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

2003

(1) Oklahoma v. (4) Michigan

(2) LSU v. (3) USC

FIRST TEAM OUT: Ohio State

With their 35-21 win over Ohio State, Michigan would land the fourth spot in the BCS playoff. They would take on an Oklahoma team featuring Heisman Trophy winner Jason White. The Sooners failed to win the Big 12 championship, falling 35-7 to Kansas State in Houston. Yet they got the benefit of the doubt from the BCS computers, which boosted Oklahoma up into the No. 1 spot despite finishing third in both human polls.

The big controversy of the 2003 season, though, was the debate about whether USC or LSU would get in opposite the Sooners. The Tigers got the nod in real life, leaving USC to close out their year in the Rose Bowl and split the national title. While the BCS used the AP poll as part of its methodology, there was no agreement that the AP would give out its title to the BCS winner.

That became quite clear when the poll gave their crown to the Trojans. In a playoff situation, though, we would have seen USC take on LSU head-to-head instead of getting stuck wondering what might have been. It would have been an epic clash between Nick Saban’s Bayou Bengals and Pete Carroll’s Trojans squad.

Ohio State would have been the first team out, and they would have had a hard case to make. That head-to-head loss to the Wolverines proved fatal for the Buckeyes.