Cincinnati

The 2021 Bearcats didn't sneak into the Playoff — they went 13-1, won the American, beat Notre Dame in South Bend on the road, and made the selection committee acknowledge a team like theirs could belong. Sauce Gardner was a shutdown corner who became a top-five NFL pick and All-Pro. Desmond Ridder was the quarterback. Luke Fickell was the coach. The program didn't just crack the door open for Group of Five programs; it kicked it in. Nippert Stadium — one of the oldest continuously used on-campus stadiums in the country, a tight urban bowl where the noise sits directly on the field — was the setting. That's the canon Cincinnati points to.

Scott Satterfield's Big 12 tenure has been a grind. A 5-7 year in 2024, then a 7-6 in 2025 capped by a 35-13 Liberty Bowl loss to Navy. New coordinators arrived for 2026 alongside a portal-reshaped roster. Satterfield enters year four with the question the fanbase has been quietly asking for two seasons: can the program that broke into the Playoff once get back there from inside a Power conference, against Power competition, every week? The internal fracture in Cincinnati is real and specific — one faction is still measuring against Fickell's 2021 standard; the other is giving Satterfield the time a Big 12 rebuild requires.

The 2026 season is the clearest referendum Satterfield has faced. New coordinators, a reshaped roster, and a Big 12 schedule that doesn't forgive bad weeks. The question isn't whether the 2021 season was legitimate — it was — but whether this program can compete in a league that has no off weeks the way the American once did.