To quell any buyers remorse with Rhule, lets take a closer look at Luke Fickell during his time at Cincinnati from 2017 to 2022. Below are all of the P5 teams Luke played and their respective regular season records and game with Cincinnati outcome (decent teams in bold):
2017 Michigan (8-4) Lost 36-14
2018 UCLA (3-9) Won 26-17
2018 Virginia Tech (6-6) Won 35-31
2019 UCLA (4-8) Won 24-14
2019 Ohio State (12-0) Lost 42-0
2019 Boston College (6-6) Won 38-6
2020 Georgia (7-2) Lost 24-21
2021 Indiana (2-10) Won 38-24
2021 Notre Dame (11-1) Won 24-13
2021 Alabama (11-1) Lost 27-6
2022 Arkansas (6-6) Lost 31-24
2022 Indiana (4-8) Won 45-24
Notice a pattern? The only win Luke had against a decent P5 team during his tenure at Cincinnati was 2021 Notre Dame who went on to lose to
Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. With now #18 ranked Tulane set to win the American Conference and 9-3 Cincinnati just dropping out of the top 25 after losing their last game to Tulane, it is a perfect time for Luke to abandon ship. I don't think Bucky is getting what they think they are getting.