CINCINNATI-ALABAAMA COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS

For months, the Georgia Bulldogs looked every bit the part of the best college football team in the land.

Really, it wasn’t even close, but when the Southeastern Conference championship game was played as the regular season wound down, it was once-beaten Alabama taking down previously undefeated Georgia to vault from No. 4 in the rankings and drop the Dawgs to No. 3.

Forgotten was the 41-38 Crimson Tide setback midway through the season at SEC rival Texas A & M, for Nick Saban’s team came together at just the right time to secure the top seed in the college playoffs.

Instead of another loss probably eliminating Bama, it was now No. 1 and drew 4th-seeded Cincinnati, which has won all its 13 starts and was the lone non-power five representative.

The two will meet in the first of the two semis games on New Years Eve, and at the Cotton Bowl to be played at the A T & T Stadium in Arlington, Tx., in a scheduled 2:30 p.m. kickoff seen on ESPN.

But for Georgia, it was a damaging defeat. Its main strength was its defense. Sure, it rolled up points, and except for the close 10-3 win in the opener against Clemson, its other tilts offered no problems. One was a 37-0 zip over Vanderbilt, one was a 45-0 shutout over Georgia Tech, while twice it scored 56 points, and both were identical 56-7 finals over UAB and Charleston Southern.

But then came Alabama. No one scored more than 17 points against the Dawgs, and that was Tennessee in a 41-17 rout, but the Crimson Tide scored 41 in a 41-24 final.

So while No. 3 Georgia (11-2) gets No. 2 Michigan (12-1) played in the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla., with a slated 6:30kickoff, the Alabama (13-1) opens as a 13 and one half-point favorite over the Bearcats (12-1), winners of the American Athletic Conference and which is not in the same league with the SEC and the Big Ten.

But Cincinnati is there, never having had such a prestigious bowl berth in all its long years on the gridiron. Its best player through the years was probably running back Joe Morrison, who later ran in the backfield for the New York Giants and later became head coach at his alma mater.

But this is all new. And as talented and confident these Bearcats are, the odds are long that they will come within, let’s day, three touchdowns of the perennial power out of Birmingham. Cincni played one Big Ten team, Indiana, and won 38-24. But its biggest test came the following Saturday when it traveled to South Bend, Ind., and turned back then-No. 6 Notre Dame, 24-13.

It had two more tight tussels, one a 27-20 struggle at Navy, the other a 28-20 triumph at home over Tulsa. And in the conference title game, the Bearcats disposed of high-scoring Houston, 35-20, to complete their initial unblemished campaign.

They have pieced together 435 points, but there’s a catch, because Alabama’s defense has more size, more experience in tougher games, more depth on both lines, and is tough to run on, and if that doesn’t work, it is quick to the ball and doesn’t give the opposing quarterbacks much time.

Cincinnati does have a quality signal-caller in Desard Ridder. He has a strong arm, often employs the option, but has not played against a defense that Bama brings. It has allowed 184 points, but 22 came in a four-overtime win over SEC rival Auburn, 35 versus SEC opponent Arkansas, and 38 against Texas A & M., and this is no doubt the most feared football conference in the USA.

The Crimson Tide also came away with a close one over SEC foe Florida, defeated other SEC teams Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Tennessee, but the Bearcats have not faced a schedule like this, with the Fighting Irish the one exception.

Now, with the two schedules in mind, Cincinnati has averaged 39.2 points per game, Alabama 42.5. In yards per game, the Bearcats have a norm of 428.3 and Bama 495.5. In passes per game, Ridder has completed 68 percent, and Heisman Trophy winner Byron Young of Alabama has completed 81 percent.

In turnovers per game, Cinnci has averaged 19, the Crimson Tide 10. In penalties, the Bearcats have a norm of 95, one more than Alabama. In penalty yards, it’s been 715 for the Cincinnati and 897 for Bama.

But this is all history now. The semis winner here gets to play in the championship game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

And so, can we just be honest and consider that that this will be a close game? Sure, why not, it’s a free country they say, and why not say what you feel?

But that’s not the way this match-up shapes up. For one, the Bearcats are just not strong enough to do battle with Alabama. Saban’s guys have been challenged every year, and usually come through. Cincinnati will have to play an almost-perfect contest, get some breaks, avoid turnovers, contain the run and gun game, and play like it belongs there.

Otherwise, it breaks down into one team that is like your overall-clad cousin

Earl staggering into the Union League Club for dinner with the Pritzkes. In bowl games that appeared to give the underdogs a fair chance, there’s been 10 blowouts in 14 tilts.

Yes, Cincinnati has a heck of a team, but so did Florida State in 2014, Michigan State in 2015, Ohio State in 2017, Notre Dame in 2018, and Oklahoma in 2019, and they all lost by a 34-point average margin.

Now if you have it in your thoughts that those guys from Cincinnati will upset  Bama, well then, happy snoozefelt when it happens!  The Ohio school was founded in 1885 and played its first bowl game in 1897. Hope it enjoys this one and winds up in upset heaven.