What If There
Was A Playoff? ... 2009
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
| 2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
2006
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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 – North
Carolina (13)
Big East
– West Virginia (8)
Big Ten – Penn State
(3)
Big 12 – Texas
(2)
Pac 10 – USC
(5)
SEC – Florida
(1)
Non-BCS –
Boise State (10)
Wild
Card – Ohio State (4)
Bubble Busted:
Oklahoma (6), LSU (7)
Oklahoma would’ve just barely been
on the outside looking in because of the loss at Nebraska, to go
along with the loss to Texas. LSU and SEC fans would be
screaming about not getting a second SEC team into the
tournament, but it would be a straight record problem. A late
season loss to Ole Miss, along with the two losses to Florida
(including the SEC title game) would’ve cooled off the Tigers.
First Round Matchups
Indianapolis – No. 3 Penn State
vs. No. 6 West Virginia
Miami – No. 1 Florida vs. No. 8 North
Carolina
Dallas – No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Boise State
Phoenix – No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 5 USC
Matchup Analysis: The
Big Ten haters would turn out to be right. Did Ohio State and
Penn State fatten up on easy schedules, or were they really good
and were they able to reload that quickly? It was the schedules.
Ohio State’s losses at home to USC and at Penn State were the
only blemishes, and then the Trojans would win the rematch after
finally jelling after an inconsistent season. Penn State, who
won its second straight Big Ten championship, lost at Illinois
early on enough to build the record and the résumé back up,
helped by a regular season ending win over Michigan State, but
Jarrett Brown and West Virginia would be razor sharp as they
moved on to the Final Four. Boise State struggled in its only
big test of the regular season, a loss to Oregon, and it
wouldn’t be able to get by a Texas team peaking at just the
right time. Butch Davis might have gotten his ultra-athletic
North Carolina team to play at a high level all season long, but
it ran into the Florida buzzsaw.
Projected Final Four
Rose Bowl – No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 USC
Sugar Bowl – No. 1
Florida vs. No. 6 West Virginia
Matchup Analysis: USC
was good enough to beat Ohio State in Columbus, but it sputtered
in the overtime loss at Cal. It blew away Notre Dame in South
Bend, but got run over by Oregon. Just when things were starting
to come together and the rebuilding young team was starting to
look like USC again, Colt McCoy and Texas would play its most
complete game of the year. Sergio Kindle would come up with
three sacks and several pressures on Aaron Corp, forcing two key
turnovers, and the Longhorns would be red hot going into the
national title. Florida would toy with West Virginia for a half,
and then Tim Tebow would get the team focused in a dominant
second half.
Projected National Championship:
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 2 Texas
Projected National
Champion: No. 2 Texas
Matchup Analysis: Just
when the talk of Florida being the greatest team of all-time
would kick in, and just when ESPN would finish up its mythical
tournament of the best college football teams, with the 2009
Gators winning, Tebow, the two-time Heisman winner, would be
pressured into one of the worst games of his career. The
Longhorns would keep the Gator running game to under 50 yards
and provided enough pressure into the backfield to make Tebow
miss. McCoy and the Texas offense struggled against the veteran
Florida D, but a big punt return from Jordan Shipley and a
gut-check fourth quarter drive would bring Mack Brown his second
national title.
What If There Was A Playoff ...
-
CFN Playoff Explanation |
2009
|
2008
|
2007
|
2006
-
2005
|
2004
|
2003
|
2002
|
2001
|
2000
|
1999 |
1998