SMQ: What if four teams got into a playoff during the BCS era?

1998

(1) Tennessee v. (4) Ohio State

(2) Florida State v. (3) Kansas State

FIRST TEAM OUT: UCLA

Which BCS conference would have been kept out of the equation in the first edition of the series? 8-4 Syracuse won the Big East title ahead of Miami and Virginia Tech, and they would have easily been left out of the equation. SEC champion Tennessee was undefeated, so they were surely in. That left a four-way battle for the final three spots.

ACC champion Florida State was the team pitted against the Volunteers in the BCS championship game. Bobby Bowden’s crew certainly would have made the game. Kansas State finished third in the final BCS standings in 1998 despite losing in the Big 12 title game to Texas A&M. They would have presented a compelling case to a selection committee, and this first year would set an immediate precedent about the significance of conference crowns.

Big Ten champion Ohio State and Pac-10 champion UCLA would probably be left battling for the final spot in the semifinal against Tennessee. The two human polls loved the Buckeyes even more than Kansas State, and only the computers would have made this a legitimate question. In any selection committee situation, the Buckeyes would almost certainly have received the bid.

That was also the case with the BCS standings. Ohio State would get their shot against Tee Martin and the Vols, while Florida State would take on Kansas State in the other semifinal showdown.