Cincinnati Football: Can Bearcats take next step toward AAC title in 2020?

Cincinnati football reached the AAC title game last season. With a lot of talent back in 2020, it looks to take the next step and win the crown.

Luke Fickell looked for a moment like he was headed to East Lansing to take over the Michigan State post vacated by Mark Dantonio. Fickell instead opted to stay in Cincinnati to continue the building project he started in 2017. After going 4-8 in his inaugural campaign, the Bearcats have posted back-to-back 11-win seasons. Last year they even topped UCF to earn a bid in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

Just as Memphis had experienced the previous two seasons against the Knights, though, this time it was Cincinnati’s turn to get shut down twice in the same season by a superior conference rival.

The hope for the Bearcats this season is that a slew of returning talent on defense meshes with the most consistent recruiting in the AAC over the past three years (56 three-star recruits and a quartet of four-star players) allows the team to retool back to prominence.

Missing from the schedule is a Power Five opportunity after Nebraska’s 2020 campaign was postponed to the spring. While that will impact Cincinnati’s stature with the College Football Playoff selection committee and in the polls, success at Nippert Stadium will depend on getting back to the AAC title game in a year where there is no longer divisional play.

Can Cincinnati finish in the top two in a deep AAC race? Let’s dive in to look at the offense and defense at Cincinnati before breaking down the 2020 Bearcats schedule and making some predictions on how the next campaign will play out.