College Football Twitter Debates Whether Cincinnati Belonged in the Playoff

For the past four months, Cincinnati has put together a dream season that led the Bearcats to become the first Group of 5 team to make it to the College Football Playoff. Facing top-ranked Alabama on Friday, it didn’t take long for that dream to turn into a nightmare.

The Crimson Tide dominated all game long, beating Cincinnati 27–6 and controlling the line of scrimmage from the opening drive. Alabama rushed for 301 yards on 47 carries, and out-gained the Bearcats 482–218. The Tide’s defense was particularly effective against quarterback Desmond Ridder, limiting him to 17-for-32 passing for 144 yards and batting down numerous balls at the line of scrimmage.

Before the dust even settled on the game, folks around the sport began to get ahead of any conversation about this result being used to support an argument that Group of Five teams don’t belong in the Playoff. Cincinnati’s defeat is just the latest in a long line of similarly lopsided scores on the game’s biggest stage—and many of those blowouts have happened with Alabama on the winning side of things.

Regardless of what the future holds for Group of 5 teams and the Playoff, Friday’s result shouldn’t take away from the season Cincinnati put together. Check out more from the conversation below: