What If There Was A Playoff? ... 1999
Florida State WR Peter Warrick
Florida State WR Peter Warrick
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Mar 16, 2009


With all the fun every year with March Madness, it's a shame college football isn't able to come up with a similar way to come up with a champion. What if there was an eight team college football playoff in 1999? What likely would've happened? CFN tries to figure out how a playoff would've gone.

What If There Was A Playoff? ... 1999

Looking at what might have happened over the years

By Pete Fiutak 

What If There Was A Playoff ...
CFN Playoff Explanation | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006
- 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 

Take the six BCS conference champions and give them automatic bids. Take the highest ranked non-BCS team (Notre Dame included), and give it an automatic bid. The eighth and final slot would be a Wild Card going to the top ranked team in the BCS that isn’t already in. With that in mind, here are the eight teams that would be in and the best guess about what would happen.

Final BCS Ranking in parentheses

ACC – Florida State (1)
Big East – Virginia Tech (2)
Big Ten – Wisconsin (7)
Big 12 – Nebraska (3)
Pac 10 – Stanford (NR)
SEC – Alabama (4)
Non-BCS – Marshall (13)
Wild Card – Tennessee (5)

Bubble Busted: Kansas State (7), Michigan (8)
The automatic spots would’ve been cut and dry, but there would’ve been a big debate about the Wild Card. Kansas State would’ve had a beef after going 10-1 in the regular season and tied with Nebraska for the Big 12 South title. Tennessee, who finished higher in the final BCS rankings, lost to great Florida and Arkansas teams but beat Georgia and came up with a great 21-7 win over eventual SEC champion Alabama in Alabama. Kansas State simply didn’t have the big résumé with a nice win at Texas the only victory of note.

First Round Matchups
Indianapolis – No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 5 Wisconsin
Miami – No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 8 Marshall
Dallas – No. 3 Nebraska vs. No. 6 Tennessee
Phoenix – No. 2 Virginia Tech vs. No. 7 Stanford

Matchup Analysis: Alabama’s Shaun Alexander vs. Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne would’ve made for a fantastic first round matchup in Indianapolis. The 1998 Badger team was better, but the defense would’ve been just strong enough to win a classic. Chad Pennington wouldn’t have been enough for Marshall to overcome the Florida State firepower. Nebraska beat Tennessee 31-21 in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl. Troy Walters and Stanford had a special year to get to the Rose Bowl, but Michael Vick would’ve had few problems with the Cardinal defense.

Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl – No. 2 Virginia Tech vs. No. 3 Nebraska
Sugar Bowl – No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 5 Wisconsin

Matchup Analysis: Nebraska had the defensive front to keep Vick bottled up, but the offense would’ve had problems with the fantastic Hokie D line. It would’ve been a tight battle, but the Huskers were better. Florida State would’ve obliterated the Badgers. Wisconsin was good, but it wouldn’t have had any answer for the Seminiole passing game.

Projected National Championship: No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 3 Nebraska
Projected National Champion: No. 1 Florida State

Matchup Analysis: What beats the option? Speed on the defensive front seven. Florida State’s front wall would’ve kept Eric Crouch and the Nebraska option under wraps, while Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles would’ve come up with just enough big plays to pull away. Nebraska had issues holding on to the ball all season long, and FSU would’ve taken advantage of a few big fumble recoveries.


What If There Was A Playoff ...
CFN Playoff Explanation | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006
- 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 

 



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