Georgia, Alabama, Michigan State, and Oregon will start the College Football Playoff race in prime position at the top of the selection committee’s rankings. Unbeaten Cincinnati is going to need some help to make history as the first team from outside the Power Five conferences to reach college football’s final four. At sixth, the unbeaten Bearcats of the American Athletic Conference have the best ranking ever in the selection committee’s Top 25 for a non-Power Five team, but still sit behind three teams (second-ranked Alabama, fourth-ranked Oregon and fifth-ranked Ohio State) that have already been beaten. Committee chairman Gary Barta, who is also Iowa’s athletic director, said the committee was impressed with Cincinnati’s victory at tenth-ranked Notre Dame (7–1), but not so much by the rest of the Bearcats’ schedule. He cited closer-than-expected wins against Navy (2–6) and Tulane (1–7) over the past two weeks. “Cincinnati has tremendous respect from …