CFP Playoff Rankings: Recapping Week 13 for the top 6

4. Cincinnati (12-0)

Week 13 result: Defeated East Carolina 35-13

The only other FBS team besides Georgia to finish the regular season undefeated is the Cincinnati Bearcats. One cannot give enough praise to Luke Fickell and the job he’s done at Cincinnati. I believe he should be the favorite for Coach of the Year.

The Bearcats finished their regular season with a 35-13 win over East Carolina last Friday. They looked streaky at times in this game but dominated the Pirates on defense.

East Carolina couldn’t get much going on offense outside of one touchdown drive in the 4th quarter. Cincinnati still didn’t quite play a full game though. Their offense had two really great quarters and two not-so-great quarters.

There were times where the Bearcats looked unstoppable and then there were times where they had you scratching your head.

Alec Pierce carried the load on offense for this team going for 136 receiving yards and a touchdown. This resulted in a PFF grade of 80.5 for Pierce. Over the course of this season, I’ve realized that Cincinnati has a target on its back in this conference simply because of how highly ranked they are.

Every team gets pumped to play them and gives them their best shot week in and week out. So a 22 point win over one of the top teams in the American Conference is really impressive. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the Bearcats for making it through the regular season undefeated. That is not easy to do no matter what conference you’re in.