What If There
Was A Playoff? ... 2005
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
(22)
Big East –
West Virginia (11)
Big
Ten – Penn State (3)
Big 12 – Texas (2)
Pac 10 – USC (1)
SEC – Georgia (7)
Non-BCS – Notre Dame
(6)
Wild Card –
Ohio State (4)
Bubble Busted: Oregon (5), Miami (8)
There would’ve been a little bit of
controversy with the Wild Card. Oregon’s lone loss came to USC,
everyone’s No. 1 team, while Ohio State had list at home to
Vince Young and Texas and on the road against a Penn State team
that would finish 11-1 with an Orange Bowl win over Florida
State. Miami didn’t have all that much of a beef going 9-2
before finishing with a 40-3 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl.
First Round Matchups
Indianapolis – No. 3 Penn State vs. No. 6 Notre Dame
Miami –
No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Georgia
Dallas – No. 2 Texas vs.
No. 7 West Virginia
Phoenix – No. 1 USC vs. No. 8 Florida
State
Matchup
Analysis: USC would’ve waltzed past a Florida State team
that had four losses at the time, but stunned Virginia Tech in
the ACC title game. Penn State had a sound, veteran team that
would’ve come up with just enough big plays against the awful
Notre Dame defense to move on. The real excitement would’ve come
in the other two games as Vince Young would’ve battled Pat White
in a showdown of spread wizards in one battle, while Ohio State
and Georgia would’ve waged a war in the other first rounder.
Don’t just assume a Texas win over West Virginia, the
Mountaineers were really that good, but Young wouldn’t have let
the Horns lose. The Buckeyes were better than the Bulldogs, but
it’s OSU vs. the SEC; it’s just too tough to pick against
history in a relatively even matchup.
Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl – No. 1 USC vs. No. 5 Georgia
Sugar Bowl – No. 2
Texas vs. No. 3 Penn State
Matchup Analysis: The
Penn State defense would’ve kept Young from running amok, but
Michael Robinson and the offense would’ve sputtered a bit too
often against a Texas defense that had the speed and athleticism
to keep the score low. USC in the Rose Bowl … the Trojans
wouldn’t have lost to a very good Georgia team that took its
eyes off the ball in the Sugar Bowl loss to West Virginia.
Reggie Bush would’ve had a huge game to overcome a sluggish day
from Matt Leinart.
Projected National
Championship: No. 1 USC vs. No. 2 Texas
Projected National
Champion: No. 2 Texas
Matchup Analysis:
Vince Young, Vince Young, Vince Young. It took one of the
greatest performances in college football history for the
Longhorns to get by the Trojans 41-38 in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
What If There Was A Playoff ...
-
CFN Playoff Explanation |
2009
|
2008
|
2007
|
2006
-
2005
|
2004
|
2003
|
2002
|
2001
|
2000
|
1999 |
1998