CBS Sports bracketology and BCS expert bowls expert Jerry Palm released his first bowl projections of the 2014 season, and he’s predicting American Athletic Conference favorite Cincinnati to play in the Peach Bowl – one of the four selection committee bowl games – against SEC East heavyweight South Carolina.
Cincinnati, one of the nation’s most consistent programs over the latter course of the BCS era, hasn’t been invited to a bowl of that caliber since it was stomped by Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators in the 2010 Sugar Bowl.
For the Bearcats to reach such great heights, they’ll need to run the table in the AAC this year with no conference losses. UCF lost to the Gamecocks early during the 2013 season, but recovered by sweeping through AAC competition and ultimately beating Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.
Cincinnati has some exciting non-conference matchups against Ohio State and Miami (Fla.) that could potentially shatter the College Football Playoff picture, but will not be favored to win either game. If they don’t win at least one of the two (which isn’t impossible; these aren’t your Canes from the early 2000s), there’s no question the Bearcats will have to come out of conference play unscathed in order to be invited to the Peach Bowl.
Palm has also projected five other members of The American to make bowl games in 2014, with the most notable matchup being ECU vs. BYU in the Miami Beach Bowl. Memphis, Houston, Tulsa, and UCF are listed as postseason participants, while UConn, USF, SMU, Temple and Tulane are on the outside looking in.
Just three members of last year’s AAC saw bowl action in 2013, with the Knights being the only team to come away with a win.
Cincinnati was the consensus staff selection to win The American this season.
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