ARLINGTON, Tex. — This was the moment the Cincinnati Bearcats had pined for all season. The roster is chock-full of local kids, overlooked by Ohio State in high school and largely underestimated now by the football elite, who put their place in the College Football Playoff down to a matter of necessity: the sport needed a fourth team in the field.
The Bearcats had dreamed so hard about a stage like this that some admitted their jaws might drop when they walked for the first time into Jerry World, as the cavernous Texas-sized N.F.L. stadium here is colloquially known.