What If There
Was A Playoff? ... 2000
Looking at what might have happened over the years
By Pete Fiutak
What If There Was A Playoff ...
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CFN Playoff Explanation
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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 (2)
Big East – Miami (3)
Big Ten – Purdue (NR)
Big 12 – Oklahoma (1)
Pac 10 – Washington (4)
SEC – Florida (7)
Non-BCS – Notre Dame (11)
Wild Card – Virginia Tech (5)
Bubble Busted:
Northwestern (NR), Michigan (16), Oregon
State (6), Oregon (10), Nebraska (8),
Kansas State (9)
There would’ve
been a really, really wild and fun
debate. Virginia Tech, the hot team
coming into the year led by Michael
Vick, would’ve been a wee bit of a
no-brainer for the Wild Card having gone
10-1 with the lone defeat coming to a
phenomenal Miami team. However, the Pac
10 would’ve been screaming. Oregon
State, led by Chad Johnson and T.J.
Houshmanzadeh, went 10-1 (and eventually
destroyed Notre Dame 41-9 in the Fiesta
Bowl) with the lone loss a 33-30 war at
Washington. However, before the win over
the Irish, they only beat one team,
Oregon, that finished with a winning
record. The Huskies’ lone loss came at
Oregon and they were the only team to
beat Miami, but they got the overall
tie-breaker to get to the Rose Bowl and
would’ve gotten the automatic bid into
the playoff. The Big Ten would’ve had
even more issues. Michigan finished
higher than Purdue in the BCS rankings,
but the Boilermakers won the
head-to-head battle and didn’t play
Northwestern, the third team to earn a
share of the Big Ten title. The
Wolverines lost to Northwestern in a
classic 54-51.
First Round Matchups
Indianapolis – No. 3 Miami vs. No. 6
Purdue
Miami – No. 2 Florida State
vs. No. 7 Notre Dame
Dallas – No. 1
Oklahoma vs. No. 8 Florida
Phoenix –
No. 4 Washington vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech
Matchup Analysis: Remembering the
economics of the playoff and the
necessity to fill stadiums, Purdue
would’ve been bumped up to a No. 6 seed
to play a killer Hurricane team. Drew
Brees and the Boilermakers were good,
but Miami was growing into a juggernaut
and would’ve had way too much talent.
Florida should be a No. 7 seed, if not a
6, but Florida State beat the Gators
30-7 in the final game of the regular
season and no one would want to see a
rematch, even if it was played in Miami.
Getting Notre Dame would appease the
Miami game’s officials who would’ve
wanted the Gators. It wouldn’t have
mattered; FSU would’ve won in a blowout.
Florida won the SEC title by easily
beating Auburn, but this wasn’t a
dominant Gator team and would’ve
struggled against the rock-solid
Oklahoma defense playing a home game in
Dallas. Washington vs. Virginia Tech
would’ve been a classic with the
Washington defense having to keep
Michael Vick under wraps. It wouldn’t
have been able to do it. This wasn’t a
special Washington defense, while the
Hokie D that stopped Woody Dantzler and
Clemson in a 41-20 Gator Bowl win
would’ve gotten the job done against
Marques Tuisasosopo.
Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl –
No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 3 Miami
Sugar Bowl – No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 5
Virginia Tech
Matchup Analysis: Oklahoma’s
defensive front wasn’t athletic and it
wasn’t full of future NFL stars, but it
didn’t give up much of anything. Rocky
Calmus and the linebacking corps
would’ve gotten the job done against
Vick, while the offense would’ve powered
its way to the national title game. The
Seminole-Hurricane matchup would’ve been
the one everyone was waiting for after
the Canes won a 27-24 classic the first
time around. Miami wouldn’t have lost
the rematch even though the Noles were
rolling over the second half of the year
with destructions of fantastic NC State,
Clemson, and Florida teams. After
beating Vick and Virginia Tech 41-21,
the Canes beat Pitt, Syracuse and Boston
College, all good teams that finished
with winning records, by a combined
score of 113 to 13 to close out the
regular season.
Projected National Championship: No.
1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Miami
Projected National Champion: No. 3
Miami
Matchup Analysis: Oklahoma’s defense
came up with an all-time of a stunner to
beat Florida State 13-2 in the Orange
Bowl for the national title, but Miami
was loaded.
LOADED. That team had 19 players drafted over the next two seasons
and had 13 players drafted in the first
round over the next three years. By
comparison, the Sooners had four players
taken in the draft over the following
two seasons (Roy Williams, Rocky Calmus,
Torrance Marshall and Josh Heupel).
Oklahoma was special and was a true team
in every measure of the word, but there
wouldn’t have been enough firepower to
keep up with a Cane team that, unlike
Florida State, played with a serious
attitude.
What If There Was A Playoff ...
-
CFN Playoff Explanation |
2009
|
2008
|
2007
|
2006
-
2005
|
2004
|
2003
|
2002
|
2001
|
2000
|
1999 |
1998