Projected 2020 College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for Week 15

A week after their game against Temple was canceled, Cincinnati was idle again in Week 14 on a scheduled weekend off. Moving up in the rankings without any new reference points will be tough for Luke Fickell’s team. The bigger question is whether the College Football Playoff selection committee will keep the Bearcats at No. 7 in the Top 25 rankings or start to move them behind one or more of the two-loss teams lingering right behind them.

Cincinnati certainly checks off all the boxes of a prototypical College Football Playoff team. Undefeated and on track to end the year as the best of a deep pool of Group of Five teams, the Bearcats are also statistically dominant. Ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense and 11th in scoring offense, the American Athletic Conference front-runner overpowers opponents on both sides of the ball. Especially adept is a secondary with 13 interceptions.

The Bearcats close out their regular season in Week 15 at Tulsa, in a game that will determine which team gets to host the AAC championship game this year. A loss the first time around against the Golden Hurricane would end Cincinnati’s Playoff dreams, but would not in any way knock them out of the New Year’s Six race.