The 2021 University of Cincinnati football team earned a distinction that still reverberates through college sports: it was crowned the finest Group of Five program of the College Football Playoff era.
That season unfolded as a near‑perfect campaign, culminating in a 13‑1 record after a hard‑fought loss to Alabama in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, a game that underscored the Bearcats’ ability to compete with traditional powerhouses.
The program’s ascent was not a one‑off miracle; earlier squads had already set the stage. The 2020 team climbed to No. 4 in the national rankings after a 9‑1 run, and the 2019 squad posted an 11‑3 finish highlighted by a Birmingham Bowl victory over Boston College.
All of those milestones converged in 2023 when Cincinnati, along with UCF, Houston and BYU, entered the Big 12 Conference, a move that reshaped the landscape of mid‑major football and opened new recruiting pipelines.
A New Era for the Bearcats
Under head coach Luke Fickell, the Bearcats posted a 15‑22 record that belied a steady upward trajectory, a contrast to the earlier era when Nick Saban publicly affirmed that the 2021 team “belonged in the playoff.” The program also celebrated a school‑record nine NFL draft selections, a testament to its developing talent, and future projections for 2026 point to retained offensive line stalwarts and a secondary poised to keep Cincinnati among the nation’s elite.