College Football Playoff Chairman Explains Why Cincinnati Isn't in the Top 4

The undefeated Bearcats are ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, but debuted in the CFP rankings on Tuesday night on the outside looking in.

Buoyed by their Oct. 2 win at Notre Dame and No. 2 spot in the latest AP Top 25 poll, Cincinnati appeared poised to be slotted highly in Tuesday's inaugural College Football Playoff ranking reveal. Instead, the Bearcats are on the outside looking in.

Cincinnati clocked in at No. 6 in the initial poll, two spots outside of the projected playoff field and behind three one-loss teams in No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Oregon. When asked for clarity about how the committee reached the conclusion to rank Cincinnati so low, CFP chairman Gary Barta pointed to the Bearcats' strength of schedule.

"The committee has great respect for Cincy. The win at Notre Dame was a really impressive win," Barta said. "When you look at who they've played after that, who else did they beat?"

Barta, who is the athletic director at Iowa, pointed to Cincinnati's last two wins: a seven-point victory over Navy and a 31-12 win over Tulane, two opponents who are a combined 3-13.

While the No. 6 ranking surprised many, it does represent a bit of history, as no other Group of Five team has ever reached that high a spot in the eight-year history of the College Football Playoff system. Cincinnati's No. 6 rank is also tied for the lowest CFP rank for a team ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, per ESPN Stats & Info.

With no other teams currently ranked in the CFP remaining on their schedule, the question of whether or not Cincinnati had opportunities to improve its status was posed to Barta.

"We don't talk about a ceiling at all," Barta said. "We look at what's happened so far, we don't project ahead...Cincinnati earned their way to the No. 6 spot in being undefeated and with that big win at Notre Dame. We haven't talked at all about a ceiling."

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The college football world had plenty to say about Cincinnati's No. 6 ranking. Check out some of the responses below:

the CFP committee has told us their rankings are corrupted multiple times, but I still can’t get over the way they put Notre Dame in the playoff last year the day after they lost by 24 points to another team in the playoff

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 2, 2021

If Cincinnati wanted to be ranked in the College Football Playoff they should have been better in 1954.

— No Escalators (@NoEscalators) November 2, 2021

Cincinnati beat the committee’s No. 10 ranked team and a Big Ten team. They’re currently undefeated. What else can they do? I never get upset by these rankings bc they’ll change, but I hate that.

— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) November 2, 2021

Things will get better soon for Cincinnati, when they join a conference that the Playoff Committee respects enough to rank a 9-0 team at #8.

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 2, 2021

UCF crawled so Cincinnati could … also crawl. pic.twitter.com/R0xCufI230

— Eric Adelson (@eric_adelson) November 2, 2021

"Who has Cincinnati beaten other than Notre Dame?”

I mean, who has Michigan State beaten other than Michigan? Ohio State’s best win is apparently a Minnesota team that lost to Bowling Green. Oregon beat OSU and a 5-4 UCLA team.

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 2, 2021

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