A few days late, but that tends to happen when your town has intermittent blackouts and Internet outages thanks to freezing rain. Thanks for your patience, Cat fans.

Anyhow, I'm back up and running now, so it's time to play catch-up. First, I will post the actual blog entry for 2003 data/analysis, then some time later, I will roll out the selection field for 2004, the first of many seasons to come without our beloved Wildcats participating. I hope the general college football fans here will still peruse these, though.

By the way, when I get that posted, it will be my first "original" Protest Playoff post in over a month. The moral of the story is: Don't take a break from a once-a-day behavior, because before you know it, a month has passed and you haven't accomplished anything. Pretty annoying, really.

Hit the jump for the full bracket and some assorted data and tables.

The 2003 FBS Playoff Field

Final Associated Press Poll (with final game result)

1. Boise State (16-1) - beat LSU 38-21 in the Sugar Bowl
2. LSU (15-2) - lost to Boise State 21-38 in the Sugar Bowl
3. Oklahoma (14-2) - lost to Boise State 20-30 in the Orange Bowl
4. Miami University (13-2) - lost to Oklahoma 23-33 in the Fiesta Bowl
5. Kansas State (13-4) - lost to LSU 24-34 in the Rose Bowl
6. USC (12-2) - lost to Kansas State 20-27 in the Holiday Bowl
7. TCU (11-2) - lost to Hawai'i 31-54 in the Fort Worth Bowl
8. Ohio State (11-3) - beat Auburn 35-28 in the Music City Bowl
9. Miami (11-3) - beat Michigan 16-14 in the Continental Tire Bowl
10. Florida State (11-3) - lost to Boise State 3-35 in the Capital One Bowl
11. Texas (11-3) - lost to LSU 10-39 in the Cotton Bowl
12. Bowling Green (11-3) - beat Northwestern 28-24 in the Motor City Bowl
13. Georgia (11-4) - beat Purdue 34-27 in overtime in the Citrus Bowl
14. Michigan (10-4) - lost to Miami 14-16 in the Continental Tire Bowl
15. Iowa (10-3) - beat Florida 37-17 in the Outback Bowl
16. Washington State (10-3) - beat New Mexico 28-14 in the Las Vegas Bowl
17. Ole Miss (10-3) - beat Oklahoma State 31-28 in the Independence Bowl
18. Tennessee (10-3) - lost to Clemson 14-27 in the Peach Bowl
19. Maryland (10-3) - beat West Virginia 41-7 in the Gator Bowl
20. Nebraska (10-3) - beat Michigan State 17-3 in the Alamo Bowl
21. Minnesota (10-3) - beat Oregon 31-30 in the Sun Bowl
22. Utah (10-3) - beat Southern Miss 17-0 in the Liberty Bowl
23. Purdue (9-4) - lost to Georgia 27-34 in overtime in the Citrus Bowl
24. Clemson (9-4) - beat Tennessee 27-14 in the Peach Bowl
25. Florida (8-5) - lost to Iowa 17-37 in the Outback Bowl

The Champions

Real BCS

1998	1999	2000	2001
Tennessee Volunteers	Florida State Seminoles	Oklahoma Sooners	Miami Hurricanes
2002	2003
Ohio State Buckeyes	LSU Tigers

Sim-FBS

1998	1999	2000	2001
Kansas State Wildcats	Kansas State Wildcats	Florida State Seminoles	Florida Gators
2002	2003
Oklahoma Sooners	Boise State Broncos

Playoff Participation

Playoff Records

All helmet images are courtesy of The Helmet Project. Check it out - it's pretty cool.

BracketCat's Protest Playoff Archives

1998: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Fiesta | Data | Encore

1999: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Sugar | Data | Encore

2000: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Orange | Data | Encore

2001: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Rose | Data

2002: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Fiesta | Data

2003: Selection Sunday | Sweet 16 (1) | Sweet 16 (2) | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Sugar