But, then, you are saying the results of the games don't actually matter. Win/lose/ who cares? If you reward inferior teams, what is the point of playing the games at all?
I never said this. Results do matter and Cincy's results aren't that good. They have exactly one quality win. They have a chance for a win over Houston which would be a decent win. Then they have a win over SMU which is nice but certainly nothing to write home about.
Assuming they win out and using the aforementioned CBS 1-130 rankings, Cincy will have wins over:
- #6 ND
- #19 Houston
- #30 SMU
- 10 teams ranked #59 and below.
Against teams in the top-58 they are 3-0. By way of comparison:
- OkSU is 4-1 with two more to play
- OU is 3-1 with one or two more to play
- ND is 4-1
- tOSU is 4-1 with one or two more to play
- Bama is 5-1 with two more to play
The problem for Cincy is that the above (and other P5 teams in the running for their CG's) can't all lose.
- Cincy should probably be ahead of the Bedlam loser but the Bedlam winner will move to either 5-1 (OkSU) or 4-1 (OU) with yet another high-end opponent in the B12CG the following week.
- There is an argument that Cincy should be ahead of the Ohio State/Michigan loser but the winner will move to 5-1 (tOSU) or probably about the same for Michigan and then get yet another high-end opponent in the B1GCG the following week.
Then you have Cincy struggling with some REALLY bad teams:
- #117 USF: Cincy was w/in 10 points in the 4th quarter and scored a very late TD to make it look decent as a 17 point win but USF is a HORRIBLE team. They are 2-9 and when they played P5 teams they got slaughtered 45-0 by NCST and 42-20 by Florida (after trailing 35-3 and outscoring UF's reserves 17-7)
- #108 Tulane: Cincy only led 14-12 at the half and scored 10 points in the final seven minutes to turn a pathetic nine point win into a merely unimpressive 19 point win but Tulane is also a HORRIBLE team. They are 2-9and when they played Ole Miss they got slaughtered 61-21. They did "only" lose to Oklahoma by five but note that unlike the Cincy/Tulane game where Cincy scored the late points, in the Tulane/OU game the Sooners had a pretty comfortable 40-22 lead heading into the fourth quarter and Tulane scored 13 points late to make it look closer than it was.
- #102 Indiana: Cincy struggled mightily with Indiana. They trailed as late as the fourth quarter and scored 15 points in the fourth to make it look better. Even ignoring the fact that the game was MUCH closer than the final score indicates, Indiana has bigger losses to Iowa, PSU, tOSU, Mich, Rutgers, and MN. SIX B1G teams have better results against IU than the Bearcats.
- #99 Navy: Cincy only won by a TD though to be fair Navy scored 10 fourth quarter points to make this look a bit closer than it was. Still, Navy is a HORRIBLE team They are 2-8 with bigger losses to Marshall, Air Force, Houston, Memphis, and Notre Dame.
- #90 Tulsa: Cincy won this by eight points but with about a minute to go Tulsa had a first-and-goal at the Cincy 3 yard line and got as close as second-and-goal at the Cincy 1 yard line. The Bearcats were one yard from potentially going to OT against a HORRIBLE Tulsa team.
Every team has off weeks, that is understood. One or two games like this could be attributed to having an off week or perhaps early season growing pains but I listed five games above in which Cincy looked nothing like a NC contender. That is half of the FBS games they've played so far. This simply isn't a CFP resume.
What boggles my mind is the free pass given by a lot of you to Cincy for being G5. What I mean is that if you look at the five results above and imagine that a legitimate NC Contender such as Georgia, Ohio State, Bama, or Michigan had any of the results listed above. They would be mocked and criticized far and wide for such a result. Answer me this: Why doesn't the same apply to Cincinnati?
