How Would a College Football Playoff Have Impacted Miami In Past Seasons?
1994 Season
Miami was coming off its worst season in nine years. The Hurricanes lost three games in a season for the first time since 1985. They had regular season losses to Florida State (who won their first National Championship) and West Virginia and then were blown out by Arizona 29-0 in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Hurricanes opened the 1994 season ranked sixth. They began with a 56-0 win over 1-AA Georgia Southern and followed that up with a 47-10 win over Arizona State. Those wins gave Miami a College Football record 58-game home winning streak. After a week off for the Hurricanes, they hosted Washington at the Orange Bowl.
The Huskies put 22 points on the board in the first five minutes of the second half and cruised past the Hurricanes 38-20 to end Miami’s home streak. Miami ran the table after the loss to Washington. Wins included beating then number three Florida State, then number 13 Virginia Tech and at then number ten Syracuse.
The Hurricanes ended the regular season number three behind undefeated number one Nebraska and undefeated Penn State. The BCS was still four years away. Had it been in existence, the Cornhuskers and Nittany Lions would have faced off. The irony is that they are now conference foes in the Big Ten.
Had they both been in the Big Ten, they would have faced off in the Big Ten Championship game undefeated. Iowa and Michigan State faced off undefeated in the 2015 Big Ten Championship game. Nebraska headed to the Orange Bowl as Big Eight Champions. Penn State would face Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
1994 was another year where there was a lot of muck behind the obvious playoff teams.
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 1 | Nebraska (12-0-0) | 1 | Big 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 2 | Penn State (11-0-0) | 2 | Big Ten | |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 3 | Miami (FL) (10-1-0) | 4 | 1 | Big East |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 4 | Colorado (10-1-0) | 5 | 1 | Big 8 |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 5 | Florida (10-1-1) | 6 | 1 | SEC (East) |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 6 | Alabama (11-1-0) | 3 | 3 | SEC (West) |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 7 | Florida State (9-1-1) | 7 | ACC | |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 8 | Texas A&M (10-0-1) | 8 | SWC | |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 9 | Auburn (9-1-1) | 9 | SEC (West) | |
| 16 | 1994-12-06 | 10 | Colorado State (10-1-0) | 10 | WAC |
In addition to the Hurricanes, Colorado, Alabama and Colorado State had one loss without a tie. Florida and Florida State had one loss and a tie and Texas A&M finished undefeated (with a tie) as they had done in 1992. Colorado was ranked just behind the Hurricanes and their one loss was 24-7 to Nebraska.
The Gators were fifth with a 36-33 loss to Auburn and their infamous choke at the Doak tie against Florida State. Florida defeated the Crimson Tide 24-23 in the SEC Championship game. Alabama had been undefeated entering the SEC Championship but had their dreams of a national championship dashed by the Gators.
FSU’s loss and tie were to Miami and Florida. Auburn had been undefeated with a tie against Georgia entering the Iron Bowl, but lost to Alabama preventing their first trip to the SEC Championship game. Texas A&M’s Tie came against a 1-9-1 SMU team so that likely would have eliminated them.
Colorado State, led by former Hurricanes assistant Sonny Lubick cruised through the WAC with their one loss coming to a 10-2 Utah that was ranked 14th in the final regular-season poll. Based on their resume, it would be hard to deny Colorado a bid. Miami would have likely gotten the fourth after beating three teams in the top 13 and their ranking.
As it was, Miami went to the Orange Bowl to play number one Nebraska. A win over the Cornhuskers and a loss by number two Penn State and the Hurricanes would have had a chance to win the National Championship. The Orange was played on New Year’s night and the Rose Bowl was scheduled for the next day.
Miami had a 10-0 lead after one quarter and led 17-7 in the third. A Nebraska safety closed the margin to 17-9 entering the fourth. Two Cory Schlesinger touchdowns including the game-winner with 2:47 remaining gave Nebraska the win and subsequently the National Championship.
Penn State beat Oregon 38-20 in the Rose Bowl the next day, so Miami’s championship hopes would have been dashed anyway. It was still a crushing loss and would wind up being the end of the Schnellenberger-Johnson-Erickson era. Erickson left for the Seattle Seahawks two weeks later and Butch Davis was hired to clean up the mess.