Hello, loyal BOTC readers!
I'm the newest contributor to this wonderful site, BracketCat, here to regale you with a barrage of statistics, playoff scenarios, bracketology, tournament resumes, and the like. Some of you may know me from GoPowercat.com, where I go by soontirfel181, and I have posted under that name here before, but I will be using this new account from now on. You can contact me at BracketCat@gmail.com.
Anyhow, this craziness started when Panjandrum saw my "Protest Playoff" project and asked if I would be willing to bring it over here so non-GPC members could see it. I was more than happy to oblige, and things snowballed from there until TB kindly asked me to join the crew, so here I am.
Now that the introductions are over, it's time get this beast under way, so hit the jump to see what I have been cooking up... (And please bear with me as I get the hang of the formatting around here; I've been using a different style of HTML until now and the conversion process is taking some time to get used to.)
Protest Playoff '98: Selection Sunday
What happens when you mix a toxic cocktail of booze, crappy bowl games, melancholy memories, Dan Wetzel articles, and WhatIfSports.com? Well, in my case, it meant that I concocted a crazy new project to waste time...
For the next 10 weeks, I'm going to engage in a little bit of alternate history and wish fulfillment by creating a 16-team playoff for every year since 1998, seeding conference champion automatic qualifiers and at-large teams with the help of BCS rankings, simulating the results, and writing up summaries for your time-wasting enjoyment. Maybe K-State will even win some of these hypothetical playoffs, allowing us to experience a little bit of catharsis as the Second Bill Snyder Era gets rolling.
Regardless, my main purpose is to entertain myself and others, illustrate just how unfulfilling all these weak bowl games are when your team isn't in one, and hopefully make a compelling case for why there should be a college football playoff, and what it might have looked like in past years. Of course, constructive comments, memories, theories, and analysis are always welcomed.
1998: The Field
No. 1 seed Tennessee Volunteers (12-0; BCS #1): SEC Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: BCS #15 Syracuse, BCS #8 Florida, BCS #13 Arkansas
Losses: none
Head Coach: Phillip Fulmer
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Tee Martin
Running Backs: Travis Henry and Travis Stephens
Wide Receivers: Peerless Price and Cedrick Wilson
Tight End: John Finlayson
No. 2 seed Florida State Seminoles (11-1; BCS #2): ACC Co-Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: BCS #6 Texas A&M, BCS #14 Georgia Tech, BCS #12 Virginia, BCS #8 Florida
Losses: NC State
Head Coach: Bobby Bowden
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Chris Weinke
Running Backs: Travis Minor and Jeff Chaney
Wide Receivers: Peter Warrick and Ron Dugans
Tight End: Nick Franklin
No. 3 seed Kansas State Wildcats (11-1; BCS #3): Big 12 North Champion (at-large bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: BCS #11 Nebraska
Losses: BCS #6 Texas A&M
Head Coach: Bill Snyder
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Michael Bishop
Running Backs: Eric Hickson and Marlon Charles
Wide Receivers: Darnell McDonald and Aaron Lockett
Tight End: Justin Swift
No. 4 seed Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1; BCS #4): Big Ten Co-Champion (at-large bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: Michigan State
Head Coach: John Cooper
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Joe Germaine
Running Backs: Michael Wiley and Joe Montgomery
Wide Receivers: David Boston and Dee Miller
Tight End: John Lumpkin
No. 5 seed UCLA Bruins (10-1; BCS #5): Pac-10 Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: BCS #7 Arizona
Losses: Miami
Head Coach: Bob Toledo
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Cade McNown
Running Backs: Jermaine Lewis and DeShaun Foster
Wide Receivers: Danny Farmer and Brian Poli-Dixon
Tight End: Mike Grieb
No. 6 seed Texas A&M Aggies (11-2; BCS #6): Big 12 Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: BCS #11 Nebraska, BCS #3 Kansas State
Losses: BCS #2 Florida State, Texas
Head Coach: R.C. Slocum
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Randy McCown
Running Backs: Dante Hall and Ja'Mar Toombs
Wide Receivers: Chris Cole and Leroy Hodge
Tight End: Derrick Spiller
No. 7 seed Arizona Wildcats (11-1; BCS #7): at-large bid
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: BCS #5 UCLA
Head Coach: Dick Tomey
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Keith Smith
Running Backs: Trung Canidate and Kelvin Eafon
Wide Receivers: Dennis Northcutt and Jeremy McDaniel
Tight End: Mike Lucky
No. 8 seed Florida Gators (9-2; BCS #8): at-large bid
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: BCS #1 Tennessee, BCS #2 Florida State
Head Coach: Steve Spurrier
Offensive Style: Favor Pass
Quarterback: Doug Johnson
Running Backs: Terry Jackson and Robert Gillespie
Wide Receivers: Travis McGriff and Travis Taylor
Tight End: Erron Kinney
No. 9 seed Wisconsin Badgers (10-1; BCS #9): Big Ten Co-Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: Michigan
Head Coach: Barry Alvarez
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Mike Samuel
Running Backs: Ron Dayne and Eddie Faulkner
Wide Receivers: Chris Chambers and Ahmad Merritt
Tight End: Eric Grams
No. 10 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-3; BCS #11): at-large bid
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: BCS #6 Texas A&M, Texas, BCS #3 Kansas State
Head Coach: Frank Solich
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Eric Crouch
Running Backs: Correll Buckhalter and Joel Makovicka
Wide Receivers: Matt Davison and Kenny Cheatham
Tight End: Sheldon Jackson
No. 11 seed Tulane Green Wave (11-0; BCS #10): C-USA Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: none
Head Coach: Tommy Bowden/Chris Scelfo**
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Shaun King
Running Backs: Toney Converse and Michael Burks
Wide Receivers: P.J. Franklin and JaJuan Dawson
Tight End: Mike Turner
No. 12 seed Virginia Cavaliers (9-2; BCS #12): at-large bid
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: BCS #14 Georgia Tech, BCS #2 Florida State
Head Coach: George Welsh
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Aaron Brooks
Running Backs: Thomas Jones and Antwoine Womack
Wide Receivers: Terrance Wilkins and Kevin Coffey
Tight End: Casey Crawford
No. 13 seed Syracuse Orangemen (8-3; BCS #15): Big East Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: BCS #1 Tennessee, NC State, West Virginia
Head Coach: Paul Pasqualoni
Offensive Style: Favor Run
Quarterback: Donovan McNabb
Running Backs: Kyle McIntosh and Rob Konrad
Wide Receivers: Kevin Johnson and Darryl Daniel
Tight End: Stephen Brominski
No. 14 seed Air Force Falcons (11-1; Sagarin #17*): WAC Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: TCU
Head Coach: Fisher DeBerry
Offensive Style: Heavy Run
Quarterback: Blane Morgan
Running Backs: Charles Gilliam and Qualario Brown
Wide Receivers: Matt Farmer and Dylan Newman
Tight End: Ken Chandler
No. 15 seed Marshall Thundering Herd (11-1; Sagarin #54*): MAC Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: Bowling Green
Head Coach: Bob Pruett
Offensive Style: Balanced
Quarterback: Chad Pennington
Running Backs: Doug Chapman and Llow Turner
Wide Receivers: Nate Poole and LaVorn Colclough
Tight End: Gregg Kellett
No. 16 seed Idaho Vandals (8-3; Sagarin #69*): Big West Champion (automatic bid)
1st playoff appearance
Notable Wins: none
Losses: Nevada, LSU, Washington State
Head Coach: Chris Tormey
Offensive Style: unavailable***
Quarterback: unavailable***
Running Backs: unavailable***
Wide Receivers: unavailable***
Tight End: unavailable***
*BCS rankings only went from #1-15 from 1998-2002, so I used Sagarin rankings to seed all teams not listed in the BCS Top 15.
**Tommy Bowden departed before the Liberty Bowl, in which the team was coached by Chris Scelfo. It is reasonable to hypothesize, however, that Bowden would have remained at Tulane until the Green Wave were eliminated from the playoff.
***The database for Idaho only goes back to 2001. Since they will most likely lose to No. 1 seed Tennessee anyway, I will use the 2001 team for simulation purposes.
1998: What Really Happened (Unfortunately)
As we know all too well, Tennessee defeated Florida State 23-16 in the inaugural BCS championship game, the 1999 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Kansas State, victimized by an asinine bowl selection process, slid all the way to the Alamo Bowl and disinterestedly lost to Purdue, 34-37, thus necessitating the creation of the so-called "K-State Rule."
Ohio State cleaned up our mess by beating Texas A&M 24-14 in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
UCLA lost to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, 31-38.
Arizona clowned Crouch and the Huskers in the Holiday Bowl, 23-20 (their last bowl appearance and win until this season).
Florida crushed Syracuse in the FedEx Orange Bowl, 31-10.
Tulane became the first of many mid-major teams to go undefeated and be shut out of the BCS system. Their reward? Pummeling BYU in the Liberty Bowl, 41-27, despite losing head coach Tommy Bowden and offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez before the game.
Virginia lost to Georgia in the Peach Bowl, 33-35.
Air Force won the now-defunct Oahu Classic, defeating Washington 45-25.
Marshall beat Louisville 48-29 in the Motor City Bowl.
Idaho upset a favored Southern Miss in the Humanitarian Bowl, 42-35.
Wikipedia's 1998 season summary
1998: What Could Have Happened...
Tomorrow at noon I will post the first set of results. The schedule for each week will be as follows:
- SUNDAY: Field announced
- MONDAY: First half of the 1st round games played (higher seed hosts)
- TUESDAY: Second half of the 1st round games played (higher seed hosts)
- WEDNESDAY: 2nd round games played (bowl sites)
- THURSDAY: Final Four (bowl sites)
- FRIDAY: National Championship
Tomorrow's games:
#16 Idaho @ #1 Tennessee
Neyland Stadium
Knoxville, Tenn.
#13 Syracuse @ #4 Ohio State
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
#12 Virginia @ #5 UCLA
Rose Bowl
Pasadena, Calif.
#9 Wisconsin @ #8 Florida
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Gainesville, Fla.