1988 Season
The next season was arguably one of the messiest at the top of the polls. Miami was once again entrenched near the top. They finished second in the final regular season polls as a result of a controversial loss at Notre Dame. The result of this became the basis for the Catholic vs Convicts game.
The undefeated Fighting Irish topped the final regular season poll. Undefeated West Virginia finished third behind Miami and got a matchup for the National Championship with Notre Dame at the Fiesta Bowl. Even in the BCS Era, it’s likely ND and WVU would have played for the National Championship.
The Mountaineers had wins over ranked Syracuse and Pittsburgh teams. The Hurricanes had a good argument with wins over preseason number one Florida State in the season opener and at number 15 Michigan and 11 LSU. They added a win against number eight Arkansas at home.
The teams ranked fourth through eighth in the final polls all had one loss without any tied. FSU was fourth followed by USC, Nebraska, Auburn and Arkansas. Looking back in the rankings was almost like the destruction that an actual Hurricane would leave. Florida State and Arkansas’ losses were both to Miami.
Auburn’s one loss was to LSU, USC’s to Notre Dame and Nebraska to UCLA. Auburn and Nebraska would likely have not made the playoff. LSU earns a nod over Auburn by virtue of head to head and Nebraska gets eliminated by the loss to UCLA who lost to USC. That would leave FSU, USC and Arkansas to battle for the final spot.
It likely would have come down to who played the best against ND and UM. An eight-team playoff that year would have been incredible. Nebraska’s loss to UCLA was the only one any of the top eight teams had to any team outside the top eight in the regular season.
Notre Dame defeated WVU 34-21 in the Fiesta Bowl to win the National Championship and the Hurricanes defeated Nebraska 23-3 in the Orange Bowl to finish second in the final rankings.