After defeating Tulsa 24-13 in week 8, the Cincinnati Bearcats are 6-1 which means they are bowl eligible for a second straight season, in Luke Fickell’s third year as head coach.
Here is the problem with being bowl eligible in the American Athletic Conference - the bowl tie-ins are terrible. The options include Military (just did that), Hawaii, Birmingham, Boca, Frisco, Cure, and the Bad Boy Lawn Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. Not one of these games gets you excited.
That’s why Cincinnati should just go with plan A - win the “Group of Five” access bowl bid. If you don’t know the situation, among the Group of Five conferences (AAC, Mountain West, C-USA, Sun Belt, MAC), the conference champion with the highest ranking in the final CFB Playoff rankings will receive an automatic bowl bid to one of the New Year’s Six bowls, which in 2019 is likely to be the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas (based on how the bowl games rotate their selections for at-large teams).