ARLINGTON, Texas — Jerome Ford envisioned helping Cincinnati win games and a conference title when he transferred there two years ago.

The running back never really thought about facing his former team or being part of the College Football Playoff, though he will do both when the undefeated American Athletic Conference champion Bearcats play defending national champ Alabama in a CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl on Friday.

“It didn’t really cross my mind,” Ford said about Cincinnati becoming the first non-Power Five team to reach the four-team playoff. “The only thing I thought about…is how could I contribute to help win games and win a conference championship. Anything else would have been a plus.”

After playing in only four games in each of his two seasons at Alabama, the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Ford has 1,242 yards and 19 touchdowns rushing with five 100-yard games in his second season at Cincinnati (13-0).

“I’m a Bearcat and I would kind of appreciate it if people stopped calling me 'the Alabama transfer,'” Ford said.

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NEW ORLEANS — Desmond Ridder twice connected with tight end Josh Whyle for touchdowns, and No. 2 Cincinnati remained unbeaten with a 31-12 victory Saturday over a struggling but feisty Tulane squad that kept the game competitive deep into the second half.

Jerome Ford rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown — his 14th this season — for Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference), which briefly trailed in the second quarter and led by just two points at halftime.

Ridder passed for 227 yards and three touchdowns to go with his 47 yards rushing, but also was sacked in the end zone for a safety and intercepted. Whyle caught four passes for 79 yards.

Tulane (1-6, 0-4), which was playing without starting quarterback Michael Pratt because of his concussion during last weeks loss at SMU, lost its sixth straight, but did have a few standout performances.

Running back Tyjae Spears, coming back from a knee injury that wiped out his 2020 season, rushed for 106 yards on 19 carries, highlighted by his 47-yard touchdown in the first half.

Third-string QB Kai Horton, a freshman, started for Tulane because backup Justin Ibieta also was hurt. He completed seven of 16 passes for 79 yards. He was intercepted twice and sacked four times.

The Green Wave regularly employed direct snaps to running backs in hopes of easing the burden on Horton and also throwing off the Bearcats. While that didn’t produce a victory, it kept Cincinnati from putting the game out of reach until the fourth quarter.

After Cincinnati scored first on Ridder’s 16-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Whyle, Tulane surprisingly surged into the lead in the second quarter with a series of successes that began with linebacker Marvin Moody wrapping up Ridder in the back of the end zone for a safety.

On the ensuing possession, Spears’ long TD run made it 9-7.

The Bearcats responded by driving 80 yards for a score in five plays, highlighted by Whyle’s 28-yard catch, Ridder’s 37-yard scramble and Ford’s 3-yard TD run in which he pushed through a pack of defenders.

Cincinnati looked primed to pull away when Evan Prater intercepted Horton’s screen pass in Tulane territory, but Macon Clark intercepted Ridder several plays later, returning it to midfield.

Soon after, Horton fumbled as he was sacked by Malik Vann, but the loose ball bounced up to 6-foot-4, 305-pound offensive lineman Rashad Green, who bowled his way forward for a 15-yard gain.

That set up Merek Glover’s 41-yard field goal to make it 14-12 at halftime.

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