Top 25 College Football Teams Who Exceeded Expectations the Past 10 Years
It started with two blowout wins at the beginning of the season.
Then the Bearcats made headlines by beating No. 24 ranked Oregon State in the third game of the season, and they just kept winning. They later beat No. 21 ranked South Florida, No. 23 West Virginia, and No. 15 Pittsburgh.
And they finished the year at 12-0 and ranked in the Top Five. A 51-24 Sugar Bowl loss to the Florida Gators exposed what level of football they truly were on, but it was still shocking for them to be able to run the table the way they did up until that point, and that was Tim Tebow’s last game anyway. Nobody was going to win there.
Still, Cincinnati was very impressive with what it did, and that propelled Kelly into the Notre Dame job.
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17
Cincinnati Bearcats 2009
Last week: 2009 Record: 12-1
Last rank: No. 8 (Final AP Rank)
Brian Kelly was considered not proven enough at the end of the 2008 season to get any legitimate offers despite winning the Big East Championship with the Cincinnati Bearcats. That was considered a fluke.
So in 2009, Kelly’s team entered the year unranked once again. And all they did was run the table throughout the regular season to win another Big East Championship.
It started with two blowout wins at the beginning of the season.
Then the Bearcats made headlines by beating No. 24 ranked Oregon State in the third game of the season, and they just kept winning. They later beat No. 21 ranked South Florida, No. 23 West Virginia, and No. 15 Pittsburgh.
And they finished the year at 12-0 and ranked in the Top Five. A 51-24 Sugar Bowl loss to the Florida Gators exposed what level of football they truly were on, but it was still shocking for them to be able to run the table the way they did up until that point, and that was Tim Tebow’s last game anyway. Nobody was going to win there.
Still, Cincinnati was very impressive with what it did, and that propelled Kelly into the Notre Dame job.
Next: #16: 2014 Georgia Tech