Every close game leaves fans with a multitude of what-ifs, and each offseason provides an opportunity to dive back into them. Giving these hypotheticals time to marinate and time to see how the bigger picture was affected makes things even more fun for bored writers and readers eagerly awaiting the return of the season.
So here, we will look back at some of the biggest what-ifs in recent memory and wonder what could have been. Please note that for this exercise, "recent memory" will be defined as things that I remember pretty well.
What if Colt McCoy does not get injured in the 2009 BCS Championship Game against Alabama?
The highly-anticipated matchup between these two storied programs changed drastically on Texas' first drive when star Senior QB Colt McCoy took a shot to his throwing shoulder, ending his game and thus his Texas career. The Longhorns fought tough without their leader but ultimately came up short as Nick Saban won his first national championship at Alabama with the 37-21 win.
Alabama and Nick Saban then went on to dominate the sport with a dynasty that has never been seen before while the Texas program spiraled, suffering through five sub .500 seasons and three Head Coaches since that game.
Texas fans, some 14 years later, still find themselves wondering what could have been if Colt never got hurt. Maybe Texas wins the game, capturing their second BCS title in 6 years. Colt McCoy now stands alongside Vince Young atop the Texas mountaintop, as does Mack Brown his with second title. Texas rides that momentum and certainly doesn't go 5-7 in 2010, and maybe Brown retires early while still at the top of his game. Charlie Strong never gets hired by Texas and thus never goes a combined 16-21 in three seasons at the helm, which basically set the program back until Steve Sarkisian righted the ship with these last few seasons. A Texas win could have allowed the program to avoid the crater that was the 2010-2022 seasons.
On the other hand, what does a potential Alabama loss in this game do to their program? For starters, it delays the onset of Nick Saban's dynasty a year, but probably no longer than that. With the extra motivation coming into the 2010 season, that uber-talented squad led by Julio Jones and Mark Ingram wins the BCS Championship, and the lore of Auburn and Cam Newton's 2010 season is no more. Alabama was on a rocket-launch trajectory, and nothing was going to stop them.
What if Oklahoma State makes the 2011 BCS Championship Game?
The BCS era certainly had some controversies, but none was more impactful than Alabama's inclusion in the 2011 championship game over Oklahoma State. What followed was what historians refer to as "an absolute snoozer" as Alabama dominated the previously-undefeated and #1 ranked LSU.
Many thought 11-1 Oklahoma State deserved to play LSU for the title, especially seeing how Alabama had already lost to the Tigers a few months prior. So what happens if OSU does get a shot?
The immediate aftermath is likely an LSU championship, seeing as that squad was dominant when playing anyone but Alabama. Les Miles now has two championships and a longer leash that would have extended his time in the bayou, and the 14-0 2011 LSU team is now squarely in the conversation for greatest teams of all time.
The biggest question though, is what happens to the timeline for the 4-team playoff? Many have said that this Alabama-LSU title match expedited the formation of the playoff because it showed that two teams simply was not enough. The playoff was inevitable, but if Oklahoma State gets the bid in 2011 and therefore there is no rematch, do we see the CFP in 2014?
If the playoff is pushed back, then we would have had different champions in 2014 and 2017, as Ohio State and Alabama, the champions of those respective years, were ranked #4 heading into the postseason and thus would not have made the championship game had the BCS format still been around.
Does Oregon finally get over the hump and win it all in 2014? Does the high-powered, Baker-Mayfield led Oklahoma team win the BCS in 2017, no longer having to face the Georgia team that defeated them? We will never know.
What if Georgia beats Alabama in the 2012 SEC Championship Game?
"The Dawgs rush to the line. Murray drops back, fires right, and it's caught! Chris Conley cuts up and scores!! Georgia takes the lead with a second to go! Oh my GRACIOUS! HOW ABOUT THAT!!"
If the legendary Verne Lundquist gets to make that call instead of the painful (to Georgia fans) call about Conley catching the ball while falling to the ground, while the clock slowly but surely ticks to double zeros, the college football world could be a lot different right now.
The immediate aftermath of Georgia winning the 2012 SEC Championship Game means they go on to play Notre Dame in the BCS title game, a game in which Georgia would have been considerable favorites. If they win, Mark Richt has now delivered the university its first national championship since 1980, and the construction of the statue begins post-haste.
It's hard to imagine Georgia then firing Richt following the 2015 season as he would have been even more beloved by the fanbase. Even at the time of his firing, it was seen as controversial and risky. If Richt is still around in 2016, then what happens with Kirby Smart? The long-time Alabama Defensive Coordinator and UGA grad had been waiting for the right head coaching opportunity, and there was talk that he was ready to accept the new vacancy at South Carolina after Steve Spurrier stepped down. Georgia swooped in last second, and the rest is history.
With Richt now staying at Georgia for the foreseeable future, Kirby Smart then accepts the South Carolina job, starting his first ever gig as a head coach. Is Smart able to succeed at South Carolina, which is not as easy to recruit at as UGA? Smart's first year in Athens was a dud before he quickly turned things around, winning the SEC and reaching the national championship in Year 2. But he did so on the backs of elite upperclassmen like Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and Roquan Smith. That caliber of players was not around at South Carolina at that time.
What happens if Smart is not able to recruit elite talent across the board, and ends up being just another great defensive mind who was unable to cut it as a head coach, a la Will Muschamp? Does he ever end up at Georgia? Does Georgia still win two titles in the 2020s? I guess we will never know.
What if footballs were made of styrofoam?
LIkely the most sport-changing what-if on the list, changing the materials of football to styrofoam would bring about drastic changes to not just college football, but the country as a whole. For starters, having footballs made of styrofoam would make the balls much lighter than current players are used to. With lighter footballs, passing games and kicking/punting games become much less important, seeing as it would be difficult to force the ball to a precise target through the air.
With passing plays now out of the picture, offenses would likely adapt to some form of the triple option or wishbone. This would give the service academies an immediate advantage for the time being, although major powers would adapt and recruit the best athletes to fit the new type of game, quickly regaining their place atop the college football world.
With QBs and WRs now devalued in the newly-minted "Styrofoam Age", NIL deals would likely have to be reevaluated so more funds can be directed to RBs and linemen. And with the game now certainly less exciting than years past, revenue would likely decrease as viewership falls. This would lead to massive renegotiations of long-term TV deals and broadcasting rights. Conferences and schools would likely oppose any renegotiations that would lead to smaller annual payouts, surely leading to lawsuits and litigations, even potentially reaching all the way up to the Supreme Court.
With the game now a shell of what it used to be, it is possible that I myself stop watching the sport entirely, a thought that was unimaginable a mere minutes ago. With fall Saturdays now completely free, I now find myself with gobs of free time never seen before. Do I take advantage of this time and learn a new skill, maybe taking up painting? Or maybe I finally take the time to learn to play the piano, an aspiration of mine for many years.
Imagine what we as a country could accomplish if 100 million Americans now have their entire weekends freed, no longer shackled by the constraints of College Football. All of these are possible outcomes that could realistically occur with just a miniscule change to the composition of the football, and we haven't even covered potential constitutional amendments, nuclear proliferation, the effects on the Dow Jones, and the potential extinction of hummingbirds and seabass.
"What if footballs were made of styrofoam", you ask? Well, only time will tell.
What if Michigan plays Ohio State in 2020?
The COVID-shortened/ruined 2020 season was a weird one for all, but maybe the weirdest part was the fact that Michigan and Ohio State did not play each other in football. The 2-4 Wolverines did not have enough healthy players and not enough desire to get beaten by their undefeated arch rivals, and thus the game was called off.
Missing this game was very important for the entire program, especially given the fact the Jim Harbaugh was very much so on the hot seat at the time. If they play this game and Michigan is beat soundly by Ohio State, could Harbaugh have been fired? At this time, he had yet to win the conference or make the CFPs, although they were mighty close in 2016.
Firing Harbaugh following a resounding defeat likely would have negated what ended up being one of the greatest three-year stretches in Michigan football history with three consecutive conference championships and a national championship win to cap it off.
Who could have been Harbaugh's replacement in Ann Arbor? Could they have turned things around the way Harbaugh eventually did? Would Harbaugh have gotten another shot at the NFL?
My answers to those questions are , "I don't know", "probably not as quickly", and "yea, probably at some point I would imagine."