There is no doubt Cincinnati fans are irritated by the first College Football Playoff ranking of the season.
The undefeated Bearcats are undefeated and ranked No. 6. That is unacceptable to the fans who turned out Saturday for ESPN’s “College GameDay” at The Commons on the UC campus, prior to their game with Tulsa.
In addition to using signs to display how they felt on the matter, boo birds rained – and chants of “overrated” – down when the “GameDay” crew were joined by Alabama coach Nick Saban, who hosts LSU on Saturday night and ranks No. 2 in the CFP with a loss.
It’s that loss that appears to stick in Cincinnati fans’ craw.
“Coach, you know you are the king even when the Group of 5 teams don’t like you,” Kirk Herbstreit quipped to Saban. “You the man. Congratulations.”
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For Saban’s part, he just smiled.
The popular pre-game show did a piece on the national prominence of the Alabama-LSU rivalry in past years. This year, however, Alabama is a 28.5-point favorite, per Las Vegas Insider.
“For us, it is no different because we’re no different (in terms) of being in the playoff,” Saban said Saturday.
“We have to play well in November. We have to finish the season strong. LSU is always a formidable opponent. They are a very dangerous team because they are very talented. When they play well this year, they lay extremely well. The game, to us, even though it may not be the same to them, in terms of what the outcome might mean, it means a lot to us. It means the same to us in terms of how we have to finish this season.”
Alabama wasn’t the only taget Cincinnati fans’ had in their sights. The CFP committee and the playoff idea was fodder for posterboards.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
