's cleats before but weren't able to take that next step.
"What we all know is how difficult it is to do what they have done," said Chris, the author of what is still considered by most to be the greatest college football establishment gate-crashing of all time. Even though the Broncos team has become timeless, it was still demoted to an at-large bowl spot, the same prize that was given to the UCF and Cincinnati teams last year.
"If you are in that position, you know that you have to be perfect, but also be impressive, no matter how slim you are," he said. There is no benefit to the doubt. That brings a lot of pressure and it only gets worse every week. Cincinnati has handled it well.
"If you're being honest with yourself, you know that no one is going to invite you to the big dance, so there's always that little reminder in your head," Tommy Bowden said about his 1998 Tulane team that went 13-0 and finished seventh in the final AP and coaches The Liberty Bowl was the last one for the Green Wave, who lost in the 1984 national title game. We are all paying attention when a team like Cincinnati makes a run.
It's natural to root for kinship. Even if it's a second cousin we haven't seen in years, we hit the "like" button whenever a family member posts about their new job, marriage or baby. When our high school wins State, we still feel proud. Even during the most divided times, so many strangers are discovering a new kinship as they gather in the same place as the bandwagon that backs the lesser-known team.
In the eight years of the College Football Playoff, there have been many underdogs. It is difficult to find Bigfoot. Playoff crashers have been absent. In the inaugural season of the CFP, fourth-ranked Ohio State upset Alabama and Oregon to win it all. That's what the Cinderella story has in common. The Big Ten championship team had Joey Bosa making tackles and had a running back in Ezekiel Elliott. Is it the Miracle on Ice?
The College Football Playoff is upon us after a wild regular season. Everything you need to know is here.
The schedule and Takeaways are included in the CFP preview.
Every bowl game has players and storylines.
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