Extra Points: Unbeaten Cincinnati should be playoff bound

Tony Barnhart ( Mr. College Football) and Mark Blaudschun (A Jersey Guy) are both avid college football fans, but they often have different perspectives.

Topic: If Cincinnati finishes the regular season unbeaten, the Bearcats should be a lock for the CFP Final Four.

A Jersey Guy:  

Yes,  they should and it should be  without style point consideration or a series of upsets which leaves the playoff field in ruins.

If the Bearcats win their final two regular season games against SMU and Tulsa and then beat a team such as Houston in the American Athletic Conference championship game, they should be locked into a Final Four slot.

Coach Luke Fickell's team will have done everything it was asked to do and with style, which include a solid win AT Notre Dame.

Of the Power 5 contenders, only Georgia has been able to do that.

I know there are arguments about Ohio State at 12-1 and Oregon at 12-1 both deserving spots as well, which could happen. 

And Georgia, either unbeaten or with a single loss in the Southeastern Conference championship game, should be locked into a third slot. 

But the 4th slot should belong to Cincinnati if the Bearcats win out.

But there is the "What if'' scenario of Alabama beating  in the SEC title, which would put two SEC teams in the Final Four as well as once beaten Oregon and Ohio State.

My answer to that would be to let the Ducks and Buckeyes argue about that--they each lost a game.

Cincinnati did not.

Mr. College Football 

This is a rare moment for you, Jersey Guy. Because when it comes to the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats, you are leading with you heart and not your head.

College football is about great stories and Cincinnati is a great, great story. The Bearcats took Georgia to the limit in last season's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The Bulldogs needed a 53-yard field goal with just two seconds left to win 24-21. 

This season that Georgia team is the best in the land--by a bunch. So Cincinnati can definitely play with the big boys. They proved it again on Oct. 2 when they won at Notre Dame 24-13. It is the only loss so far for the Fighting Irish.

Truth be told, I think it would be good for the sport to finally have a Group of Five team make the playoffs. 

But there are realties of where we are in the process of picking four teams--the BEST four teams as the rules say--for the College Football Playoff.

First of all, if No. 2 Alabama beats No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship game, both are going to the playoffs. If No. 3 Oregon wins out and finishes 12-1 and No. 4 Ohio State  wins out and  also finishes 12-1, then it's hard to see a path for a 13-0 Cincinnati.

In that scenario, the committee would look  at the body of work of those teams and would have to decide that Cincinnati should jump over Oregon or Ohio State into the final four.

Oregon, as you know, beat Ohio State in Columbus back on Sept. 11. It is by far the best non-conference win in this group of schools. Cincinnati has beaten No. 8 Notre Dame while Ohio State, if it wins out, will have beaten No. 6 Michigan and No. 7 Michigan State.

Cincinnati fans should be pulling hard for Georgia to beat Alabama, which might drop the Crimson Tide out of the top four with two losses. They should also be pulling for No. 23 Utah (7-3), which hosts the Ducks on Saturday and may face them again in the Pac-12 championship game.

So simply put, Jersey Guy, there simply are no guarantees for the Bearcats, even if they finish 13-0. They need some help.