Group of Five New Year’s Six Watch, Week 9: Cincinnati leaves no doubt

This week on the Group of Five New Year’s Six watch, Cincinnati disposed of SMU while independents BYU and Liberty continued their undefeated seasons.

Welcome to the watch. For anyone who thought Cincinnati could not score with a high-powered offense like SMU’s offense, the Bearcats silenced the critics with their 42-13 victory against the Mustangs took care of that. Cincinnati is in a three-way tie for first place in the AAC with Tulsa and Houston — both of whom they play this season.

Since the Bearcats play in the most competitive Group of Five conference in college football, Cincinnati has the inside track to the New Year’s Six bowl game. However, other programs have Power Five wins which is something the Bearcats do not have on their schedule.

The most intriguing teams are the two independents, BYU and Liberty. BYU is running roughshod over every team it plays and Liberty has the tougher schedule. The Flames have three Power Five teams on their schedule and No. 20 Coastal Carolina. Could the committee consider either team for an at-large New Year’s Six bid? Imagine the Flames in the Fiesta Bowl.

Since the Cougars and the Flames are independents, the only way for either team to play in the New Year’s Six is an at large bid as we get closer to the first playoff rankings on Nov. 24; teams in the Group of Five are jockeying for position.

Here is the watch for Week 9.