Thanks to Navy’s shocking upset at first place UCF, there are four teams with a chance to reach the AAC championship game. Here are scenarios for all four programs to secure a spot in the title game.
Cincinnati faces Tulane on Friday afternoon and the winner will host the conference championship game on Saturday, December 3. Houston and UCF remain in contention to reach the championship as well.
All the Bearcats need to do is take down Tulane and the AAC championship game will come to Nippert Stadium for a third straight season. A loss would likely eliminate Cincinnati from contention though.
Despite a devastating loss to Navy at home, UCF has the best odds to secure a spot in the championship if there is a three-way tie for second place alongside Houston and the loser of Cincinnati against Tulane.
Cincinnati will host Tulane on Friday afternoon with a chance to reach a fourth consecutive #AAC title game but it could be without Ben Bryant after the #Bearcats starting quarterback suffered a foot injury at Temple.https://t.co/KRGi8kmpuu pic.twitter.com/diLyALcy0e
— Cincy on the Prowl (@CincyOnTheProwl) November 20, 2022
Cincinnati Football: AAC championship game scenarios following wild Week 12
If three teams are tied in second place, it will come down to which team is ranked higher in the College Football Playoff rankings and UCF owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Cincinnati and Tulane.
It’s possible that Houston will jump into the rankings this Tuesday and potentially stay in front of UCF but that seems unlikely since the Knights would have a better record with more impressive wins.
One more week. 👀@GoBearcatsFB advances to #21 in this week's AP Poll ahead of Friday's Senior Day matchup with #19 Tulane.
— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) November 20, 2022
🎟️: https://t.co/1ZyRfZJ256 pic.twitter.com/i78bTkC0GY
Houston is scheduled to host Tulsa, while UCF heads to South Florida on Saturday as both programs need a win to stay in the race. Check out the current AAC standings with one regular season game remaining.
- Cincinnati (9-2, 6-1)
- Tulane (9-2, 6-1)
- UCF (8-3, 5-2)
- Houston (7-4, 5-2)
During a recent press conference, Luke Fickell touched on the AAC race via Cincinnati Athletics.
"“In some way, you always want to put yourself in position to control your own destiny. What more can you ask for? We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We go into the last week with an opportunity to control our own destiny.”"