The Cincinnati Bearcats made history on Sunday, officially becoming the first team from a Group of Five conference to break through and reach the College Football Playoff. And over those past seven playoffs with only power-conference teams, fans have complained about how the process has excluded Group of Five teams by design.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, though, used Sunday’s selection show as an opportunity to take a shot at the fans who voiced those real concerns about the College Football Playoff’s selection. Upon seeing the Bearcats come in at No. 4 to face top-ranked Alabama, Herbstreit said, “But I’m confused. What about that narrative that the Group of Five wasn’t allowed to get in?”
Cincy makes the CFP (2/2) pic.twitter.com/C8kpObkhh2
— Sean Keeley (@SeanKeeleyIsMe) December 5, 2021
It just couldn’t get more disingenuous than that, and it was the kind of comment that seemed more like PR for the selection committee than a real attempt at analysis. After all, if it takes eight years to get one Group of Five team in the playoff, it’s clearly not an inclusive process.
Plus, the committee didn’t just make an exception this year out of respect to Cincinnati. They just couldn’t justify putting a team ahead of Cincinnati following Oklahoma State’s loss to Baylor (and Cincinnati’s head-to-head win over Notre Dame). They would have tried to leave Cincy out if the Cowboys won that Big 12 title game, and Herbstreit had to know that too.
No wonder college football fans didn’t react kindly to that comment.