Murdered before our eyes and most of us never noticed.
New Year’s Day opened with the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl from Atlanta- and College Football and ESPN were in a bind.
Cincinnati rolled through their American Athletic Conference at 8-0 with only one challenge, a 36-33 win on the road against offensive powerhouse Central Florida. They followed their regular season up with a thrilling last second win over Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference Title Game, ending the season at 9-0 with two COVID-related cancellations.
For their efforts, Cincinnati was awarded 8th place in the final College Football Playoff rankings, safely distant from any opportunity to spoil the playoff party.
You see, the College Football Playoff exists only for the bluest of the blue bloods, those conference with the most money and political pull. EVERY playoff spot has been taken by a member of this so-called “Power Five”: the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC and independent Notre Dame a name so powerful that it has its own TV contract despite not having won a national title since 1988.
And they don’t want to share the money with smaller schools.
With a mere four playoff spots, they don’t have to. There’s always a more deserving Power Five School to put in the playoff.
The problem with winner take all games should be clear: without pro sports style competitive balance rules, all the rewards flow to those who already are successful: more money, better coaches and best recruits all flock to the schools with the best chance of winning a national title; no others need apply. In fact, only four teams have combined to take 20 or 28 playoff spots since the system was instituted in 2014.
Cincinnati and other schools from the “Group of Five” smaller conferences (American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-America Conference, Mountain West and Sun Belt) have railed against the system for years, criticisms that gained steam when Central Florida won 25 games between 2017 and 2018- including a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. Surely, this was evidence that a well-coached Group of Five school should have a chance at least on occasion…
At the same time, college football’s powers that be had a problem of their own: the consolidation of power at the top of the pyramid. Even the writers at ESPN (the network which televises the Playoff) were pointing out the College Football Playoff had become predictable and stale, a trend made worse in a year where it felt like anything could happen:
We can quibble over résumés and who was most worthy of facing the No. 1 Crimson Tide as a double-digit underdog, but there is no surprise in what the committee did. In fact, the decisions on the top four were so predictable, it made the entire process stale and boring and so filled with an utter lack of meaningful debate that there is no reason for outrage because we all saw the way this was going to unfold.
https://www.espn.com/collegcincinnati%20football%202020e-football/story/_/id/30563882/college-football-playoff-2020-committee-remains-disappointingly-predictable
One of the four teams in the College Football Playoff was Ohio State from the Big Ten, a conference which started their season late as they wanted to pretend to care about COVID until the realization that they’d miss out on millions of dollars hit home. After approving a truncated schedule, the Big Ten doubled down on their assholery by granting Ohio State- a team which played only six games- an exemption to play in their Conference Title Game despite not having played enough games to qualify. Because dollar signs.
So Cincinnati, a team that played as complete a schedule as they could was going to play the hand it was dealt, take care of Georgia in Atlanta and make their claim as another high-grade Group of Five Team that got screwed by the big boys.
Cincinnati coach Fickell’s plan worked well with Cincinnati taking a 14-10 lead into halftime. Defensively, the Bearcats were able to limit Georgia’s offense and after some early struggle, Cincinnati’s offense was able to move the ball. Notably, Bearcat QB Demond Ridder drove the team down the field in the final two minutes of the half using his mobility to buy time for passes and more importantly, gas the Georgia defense.
Then this happened:
It wasn’t enough that all-conference left tackle James Hudson committed a late hit out of bounds… oh no, he also led with the crown of his helmet thereby earning himself an ejection. It’s difficult to imagine that such an act took place in a vacuum, at that moment in the game when the Bearcats were driving and wearing out Georgia’s offense.
The Bearcats eventually scored on the drive taking a 14-10 into halftime which they extended by scoring a rushing TD at the start of the second half to take a 21-10 lead. But the damage was done. and the offense fell apart from there And what do you know? Hudson’s backup Lorenz Metz was an abject disaster, committing three false start penalties (2 on 3rd and 2, effectively killing drives) and contributing to a porous pass protection that gave up four sacks, two of which led to fumbles.
The Bearcat defense held on as best they could, limiting Georgia to no third quarter scores but with no offensive help, they wilted and eventually surrendered the lead and the game.
So now the Power Five could pat little Cincinnati on the head and comfort them- “That’s cute, you tried so hard to play with the big boys. Maybe someday you’ll get there, Little Trooper.”
And fans across the country could safely focus on the College Football Playoff semifinals taking place later in the day, oblivious to how close Cincinnati came to upsetting the entire apple cart.