Cincy on the Prowl
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Cincinnati Football: Bearcats ranked 22nd in preseason Coaches Poll

By Charles Post

Cincinnati Bearcats host the Houston Cougars in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game at Nippert Stadium. The Enquirer.
Cincinnati Bearcats host the Houston Cougars in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game at Nippert Stadium. The Enquirer. /
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As training camp continues this week, the Bearcats were ranked 22nd in the annual USA Today preseason Coaches Poll. Cincinnati cliched a top-10 finish in each of the last two postseason Coaches Polls and will look to repeat that trend with a third consecutive conference title and New Year’s Six bowl berth this season.

If the team is able to accomplish that feat, it will likely start with an upset at Arkansas in the season opener next month. When that game kicks off on Saturday, September 3, both teams will be ranked according to the Coaches Poll as the 23rd-ranked Razorbacks were slotted just a spot behind the Bearcats.

Cincinnati Football: Bearcats ranked 22nd in preseason Coaches Poll

Cincinnati and Houston are the only two American Athletic Conference and Group of Five programs in the top-25. After facing off in the AAC title game last year, the Bearcats and 25th-ranked Cougars aren’t scheduled to play in the upcoming regular season but could be on a collision course for an early December rematch.

After being ranked 10th in the preseason poll prior to last season, the Bearcats finished 4th in the postseason following the Cotton Bowl loss against Alabama. The year before, Cincinnati entered the regular season ranked 22nd and moved up to 8th after going undefeated during the regular season and falling to Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

The top-10 includes Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas A&M, Utah, Oklahoma and Baylor. Other Group of Five teams that earned votes in the Coaches Poll are UCF, San Diego State, Fresno State, Utah State, Boise State, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana Lafayette and SMU.

Cincinnati earned 339 points in the Coaches Poll and are currently considered in the same tier as 18th-ranked Texas (383 votes), Wake Forest (381), Wisconsin (369), Kentucky (353), Arkansas (334) and Ole Miss (327). The Bearcats would likely jump several spots with a season-opening upset over the Razorbacks.