DALLAS – After a quick break for the holidays, the University of Cincinnati football team got back to business Sunday, landing in Texas and setting its sights on the College Football Playoff.
In a fleet of red and black buses with the Cotton Bowl, CFP and C-Paw logos wrapped on the side of them, the Bearcats strolled onto the grounds of the Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, and hopped out with the same confidence they showed while completing the first 13-0 season in program history.
It was almost as if No. 4 Cincinnati had no idea it was a 13.5-point underdog to top-ranked and defending national champion Alabama (12-1) in their College Football Playoff semifinal showdown at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium on New Year's Eve.
"It doesn't matter," UC coach Luke Fickell said. "We know. We have a good idea. I mean, if you're going to have a shot at the title, you've got to beat the champs. This is what we have: we have a shot to beat the champs. Regardless of what the line is, we've said it all year long, 'The best team doesn't always win the game.' That's just the reality. The teams that play the best win the football game."
Fickell's Bearcats, who won the American Athletic Conference championship for the second straight year, have been a double-digit favorite in nearly every game they've played this season, but that hasn't always translated to double-digit victories. Cincinnati had to eke out wins at then-one-win Navy (27-20) and against an upset-minded Tulsa team (28-20) on homecoming.
Fickell said the "greatest lesson" his team learned during the final stretch of the season was to just focus on getting the victory and not allow itself to get bogged down in the margin of the win or the outside expectations.
"They wanted us to win this way, and you're favored by this, or you've got to do this. I think it took a toll on us," Fickell said. "I think us kind of getting in our groove the last four games of the season, we kind of put that behind us and said we've just got to be us regardless of if we're favored or if we're underdogs. Do what it is that we do, be us and let's enjoy what it is that we're doing."
What's not behind Cincinnati is COVID-19. Sunday was the first public appearance for Fickell and the Bearcats since the College Football Playoff management committee announced a series of new actions it will take to protect the health and safety of athletes as the omicron variant continues to cause a significant spike in coronavirus cases.
More:College Football Playoff won't reschedule semifinals if there's a COVID-19 outbreak
According to the CFP, if any of the four CFP semifinalists is unable to play due to a COVID-19 outbreak, the unavailable team will forfeit, and its opponent will advance to the national championship. If both teams are unavailable, the game would be declared a no contest.
If three teams are unable to play, the lone semifinalist remaining would be declared the national champion.
According to the CFP, there would potentially be an opportunity to reschedule the national championship game but no later than Jan. 14, four days after the original date. If the game can’t be played in that window, the team with the COVID-19 outbreak would have to forfeit. If both teams are unable to play, it would be declared a no-contest without a national champion being crowned.
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Fickell, who allowed his players to go home for three-plus days to spend time with their families before returning to Cincinnati and then traveling to Texas, said he, his staff and his players are fully aware of the virus but won't "dwell" on it.
"We've got a very mature group that understands what they're here to do and understands that that means they're going to have to have some sacrifices that maybe they wouldn't on a normal six-day bowl trip or five-day bowl trip where they can go out and do some things," Fickell said. "So we'll be smart about who we're around. We'll be smart about where we're going. But we're going to be us and we're going to continue to do what it is that we've done all year. We've found a way for it to work for us."
Cincinnati has its first practice of the week Monday inside the Cowboys' practice facility.
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