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After completing a twelve game regular season and playing in the American Conference Championship game, the Cincinnati Bearcats were able to accomplish something that no other major college football team in America was able to do.
They ran the table to finish with a perfect 13-0 record in 2021.
Georgia came close, but they couldn’t finish it off. Neither could one-loss Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Louisiana-Lafayette, or UT-San Antonio. Each of those teams played a terrific season of football but stumbled one time in thirteen games.
The University of Cincinnati was the only FBS college football team to win every single game this season. As a result, the Bearcats are a deserving #1 in the final SwampSwami.com College Football Top 25 rankings to close this 2021 regular season.
In Saturday’s American Athletic Conference championship game against 11-2 Houston, Cincy was clinging to one-point lead (14-13) heading into halftime. After adding 21 more points in the third quarter, the sold-out rowdy home crowd in Cincinnati was more than happy to count down the minutes in order to run onto the field and celebrate a championship season with their beloved football team.
Congratulations, Cincinnati! You earned the #1 spot in my final regular season rankings.
Conference championship Saturday also brought us a highly entertaining nail-biter (Baylor vs. Oklahoma State), a stunner (Alabama vs. Georgia), and a downright stinker, too (Michigan vs. Iowa). Let’s review Saturday’s games:
Big 12 Championship – Baylor 21, Oklahoma State 16 (TV viewing rating: A+)
In Saturday’s early game, Oklahoma State rallied from an 18-point deficit and should have won this game. Two different times in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys had first and goal near the Baylor goal line. After settling for a field goal on the first time, Okie State would get a final chance culminating an impressive 90-yard drive on Pokes’ last possession. A fourth down mad dash around the left end toward the Baylor goal line was stopped inches short of becoming the winning touchdown. As jubilant as Baylor (11-2) and their fans were afterwards, this was an absolutely crushing loss for 11-2 Oklahoma State.
MAC Championship Game – Northern Illinois 41, Kent State 23 (D)
The Huskies (now 9-4) bolted to an early lead and never trailed in this snoozer. Kent State (which was where Nick Saban played college football) finished the regular season at 7-6.
Sunbelt Championship – Louisiana-Lafayette 24, Appalachian State 16 (B)
The Ragin’ Cajuns (now 12-1) were seeking their first outright Sunbelt Championship with a coach (Billy Napier) who was just hired by the University of Florida who wanted to stick around for this week to lead his team to victory. Mission accomplished! A former track star in high school in Baton Rouge, Cajuns’ senior starting quarterback Levi Lewis has been one of the most underappreciated team leaders in all of college football.
SEC Championship – Alabama 41, Georgia 24 (A)
It is rare to see a Nick Saban-coached Alabama team come into a game as the legitimate underdog, but previously unbeaten Georgia had steamrolled opponents without giving up over 17 points in a single game this year – before Saturday. Bama limped into this contest after surviving a four-overtime game against rival (but just 6-6) Auburn last week where the Tide was fortunate to tie the game and force OT. On the speedy artificial turf, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young carved his name onto the Heisman Trophy with a record-setting passing performance against Georgia. Both teams finished the regular season 12-1 and now head into the College Football Playoffs.
AAC Championship – Cincinnati 35, Houston 20 (B)
The first half of this game looked like both teams were capable of scoring a lot of points. As discussed earlier, the Bearcats came back out after halftime and scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to take control of the game and secure the championship. This 13-0 Cincinnati team also locked down a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
Big Ten Championship – Michigan 42, Iowa 3 (D-)
The first of Saturday’s night games, Iowa came onto the field wearing uniforms which look like the Pittsburgh Steelers. The cool uniforms weren’t enough. Michigan simply toyed with Iowa most of Saturday night and, at 12-1, is a deserving participant in the upcoming playoffs.
ACC Championship – Pitt 45, Wake Forest 21 (C-)
After one quarter, Wake Forest led this game 21-14. Unfortunately, there were three quarters remaining and only one team (the University of Pittsburgh) took advantage. Pitt finished the year 11-2, while Wake Forest (10-3) headed back home with the Deacon Blues once again.
Earlier today (Sunday), the College Football Playoffs teams were announced. The two semi-final games will be played on New Year’s Eve Friday, December 31st as follows:
13-0 Cincinnati (#4 seed) plays 12-1 Alabama (#1) at 2:30PM Central in Irving, Texas
12-1 Georgia (#3 seed) plays 12-1 Michigan (#2) at 6:30PM Central in Miami, Florida
Though my SwampSwami.com College Football Top 25 rankings would have omitted Georgia from that foursome, the four teams selected to play for the national title are certainly worthy of their shot.
On Monday, I will post the final rankings for every college football team in the 130-team large college BCS division along with my 2021 “Bowl Predictions” which is based on my rankings of every bowl-eligible team.
Here are the SwampSwami.com College Football Top 25 final rankings for the 2021 regular season:
