Nobody expected Oral Roberts to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament last March as a 15-seed. Nobody imagined 14th-seeded Abiline Christian upsetting Texas or No. 12 Oregon State making it all the way to the Elite Eight.
Those surprising runs are what make March Madness so popular — the underdog producing a seismic upset, making the most of its opportunity as David against Goliath.
Finally, college football has the opportunity to create one of those moments for itself. In the eighth year of the College Football Playoff, a non-power conference school was among the final four, Cincinnati selected as the fourth seed and given the unenviable task of meeting Nick Saban’s never-ending Alabama dynasty. Cinderella, at long last, was invited to the dance.
“A lot of people doubted [us],” coach Luke Fickell said. “That’s where the gratification comes.”
It took a perfect storm of events for it to happen, to the point that the College Football Playoff committee had no other choice. Oklahoma State’s last-second loss to Baylor in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game, and traditionals powers Ohio State, Oregon, Oklahoma and Clemson suffering down years created this no-brainer of a decision. Cincinnati scheduled aggressively, playing Notre Dame and preseason No. 17 Indiana on the road. It manhandled the best teams in the AAC, defeating Houston, Central Florida and East Carolina by an average of 24 points.
