Cincinnati Football: 3 takeaways from Cotton Bowl semifinal vs. Alabama

Cincinnati failed to reach the College Football Playoff national championship. The Bearcats can still hold their heads high after a Cotton Bowl defeat.

In the eighth season of the College Football Playoff era, a Group of Five team finally got their chance to prove themselves on the sport’s biggest stage. Cincinnati came into this year’s Cotton Bowl semifinal game against Alabama as the only undefeated team left at the end of the 2021 regular season. While every other FBS program marked at least one notch in the loss column, the Bearcats arrived at the end of the year with the last perfect record standing.

The Bearcats were also a 13.5-point underdog against the SEC champions. It was hardly surprising, as Alabama had won all five of the previous meetings between the two teams by an average of 26 points.

The first half went about as everyone expected it would. Cincinnati, in many ways, was lucky to head to the locker room down only 17-3 after a 230-yard discrepancy in yards gained. Alabama’s offensive line bullied around the Bearcats defensive front, opening holes for Brian Robinson and company. When opportunities presented themselves to the Group of Five hopeful, they were quickly dashed by Nick Saban’s stable of four- and five-star talent.

Luke Fickell and the Cincinnati coaching staff changed up the game plan during the intermission, though, and the Bearcats offense started to move the ball more effectively in the second half. It was all for nought, as Alabama stymied Desmond Ridder and crew over and over again once they crossed midfield into Tide territory.

Defeat is never a satisfying note to conclude a season. Yet there are silver linings that we can take away from Cincinnati’s 27-6 loss at the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Let’s look at the three biggest things we learned from the first Group of Five team to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals.