Cincinnati Football: Bearcats move up three spots in latest AP rankings

After taking down South Florida last Saturday, the Bearcats moved up to #21 in the recent Associated Press Top 25. Even though it wasn’t a great showing, Cincinnati was able to stay unbeaten in conference play and continue to climb the weekly rankings.

Several ranked teams lost on the road last weekend including BYU and Washington, which allowed the Bearcats to jump three spots. Cincinnati is currently trailing Kansas and Utah but should have a chance to surpass them soon if the win streak stays intact.

Kentucky and Texas trail Cincinnati in the rankings but both teams play this weekend so a win could potentially bump them past the Bearcats. The other addition to the latest AP Top 25 is James Madison joined Cincinnati as ranked Group of Five teams.

Cincinnati Football: Bearcats move up three spots in latest AP rankings

The top-10 teams in the updated AP Top 25 consists of Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Tennessee, USC, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Penn State. Mississippi State and UCLA were the biggest risers from last week after moving up seven spots.

Luke Fickell’s team has a much-needed bye week that should give the program an opportunity to get healthy and reset before a pair of road trips to end the month. Following the win last weekend, Fickell discussed the upcoming bye via Cincinnati Athletics.

"“There’s some things we have to do better. We have a bye week and that starts with health. You’re never going to be completely healthy throughout a season but we have to make sure we know how we can continue to grow and move forward. This is a large mountain to climb and these guys understand that. I think this is a good week for us to continue to find ways to grow in what we do offensively and defensively. We also have to figure out health.”"