Projected 2020 College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for Week 14

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Cincinnati opened higher in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s Top 25 than any Group of Five team has ever climbed before. A day later, the Bearcats and Temple were forced to cancel their American Athletic Conference showdown in Philadelphia due to COVID-19 cases coursing through both programs. The two teams will not make up the game on December 5 due to league coronavirus protocols.

How will that impact Cincinnati’s College Football Playoff aspirations? The Bearcats are hardly the only school to lose a game this year due to the ongoing pandemic. Not playing Temple, a team that finishes the year 1-6 with no further games left in the regular season, won’t do much to damage the Bearcats’ strength of schedule. With December 5 ruled out, though, it also means Cincinnati can’t schedule a non-conference opponent on that open date to bolster their credibility.

As of now, it looks like Cincinnati has just two games left — the regular-season finale at Tulsa on December 12, and what will likely be a rematch against the Golden Hurricane a week later in the AAC championship game. That could offer two additional ranked opportunities and an overall stronger schedule on aggregate, but the Bearcats will need a lot of help to climb into a top-four position. A New Year’s Six bid is far more likely this season if Cincinnati wins out.