Cincinnati Football: The Next Boise State?

In the last two years the conference formally known as the Big East, now the American Athletic Conference (AAC) has been ruined. Most of the top teams that were in the Big East have either left, or will leave. West Virginia, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh have all left the conference already.

Louisville and Rutgers were two great football teams last season, but they’re entering their final year in the conference. Louisville, the defending Men’s Basketball National Champions, will leave for the Atlantic Coast Conference, Rutgers will leave for the Big Ten.

In 2014, after everyone that was previously mentioned leaves, Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida, Central Florida, Temple, Houston, Memphis, SMU, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa, and football-only member Navy, will be the teams that make up the conference.

There really are only three teams that will compete to win the Conference every year, Cincinnati, Connecticut, and perhaps South Florida.

UConn went to a BCS Bowl in 2011, but Oklahoma crushed them in the Fiesta Bowl. South Florida just fired their coach this off-season, so it will be tough for USF to get a good team going for the next couple of years.

Cincinnati, however, is very excited about their future. Tommy Tuberville, one of the best coaches in the game today, is now the Head Football Coach for UC. They also have loads of talent on their team currently, and with Tuberville as coach, recruiting should only improve, despite them being in a weak conference. Also, in 2014 it is likely that the former #1 high school quarterback, Gunner Kiel, will start for Cincinnati. He has a lot of potential, and could be a big name in college football down the road.

Let’s compare Boise State to Cincinnati, okay? Both teams are in a weak conference. Boise used to try to get out of the WAC, they wanted out so bad, they finally got out and then joined a slightly better conference, the Mountain West Conference. Then they decided after a few seasons, they were too good for the MWC, which they probably were, and tried to get into the Big East, when it was a good conference, they joined, but after the recent events involving the Big East/AAC, they decided that the MWC isn’t really that bad. Sounds somewhat similar to Cincinnati’s case, they are in a conference they’re probably too good for. Also, Boise State used to have a great quarterback, the best in college football, actually, his name was Kellen Moore. We all remember him. You could compare him to Gunner Kiel pretty easily.

Boise State used to receive so much hate, everyone thought they were overrated after going 12-0 or 11-1, and no one wanted to see them in a BCS Bowl Game. Well, that will probably be the case with Cincinnati. There is no reason why they shouldn’t at least win 9 or 10 games every season, absolutely no reason at all. They will be the face of the conference in pretty much every sport except women’s basketball.

Bearcat fans, get used to it, your team will be called “overrated” by a lot of people, your team will be in a weak conference for a decent amount of time, but even with all of that going on, you should still be excited about the future of UC Football. As long as they play like expected, they will win a lot of games every season, and at least make a pretty good bowl game. Perhaps one day in the not-too-distant future, with one of the best coaches in the land, and one of the best quarterbacks in the land, UC might make the College Football Playoffs.