Despite a disappointing 2-3 start to the season, Gunner Kiel’s seemingly endless injury issues to his ribs, and a myriad of off-field issues, the Cincinnati Bearcats still have a legitimate chance at winning the AAC title.
Tommy Tuberville’s team was the popular preseason pick to finish first in the conference in 2014, but the Bearcats’ rough start to the year, which included a loss to Memphis, caused most people to write them off in the race for the AAC crown.
However, Cincinnati has responded by going on a three-game winning streak, during which its outscored opponents 113-34. It should be noted that these victories didn’t exactly come against the AAC’s cream of the crop (SMU, South Florida and Tulane), but the Bearcats have taken care of business and dominated inferior competition.
This winning streak has brought them to 3-1 in conference play, which leaves them tied with four other teams for conference supremacy. Two of the Bearcats’ remaining four games come against teams currently tied with them atop the standings: East Carolina and Houston. While these opponents will be tougher than the ones it’s dominated in the past few weeks, Cincinnati does have the luxury of facing both the Pirates and the Cougars at home.
Neither ECU or Cincinnati plays this weekend, giving both teams ample time to prepare for their showdown at Paul Brown Stadium next Thursday night. The Pirates haven’t looked all that impressive the past few games, sneaking by a few lackluster opponents before being upset by Temple last weekend.
With both teams trending in opposite directions right now, this matchup seems to come at the perfect time for the Bearcats.
Following the ECU game, Cincinnati will head on the road for a couple weeks to face UConn and Temple. Neither team will be any easy win, especially the Owls, but the Bearcats are definitely capable of beating them both.
If Cincinnati is able to successfully navigate this three-game stretch, it’ll be rewarded with a home matchup against the Cougars which, depending on how things shake out, could determine who wins the AAC title.
Unfortunately for the Bearcats, the Memphis Tigers, who handed them a loss in their conference opener, are one of the other teams currently sitting at 3-1 in AAC play. So even if Cincinnati wins out, the point would seemingly be mute if the Tigers aren’t defeated in their final four games.
However, there is a little bit of good news for UC, given that Houston handed Memphis its lone loss in conference play, so a hypothetical three-way tie would be decided by which team is highest in the College Football Playoff rankings (your guess is as good as mine).
The other potential snafu for Cincinnati is the fact that it doesn’t play the other team currently tied atop the AAC: UCF.
The Knights did just lose to a lackluster UConn team, so it’s tough to tell where they’d stand in regards to the tiebreaker if they win out. In any event, the Bearcats would be rooting for East Carolina to beat them in their regular-season finale.
As you can tell, the AAC race is still absolutely wide open, and Cincinnati has a real shot at winning the conference title. There’s plenty of football left to be played and the race for the AAC crown will become clearer in the next few weeks, but the Bearcats certainly would be sitting in a nice spot if they can win their last four games.
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