What If There
Was A Playoff? ... 2003
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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2006
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2005 |
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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
(7)
Big East –
Miami (9)
Big Ten –
Michigan (4)
Big
12 – Kansas State (10)
Pac 10 – USC (3)
SEC – LSU (2)
Non-BCS – Miami
University (11)
Wild
Card – Oklahoma (1)
Bubble Busted:
Ohio State (5), Texas (6)
Kansas State’s shocking upset over
Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game killed Ohio State’s chance to
get in as a Wild Card. Texas would’ve been disappointed, but it
didn’t have much of a case to get in.
First Round Matchups
Indianapolis – No. 4 Michigan vs.
No. 5 Florida State
Miami – No. 2 LSU vs. No. 7 Miami
Dallas – No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 8 Miami Univ.
Phoenix – No. 3
USC vs. No. 6 Kansas State
Matchup Analysis: The
mother of all BCS controversies would’ve easily been settled
with a playoff. USC was No. 1 in the human polls but finished
third in the BCS, while Oklahoma finished third according to the
humans and first according to the computers to end up first in
the BCS. LSU came in a solid second and won the whole the
national title, but USC was still claiming a piece of the
championship thanks to the AP.
LSU would’ve had to play
a home game in Miami against the Canes, but was tough enough
defensively to have found a way to win; this wasn’t the Miami
team of the previous few years. The Cane defense would’ve kept
the game close, but LSU was the better team. Ben
Roethlisberger’s Miami University team would’ve been the
interesting novelty after winning 12 straight games following a
21-3 opening day loss at Iowa. The offense was unstoppable
helped by a line that was more than good enough to have given
Oklahoma’s defensive front problems, but the defense wouldn’t
have been able to stop Jason White and the Sooner attack. Darren
Sproles and Kansas State might have been the hot team after
blasting OU, but USC wouldn’t have had too many problems. The
Wildcats lost to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Florida State
wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t consistent. Chris Rix and the offense
wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Braylon Edwards, Steve
Breaston, Chris Perry and the Michigan O.
Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl – No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Michigan
Sugar Bowl –
No. 2 LSU vs. No. 3 USC
Matchup Analysis: USC
would’ve thrived on the road atmosphere. Matt Leinart and the
offense had hung up 43 points or more in each of the final seven
regular season games, and while the schedule wasn’t exactly
challenging, the team really was that good. LSU struggled to put
away Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, and it likely would’ve had
problems late against the Trojan pass rush. Matt Mauck wouldn’t
have had time to work, and Justin Vincent, the hero of the Sugar
Bowl, wouldn’t have had much room to move. Oklahoma had put up
monster numbers all season long, but it lost its mojo in the Big
12 title game. The much-maligned John Navarre would’ve been just
good enough to pull off the upset over a Sooner team that had
been exposed.
Projected National Championship: No. 3 USC vs. No. 4
Michigan
Projected
National Champion: No. 3 USC
Matchup Analysis: USC
won a 28-14 battle over the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl. The
Michigan offensive line had a lousy game, but Navarre heated up
just in time to make it interesting.
What If There Was A Playoff ...
-
CFN Playoff Explanation |
2009
|
2008
|
2007
|
2006
-
2005
|
2004
|
2003
|
2002
|
2001
|
2000
|
1999 |
1998