How Would a College Football Playoff Have Impacted Miami In Past Seasons?
2003 Season
The 2003 season was the last one that the Hurricanes were truly a National Power. It was their last season in the Big East and the last time they played in a Major Bowl game. Miami finished the 2002 regular season 10-2 with losses at then number ten Virginia Tech and to then number 18 Tennessee at the Orange Bowl.
There was a logjam and controversy at the top of the rankings. USC was number one in the polls but finished number three in the computer. That set up a matchup between Oklahoma and LSU in the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship. All three teams finished the regular season with one loss. OU and LSU were 12-1 and USC 11-1.
USC lost their Pac Ten opener 34-31 at California and their QB Aaron Rodgers. The Tigers one loss came 19-7 to Florida at the swamp and Sooners were waxed 35-7 by Kansas State in the Big XII Championship Game. After those big three, six teams were ranked between four and ten with two losses and Kansas State was in the mix with three.
TCU finished another one-loss season, this time in Conference USA. They suffered their one defeat at Southern Mississippi. The one other playoff team was going to come from that group of seven.
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 1 | Southern California (11-1) | 2 | 1 | Pac-10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 2 | Louisiana State (12-1) | 3 | 1 | SEC (West) |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 3 | Oklahoma (12-1) | 1 | 2 | Big 12 (South) |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 4 | Michigan (10-2) | 4 | Big Ten | |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 5 | Texas (10-2) | 6 | 1 | Big 12 (South) |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 6 | Tennessee (10-2) | 7 | 1 | SEC (East) |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 7 | Ohio State (10-2) | 8 | 1 | Big Ten |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 8 | Kansas State (11-3) | 13 | 5 | Big 12 (North) |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 9 | Florida State (10-2) | 9 | ACC | |
| 16 | 2003-12-07 | 10 | Miami (FL) (10-2) | 10 | Big East |
Number four Michigan won the Big Ten. Their regular season losses came at then number 20 Notre Dame 25-23 and a 34-9 loss at home to then number 13 Iowa. Texas suffered a 38-28 loss to Arkansas and won blown out 65-13 by OU. Tennessee suffered back-to-back losses to unranked Auburn and number eight Georgia to begin October.
Ohio State was back in the mix and went into their game with Michigan with only a 17-10 loss at Wisconsin keeping them from being undefeated. The Buckeyes went down to the Wolverines 35-21 at Michigan Stadium. Kansas State had three straight losses in September an October to Marshall, Texas and Oklahoma State.
Florida State lost their fourth straight game to Miami in the regular season and also lost to Clemson, but won the ACC Championship. Miami would have had a long battle up from tenth to get into the playoff. They shared the Big East title with West Virginia but would have won on the tiebreaker.
Michigan, FSU and Miami were the only three teams that were conference champions among the teams ranked 4-10.
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The fourth playoff spot would likely have gone to Michigan. They wound up playing USC anyway and LSU and OU played also. It would have been an interesting showdown between then-LSU coach Nick Saban and Pete Carroll and USC.