The 2003 12-Team Playoff Day Thread (12/14)

Oooh boy

In real life this was a clusterfuck, maybe the worst, most controversial outcome in the entire history of the BCS. Really the only competition is 2011, which we’ll get to when we get there. Oklahoma were 12-0 heading into the final week of the regular season, where they took on Kansas State for the Big XII title. They lost, by a humiliating 35-7 margin. Meanwhile, BCS #2 USC (10-1) and BCS #3 LSU (11-1) each won their final games, securing their respective conference championships.1Technically USC already had theirs in hand, but they blew out Oregon State for good measure. This meant an obvious outcome for the national championship: #1 USC vs #2 LSU. Maybe swap those seeds if you wanna get frisky. Indeed, these were the rankings of both the AP and Coaches’ polls.

It wasn’t the ranking of the BCS. The computer half of the BCS rankings really liked the Sooners. It liked their strength of schedule, it liked how they blew out opponents, and it didn’t care at all about the timing of their loss, nor its conference championship stakes. These are all traits of a good power ranking system, the kind bookmakers might use. They aren’t traits for determining the most deserving team to play for a championship. Thanks to the computers, Oklahoma remained #1 despite the loss, while LSU leapfrogged USC to lock them out of the title entirely. LSU would defeat Oklahoma and claim the BCS championship2Nick Saban’s first of entirely too many, though his only with the Tigers, which the coaches’ poll was contractually obligated to honor. The AP had no such restriction, and following USC’s win over #4 Michigan in the Rose Bowl would keep the Trojans at #1. We had a split national championship, the very thing the BCS was created to solve. To this day it remains the last “canonical” split title (though I will be making a case for at least 2017 UCF when we get there).

You wanna know the funny part? In a 12-team system this is the least controversial playoff yet. Absolutely no drama. The BCS’s strange love of the Sooners gets negated by the conference championship requirement. LSU and USC swapping seeding is whatever, who cares. Michigan comes in at #3 after winning the Big 10, while Florida State jumps up a few spots to claim #4 after winning the ACC yet again. Despite their technomancy Oklahoma drops to #5, theoretically setting up a semi-final mirror of the real-life championship. (The winner of which might play the winner of a mirror of the real-life USC/Michigan Rose Bowl, funny enough) Ohio State comes in at #6, after a final week upset at the hands of the Wolverines cost them the conference title. (But I’m sure that exact scenario hasn’t happened again recently, certainly not for 4 years in a row Go Blue baby!!) Our number 7 is Texas, a pretty good Big XII team that lost Red River in a blowout to cost them a shot at the conference crown. They’ll wind up hosting the actual conference champs Kansas State, which might rankle the Wildcats. But, they have 3 losses AND lost head-to-head against Texas earlier in the season, so fair’s fair.

Tennessee comes in at #8, SEC East runners-up after dropping their game with Georgia by the palindromic score of 14-41. They get to host Miami of Florida, 10-2 and champions of the Big East in their final season with the conference. The Hurricanes would be moving on to the ACC, a historically weak conference dominated by a fading Florida State. I’m sure the Canes would win plenty of conference titles in their new home, and certainly qualify for the championship game more than once ever. But before we get into any of that we have one last season of peak Miami to celebrate.

I specified Miami of Florida because Miami of Ohio is also in the tournament this year after winning the MAC. They get to face Ohio State in a de facto state championship. The RedHawks have played the Buckeyes 6 times in real life, and have lost all 6 of those games, with only a 3-0 game in 1911 within a touchdown.3At least, I’m assuming a touchdown was worth at least 3 points back then. You go back far enough and the sport gets pretty damn weird. But in this timeline, they’d get the chance to score maybe the biggest win in the history of the program. The oddsmakers might say it’s a longshot, but come on. Tell me you wouldn’t watch that game.

(You’ll also notice Miami (OH) are 11th, not 12th. Despite being the 7th conference champion they aren’t here on technicality. They genuinely were the #11 team in the BCS.)

Our final participant are the Georgia Bulldogs. Mark Richt lost a few he couldn’t afford to this year, including both games against LSU. He gets a chance at redemption in our timeline, with the championship game loss knocking them down but not out. 3-loss Iowa and Purdue squads are likely peeved at just barely missing the cut, but the beautiful thing about the final at-large case most years is that 3-loss teams don’t deserve anything. They take what they get, because if they think they deserved better than they should have won just 1 game out of 3 instead of losing them.4Anyway enjoy the ReliaQuest bowl Bama! I know it’ll be hard without the traditional Outback Steakhouse title sponsor. It’s just not the same without free fried appetizers on the line.