The Cotton Bowl: Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6. Now the rest of the story.

[Norbert]

At the end of the 2016 season Tommy Tuberville left the Cincinnati Bearcat Football Program a mess before he was rode out of town on a rail. tt was a highly competitive team when he arrived.

It was left up to succeeding head coach Luke Fickell to bring this program back to its former glory. In four years Fickell and the retooled Bearcats came up a mere 3 points short of winning the Peach Bowl against Georgia. This year he took an unbeaten Bearcats team to a chance at winning the National Championship.

Win or lose I am proud of my Cincinnati Bearcats and Luke Fickell not to mention the AD that helped in no small way.

As for Tommy Tuberville; you have proven to be a textbook Republican, or someone that someone else had to come after you and clean up the mess you made.

[El Supremo]

1. They couldn't even cover the spread!

Cincinnella indeed. But I'm looking forward to having them in the Big 12.

[hlthe2b]

2. Cincinnati has nothing to be ashamed of. They had a great and record-setting season.t

[Norbert]

4. You got that right

hope they can hang on to Fickell. The Big 12 money coming soon will help.

[PTWB]

6. Their strength of schedule was pretty poor.

Not to take anything away from their team and what they accomplished but it seems like they were completely outclassed in the game this afternoon.

[calguy]

10. Tup. They weren't outclassed, no surprise here

Meanwhile in Miami, Michigan so far looks like it's more outclassed than Cincy was.
Big 10 teams are built to tough it out on the ground, and have a hard time competing against the finesse teams from the SEC.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. Ew didn't realize that TT involved. Were they really competitive though?

I don't remember them ever being competitive? When? Like not top 10? Must have missed that.

[Norbert]

7. Maybe not Big 10 or SEC competitive but they seemed always near the top in the Big East...

and the American Athletic Conference.

They did play 'bama in the Sugar Bowl in 2009.That is the year Brian Kelly suddenly left to go to Notre Dame before the Sugar Bowl was played. The outcome was a much worse bloodbath than it was today.

[roamer65]

5. Fickell is a good coach.

Hopefully you can hang onto him.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. He's got the all-time most losses in a single season...

... for Ohio State, at 7, during the 2011 season.

The program was a mess from "tattoo-gate" after 2010, though.

Ohio State has the highest winning percentage of any FBS team (except for Boise State and their much briefer period as an FBS team), by the way. So it's indeed unusual for their team to lose that many games in a season.

Until this season, 2011 was the last time Michigan beat them too.

Regardless, Fickell has done well at Cincy and I wish him continued success.

[roamer65]

9. Day needs to clean house on his defensive staff.

That was the weakest OSU defense I have seen in quite a while in November.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. They've been noticeably worse since Coombs...

... was promoted to defensive coordinator a few years ago.

He's a nice guy, and he seemed fine as their defensive backs coach previously.

Yet they've continued to recruit well on defense, but without the typical results on the field with him as DC. 🤔

[roamer65]

12. Looks like an all SEC championship game...

unless we come out slugging for the 2nd half.

Been saying for a few years the Big Ten is a weak conference and it’s showing yet again tonite.

Go Bucks tomorrow in Pasadena!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. The ACC has been weaker, yet Clemson won it all...

... a few years ago.

The Big Ten simply didn't have any national title contenders this season. They could all be MAC-level schools, except for one that's so dominant that they'd cruise to a national title.

It's almost always the schools with the highest recruit rankings that even have a chance.

[roamer65]

14. True.

But at least we beat OSU this year.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

15. Congrats for that win.

I honestly thought they'd keep it close against Georgia. Figured they'd lose, but not this bad.

The sample sizes (number of games) in football are ridiculously small, of course. Not like MLB, where the eventual World Series champs lose to the team with the worst overall record sometimes.

[roamer65]

17. Yeah. I thought we would score a couple of touchdowns.

Not to be.

Good luck against Utah tomorrow!

[Kid Berwyn]

16. Tommy Tuberville is a fraud.

And a traitor.