There is “unfair pressure” on No. 5 Cincinnati to dominate teams in a way that isn’t required of Power 5 playoff contenders, American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said in an email to ESPN on Wednesday.
“There is unfair pressure on the Bearcats to get style points that P5 conference teams are not required to produce,” Aresco wrote, one day after the College Football Playoff selection committee released its second of six rankings. “We ask the selection committee for consistency, nuance, and fairness, and we are not getting those things.
“Instead we are getting double standards and shifting goal posts. P5 conference teams are given the benefit of doubt because of their brand names. If Cincy goes undefeated, they should not need any help to make the playoff.”
Cincinnati has defeated its past three opponents — Navy, Tulane and Tulsa — by an average of 11.3 points. Those three teams are a combined 6-20 and all unranked.
“The perception that games in our conference are not tough and competitive is simply not true, even in a relatively down year for us,” Aresco said. “Ask Ohio State and especially Oklahoma State how easy it was to defeat Tulsa playing at their stadiums, no less.”
The Bearcats are hardly the only playoff contender that has looked pedestrian lately. Since losing to Stanford, Oregon has outscored each of its past five opponents by a touchdown — and none of those teams rank in the top 30 of FPI. Cincinnati is ranked No. 10 in ESPN’s Game Control metric, while Oregon is No. 12.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Ohio State has played three teams that were ranked in the top 30 of ESPN’s Football Power Index — Oregon, Penn State and Nebraska — and the Buckeyes’ average point margin per game in those is just 3.7 — 10 times lower than in their other six games. Still, Georgia (No. 1) Alabama (No. 2) and Ohio State (No. 5) all rank ahead of Cincinnati in Game Control.
Overall, Cincinnati’s strength of schedule is currently No. 102 — arguably the biggest obstacle in the committee meeting room.
Aresco’s email was written in response to an ESPN article published Tuesday suggesting that an undefeated Cincinnati can still finish in the top four if some combination of three scenarios unfolds: only one SEC team finishes in the top four; the Pac-12 champion has more than one loss; the Big 12 champion has multiple losses.
Aresco said he agreed the Bearcats “will need some help, but I feel strongly that that should not be the case.”
For the second straight week, Aresco publicly stated his case for Cincinnati’s inclusion in the top four. At the No. 5 spot, Cincinnati again became the highest-ranked team from a Group of 5 conference in the playoff era.
“The committee strongly considered Cincinnati,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN. “They have a really good victory over Notre Dame, and their strength of schedule comes into the discussion. Everybody knows the committee values strength of schedule. The committee just didn’t see moving Cincinnati ahead of Alabama, Oregon or Ohio State. The committee reviews every game that every team under consideration plays, so they know what happens on the field.”