73 Days Until Kansas Football: Big 12 Expansion Primer – Cincinnati

Cincinnati is getting ready to bring its high football stock to the Big 12.

As we continue our deep dive into the new members joining the Big 12 in 2023, the next program up is a university whose name doesn’t jump off the page at you but whose stock—especially from a football perspective—is as high as anyone in the country.

And I don’t mean that in terms of any group-of-five member looking to move up into a power conference. I mean that their stock is as high as all but maybe 10-15 schools in any conference nationally.

It’s time to look at the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.

University Overview

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

School type: Public

Year founded: 1819

Undergrad enrollment: 28,657

Football History

Cincinnati has been playing football for 68 seasons and is pretty close to .500 in that time (385-369-12), while having played in 18 bowl games and won 10 conference championships.

The first several decades were up and down, but the last two have been a bright period for the Bearcats. Since Mark Dantonio took over as head coach in 2004, Cincinnati has only had four losing seasons. Brian Kelly had the Bearcats ranked in each of his three seasons, including getting them up to No. 4 in the AP poll during a 12-1 season in 2009 that ended in a Sugar Bowl loss.

But the last two years under Luke Fickell have been as good as any in the last 70 years, going 22-2 and ended the season in the top 10 of the AP poll. Speaking of…

Football in 2022

Cincinnati is at the peak of its power right now, coming off a 13-1 season and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Desmond Ridder is no longer leading the offense at quarterback, but the Bearcats have two QBs ready to step up (an Eastern Michigan transfer and junior Evan Prater, a four-star QB out of high school) and all five offensive lineman coming back.

The defense lost six starters to the NFL, but the Bearcats are in a position to reload with transfers and talented freshmen coming in. Making the CFP is incredibly hard, and that’s exponentially more so for non-power-five members like Cincinnati. Still, as long as Fickell is there, the success of the last two years doesn’t seem like a fluke.

Why they were chosen

Well let’s start with the theme of the article so far. If you’re the Big 12 and you’re losing Oklahoma, you need a new viable path to the CFP, and Cincinnati—if the program stays intact—could be a player here. From a football perspective in 2022, Cincinnati does not constitute a drop off competition-wise from Texas or Oklahoma (at least based on what we know as of now).

And of course, market presence is a factor. This gets the conference into Ohio, a strong football state, with a market that’s not competing with Houston, but also isn’t tiny. Cincinnati is No. 36 in terms of market size, just behind Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Milwaukee.

To Cincinnati’s credit, it is embracing this life and stepping up its fame. The university sold out of 2022 season tickets (23,500) and last week announced new suites and tailgating/game-day experiences coming to Nippert Stadium. If it can hold onto this momentum, Cincinnati will fit in well in the Big 12.

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