If There Was A Playoff ...
1998
What If There Was A Playoff ...
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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 1998?
Here’s the best guess with the seedings and the
results.
Final BCS Ranking In Parentheses
ACC – Florida State (2)
Big East – Syracuse (15)
Big Ten – Ohio State (4)
Big 12 – Texas A&M (6)
Pac 10 – UCLA (5)
SEC – Tennessee (1)
Non-BCS – Tulane (10)
Wild Card – Kansas State (3)
Bubble Busted: Arizona
(7), Florida (8), Wisconsin (9)
Texas A&M’s shocking win over Kansas State in the Big 12
championship would’ve ruined the dreams of Arizona,
who would’ve ended up getting the Wild Card with a
KSU win. There would’ve been a big debate and a
major controversy about the Big Ten tie-breaker with
Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan all finishing
7-1 in conference play. The Badgers’ lone loss came
to Michigan and they didn’t play Ohio State, while
Michigan’s Big Ten loss came in Columbus. OSU lost
in the final moments against Michigan State for its
only loss of the season. Assuming the tie-breaker
would then be the BCS rankings, OSU was fourth and
Wisconsin ninth. Arizona would’ve been ticked off
after going 11-1 with the lone loss coming to UCLA,
while Florida’s late-season loss to Florida State
all but ended any hope of the Wild Card
First Round Matchups
No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Texas A&M
No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 7 Syracuse
No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Tulane
No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 6 UCLA
Matchup Analysis: Kansas State, even
with the loss in the Big 12 title game,
would’ve received a No. 3 seed, but it
would’ve been punished by having to go
to Phoenix where UCLA would’ve had a Pac
10 home field advantage. UCLA would’ve
deserved the higher seed than A&M, but
would’ve been given a 6 seed for
geographic interests.
The
high-powered Bruin offense likely
would’ve won a shootout over Michael
Bishop’s Wildcats. Tulane and Shaun King
would’ve put up a fight before giving up
a big fourth quarter in a loss to
Tennessee. Remember, even though the
Green Wave went unbeaten, there were
only two regular season wins over teams
that finished with a winning record. The
best victory came over a Louisville team
that went 7-5. Donovan McNabb and
Syracuse would’ve been shut down by
Florida State’s phenomenal defense, and
Ohio State, who beat Texas A&M in the
1999 Sugar Bowl 24-14, would’ve beaten
the Aggies in Indy.
Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl –
No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 6 UCLA
Sugar
Bowl – No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 4
Ohio State
Matchup Analysis: Tennessee found
ways to win. UCLA couldn’t stop the run
and would’ve been run over by the Vols,
even though the game would’ve been
played in Pasadena. As good as Florida
State was defensively, Marcus Outzen and
the offense would’ve struggled. The
Buckeyes would’ve kept the Seminole O in
check to get to the national title game.
Projected National Championship:
No.
1 Tennessee vs. No. 4 Ohio State
Projected National Champion:
No. 4
Ohio State
Matchup Analysis: The 1998 Ohio
State team was better than it ever
received credit for with five future
first round picks playing key roles, a
steady quarterback in Joe Germaine, and
a defense that was a rock. The D had a
bad fourth quarter in the 28-24 loss to
Michigan State, but that was it as the
Buckeyes didn’t allow more than 17
points against anyone else. Tennessee
was magical and managed to pull out
close games … flip a coin. Tennessee’s
offense was fine, and had an explosive
element in WR Peerless Price, but the
call would’ve been a huge win for Jon
Cooper and Ohio State in an ugly war.