If There Was A Playoff ...
2010
What If There Was A Playoff ...
- 2011 | 2010
| 2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
2005
- 2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
1998
It's that time of year ... the second guessing season.
What might happen if Oklahoma State got its shot?
How would TCU have done if it got its shot at Auburn at the end of the 2010 season? How about if Boise State got a chance at Alabama in 2009 or if several other BCS fiascos were decided on the field?.
Forget basketball's gimmicky
post-season, where a seventh best team in
a conference gets a shot to play for the
national title, rendering the regular
season relatively meaningless. CFN has
created the best of all possible worlds
for a playoff to make sure the regular
season still holds the weight it does
now, if not more, while providing the
solution everyone wants (outside of Bill
Hancock, the
college presidents, the yellow-jacket
bowl kids, and 99% of the
coaches). Here’s the plan …
Take
the six BCS conference champions and
give them automatic bids. Take the
highest ranked non-BCS league champion (Notre Dame
included), and give it an automatic bid.
The eighth and final slot would be a
Wild Card, which would go to the top ranked team
in the BCS that isn’t already in.
We’d have to keep this in the land of the real with
the geographic and economic concerns in mind by
rewarding the top four teams with a first round home
game - fan bases aren't going to travel to three
neutral field sites if their team goes to the
national championship.
The seeds wouldn’t
necessarily go according to BCS ranking,
again, with the idea to put teams close
to the right region to make sure the
opposing fans can get there as easily as
possible.
The Final Four games
would be held in Pasadena and New
Orleans, and the national title would
rotate sites like it does now. Meanwhile
the rest of the bowl system would be
kept in place. If you watched the
Liberty Bowl before, you’d still watch
it if there's an eight team playoff.
So
what would’ve likely happened had the
CFN system been in place since the BCS
was in place in 2010? Here’s the best
guess with the seedings and the results.
Final BCS Ranking In Parentheses
ACC – Virginia Tech (13)
Big East – Connecticut (NR)
Big Ten – Wisconsin (5)
Big 12 – Oklahoma (7)
Pac 10 – Oregon (2)
SEC – Auburn (1)
Non-BCS – TCU (3)
Wild Card – Stanford (4)
Bubble Busted: Ohio
State (6), Arkansas (8), Michigan State (9), Boise
State (10)
The howling would be deafening. Ohio State would be screaming that
Stanford didn't beat anyone. Arkansas would be
yelling that it was the second best SEC team and
deserved to get its shot. Michigan State would have
less of a beef, but it would be ticked that it
wouldn't be close to getting in, and Boise State
would be dreaming about what might have been if it
hadn't gacked away the loss to Nevada. Considering
Stanford finished fifth in both the computer and
human polls, and the Buckeyes, Hogs, Spartans, and
Broncos didn't finish in the top five in either,
there wouldn't be any footing to stand on.
First Round Matchups
No. 4 Stanford vs. No. 5 Wisconsin
No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 8
Connecticut
No. 3 TCU vs. No. 6 Oklahoma
No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech
Matchup Analysis: Everyone would be buzzing
about the David vs. Goliath game with TCU getting
its dream shot against Oklahoma with everything on
the line. The problem for the Horned Frogs would be
the OU passing game that would crank out well over
300 yards, but Andy Dalton and the ultra-efficient
TCU offense would play flawlessly against the
decent, but not elite Sooner D. Turnovers would be
the key, and TCU would capitalize on all of them to
pull off the win. The other marquee matchup would
but the hard-hitting Rose Bowl-like battle between
Stanford and Wisconsin. The Badgers would be the
Badgers and would thunder away on the Cardinal
defense, but Shayne Skov and the Stanford
linebackers would win more than their share of
battles, and Andrew Luck would light up the mediocre
UW secondary like a Christmas tree. Auburn would put
away UConn by halftime, while the Oregon running
game would outslug the Virginia Tech ground attack
in a high scoring shootout. It would take three
quarters, but the Ducks would win in a blowout.
Projected Final Four
Rose
Bowl – No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 TCU
Sugar Bowl – No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 4 Stanford
Matchup Analysis: TCU would be a nice
matchup for the Oregon offense with the linebackers
keeping LaMichael James in check throughout.
However, the Horned Frogs wouldn't be able to do
much against a Duck defense perfectly-built to
handle Dalton and the spread. Oregon would be in for
its biggest fight of the year for about 50 minutes,
but would finally break through late.
The shocker would likely come in the Sugar Bowl as
Stanford would have the near-perfect formula for
beating Cam Newton and the Tigers. The smart, tough
Cardinal linebackers would keep Newton in check, and
the great size up front in the 3-4 wouldn't be run
over, like Oregon's line was in the 2011 BCS
Championship. Stanford wouldn't run a lick, but Luck
would go ballistic on the mediocre Auburn secondary.
It would be a shootout, and there would be several
big momentum shifts, but the Stanford offensive line
that was second in the nation in sacks allowed would
keep Luck clean as the Pac 10 would come up with one
of its biggest wins in the BCS era .
Projected National Championship:
No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 4 Stanford
Projected National Champion:
No. 2 Oregon
Matchup Analysis: How would Stanford do if it
played Oregon outside of Autzen Stadium? It would
lose. The precision of the Duck attack wouldn't slip
after working through a playoff and without a long
layoff to screw things up. The Cardinal might have
dominated the first half of the first meeting, but
the Ducks would be better throughout and would pull
out a win in the final moments of a classic. Luck
would throw for 350, but LaMichael James would run
for 175 and the game-winner.
What If There Was A Playoff ...
- 2010
| 2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004
- 2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
1998