By golly, they did it. They really did it.
The 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats — the champions of the American Athletic Conference, not the Big 12 or Pac-12 or ACC — are in the College Football Playoff.
For the first time in CFP history, a non-Power Five school made the cut.
For the first time in CFP history, the committee put some genuine respect on the name of one of the little guys.
And I, for one, couldn’t be more thrilled.
There isn’t a better story in college football right now than the Bearcats’ victory against the odds.
After Georgia’s shocking SEC Championship loss to Alabama over the weekend, the Bearcats stood alone as the only unbeaten team in the final CFP rankings.
They put together a magical 13-0 regular season that — despite some hiccups and too-close-for-comfort wins — culminated in a 35-20 whuppin’ of the one-loss Houston Cougars in the AAC title game.
It’s Cincinnati’s first unbeaten season since 1918, when the team finished 3-0-2 in a year I’m sure we all remember.
They knocked off a scrappy Notre Dame team — which finished as the No. 5 team in the final CFP rankings this year — in South Bend in October, handing the Fighting Irish their first home loss in four years.
The heart and soul of the team is senior starting quarterback Desmond Ridder, who has led the Bearcats on their meteoric rise and is the nation’s winningest quarterback with a career record of 41-5 (89%).
The brains and passion behind the program’s success stem from Luke Fickell, the team’s fifth-year head coach who has cultivated a culture of grit and togetherness. He’s constructed a tight-knit group with plenty of underrated athletes, an abundance of local talent and a never-say-die mentality.
The Bearcats have just one 4-star recruit in their starting lineup and zero 5-stars. They have just a few projected NFL draft picks.
In addition, Fickell has become dedicated to finding and recruiting some of the most overlooked players from his own home state, with 75 athletes on the Bearcats’ roster hailing from Ohio.
The rise of Cincinnati’s program has been primarily a homegrown effort.
The process hasn’t always been easy, perfect or sexy. But success stories like these rarely are. And for a non-Power Five team aiming to make the CFP for the very first time, just being sexy isn’t going to cut it.
That’s why Cincinnati — the No. 4 seed — having to face Alabama, the defending national champion, No. 1 seed and winner of three of the seven CFP titles up to this point, is so beautiful.
Alabama is the media darling. It’s the perennial powerhouse. It’s the school with the sexiest NFL draft picks, the household names and the potentially soon-to-be Heisman Trophy winner in QB Bryce Young.
Cincinnati has none of those things.
Yet, for the first time in CFP history, the Bearcats will have an opportunity to show the Crimson Tide — and the selection committee and the rest of the free world — why they belong here.
And if somehow, someway, Cincinnati pulls this off, it would easily be one of the most unforgettable moments in college football history.
So, let’s hope they do.
But once Cincinnati’s CFP ride is over — whether it ends in championship immortality or a disappointing exit — it’ll be the end of an era for the Bearcats. Ridder will graduate and test the NFL Draft waters, and Fickell, an Ohio native who’s never held a coaching job outside of the state’s borders, may end up elsewhere, whether it’s a Power Five college job or an NFL position (he’s reportedly on the radar of a few NFL teams).
But even if next year’s Cincinnati team is slated to look much, much differently — and will likely have slim chances at another undefeated regular season — the 2021 Bearcats will always be a team worth remembering.
They broke the mold, shattered expectations and paved the way for deserving non-Power Five schools to have a shot at national titles in the future.
Even though their conference rivals in the AAC, and will continue to be when both schools move to the Big 12, the Bearcats have finally gotten revenge for the snubbed 2017 and 2018 UCF teams.
Justice has been served.
Now, we wait for the Bearcats to pull off the upset of the century.
They’ve already beaten the odds to get here.
You’re next, ‘Bama.
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.