How Would a College Football Playoff Have Impacted Miami In Past Seasons?
2001 Season
The Hurricanes entered 2001 on a mission after how the 2000 season had ended. They didn’t want to leave any doubt they belonged in the National Championship game.
Miami was also beginning a new era. Butch Davis left Miami for the Cleveland Browns and Hurricanes Defensive Coordinator Larry Coker took over as the new Head Coach.
Miami finished the 2001 regular season as the only undefeated team in the country. They came into the season as the preseason number two behind Florida. Miami earned the nation’s number one ranking after they defeated Penn State 33-7 in the season opener. It would a spot they would hold on to for the rest of the season.
The end of the regular season would become very controversial who the Hurricanes would face in the BCS Championship game. A bunch of teams were in position to join Miami in Pasadena, but a series of upsets created another year of havoc. Five teams seemed to have a shot at playing the Hurricanes.
Oregon’s only loss was 49-42 to unranked Stanford, the defending Pac Ten Champions. Colorado sat at number three but had losses to then-unranked Fresno State in the opener and 41-7 to Texas. The Buffs crushed Nebraska in their last regular season game 62-36 and avenged the loss to Texas with 39-37 win in the Big XII Championship Game.
Florida suffered close losses to Auburn 23-20 and to Tennessee in the final regular season game 34-32. The loss to the Vols cost the Gators the SEC East Division Title.
Maryland won the ACC and its one loss was 52-31 to FSU. Illinois won the Big Ten, but a 45-20 loss at Michigan in September prevented their undefeated season.
The prevailing thought was that Miami would play either Oregon or Colorado in the Rose Bowl. When Nebraska earned the right despite not winning their own division and getting crushed by the Buffaloes, there was a lot of frustration. Had there been a playoff in 2001, the confusion might have even been worse.
The records of the teams two through seven were fairly even and there wasn’t the head-to-head play the 2000 season produced. Oregon and Colorado, despite the two losses, seemed like they would have made it. Nebraska was second in the BCS Computers so they likely would have made it too.
Florida, Maryland and Illinois all had cases why they should have been in the playoff as well. The Hurricanes went out and proved it on the field. They took a 34-0 lead into halftime or the Rose Bowl against the Cornhuskers and it could be argued the game wasn’t even that close.
Nebraska would outscore Miami 14-3 in the second half, but not much mattered after halftime. Miami capped off what was arguably a season of the greatest team in college football history. Five Hurricanes would be selected in the first round, six in the first 51 picks and 11 were drafted overall.
What made the 2001 Hurricanes the best team ever was their backups. In spite of all the losses, the 2002 season looked bright.