FOX Sports Projects Cincinnati Bearcats Football as Bottom-50 FBS Team Across 2026 Season

FOX Sports college football analyst RJ Young released his 1-138 FBS team rankings this week and had Cincinnati way down the board at No. 88 overall.

It's a head-scratching ranking for a team that nearly every analytic metric at least has in its top 60. The fall could feel very long if Cincinnati ends up being a worse team overall than the likes of Colorado State (85th, 2-10 last season), Eastern Michigan (83rd, 4-8 last season), and Liberty (68th, 4-8 last season).

"Scott Satterfield looks like he’s starting former Georgia Southern passer JC French IV, who has thrown for nearly 5,900 career yards and made starts at the FBS level (unlike Penn transfer Liam O’Brien)," Young wrote. "But both are decent options for a program that finished 7-6 and watched its two-year starter, Brendan Sorsby, elect to enter the portal last year. But the roster is littered with former Group of Six players. That's fine… if Satterfield evaluated well. If he didn't, seven wins might be hard to come by for the Bearcats."

A bottom-50 2026 season from this program would be a disaster and likely lead to major coaching changes across the whole outfit. Alas, Cincinnati isn't projected to be this bad in most other places.

Check out where they land in major analytic metrics:

ESPN's SP+: 59th

ESPN's FPI: 46th

FEI: 45th

Just add it to the list of doubts surrounding a Cincinnati team that is closer than ever under Satterfield. Leaders like linebacker Jonathan Thompson aren't listening to the noise.

“I don't think we really worry too much about the noise because we always believe in each other. We work so hard that we feel like we're just going to pay off regardless of what people say, regardless of who we play,” Thompson said to the media earlier this month. “Having a harder schedule is amazing. Because you get to go against good teams every weekend. You get to prove yourself, so I don't think we use that as bulletin board material. We're just motivated in general."

Cincinnati gets its first chance to prove this projection wrong on Sept. 5 at home against Boston College. The real prove-it time comes in November and bowl season, where Cincinnati is 1-11 in the Satterfield era.

Get the full breakdown of @RJ_Young's Ultimate 138 CFB Rankings here:https://t.co/0xzeqH6yzL
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) August 17, 2026

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