Miami football and Mark Richt ranked best No. 3 teams during BCS era
The 2000 Miami football team and Mark Richt’s 2002 Georgia Bulldogs were both chosen by Sports Illustrated as among the best teams left out of the BCS Championship game per season by the BCS.
Sports Illustrated chose the ten best teams who just missed out on a Championship game berth in the BCS era. The 2000 Miami football team missed out on a chance to play for a National Championship because of controversy. Richt’s 2002 Georgia team missed out because of a narrow loss.
The 2000 Miami football team was arguably the most talented team to not win, let alone get a chance at playing for a National Championship. The Hurricanes omission in 2000 caused a lot of controversy. They had defeated Florida State that season on a late Ken Dorsey to Jeremy Shockey touchdown.
Part of the problem in 2000 is that second-ranked Florida State lost to third-ranked Miami. The third-ranked Hurricanes sole loss was to Washington. The Huskies were fourth in the final BCS rankings that came out before the Bowl games.
Canes Warning took a look last year at how a College Football playoff would have impacted the Hurricanes in each of the seasons they would have been a realistic candidate. That entire season played out with most of the top ten knocking off each other.
Related Story: How would a College Football playoff impacted Miami in past seasons?
The only team that Sports Illustrated ranked ahead of the 2000 Hurricanes was Auburn’s 2004 13-0 team. Will McCollister wrote up the summaries for Sports Illustrated.
"“The Hurricanes were loaded with NFL talent: Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma, Clinton Portis. Controversy swirled around this season, as Florida State, which Miami beat earlier in the season, was chosen to play in the BCS championship game instead.An early-September loss to eventual Rose Bowl champ Washington held Miami out of the national title game, but Butch Davis’s squad rattled off 10 straight wins to start the program’s record 34-game unbeaten streak and topped No. 7 Florida in the Sugar Bowl.”"
Washington didn’t have much of an argument to be ahead of Miami. That was despite their victory over the Hurricanes early in the season. Miami definitely had a valid debate to be selected over Florida State.
Florida State had a 5.37 in the final BCS Standings. The Miami football team was at 5.69 and Washington finished with a 10.67. The Hurricanes victory over FSU was the first of two over one of the Nation’s top two ranked teams that season.
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The Seminoles entered the Orange Bowl as the nation’s top-ranked team. Virginia Tech came to the Orange Bowl ranked second in the nation. Both left with losses. Florida State with 2-1 against the top ten in 2000 before the bowl games. Their victories were over number ten Clemson and number four Florida.
Although the Seminoles offense was able to move the ball against Oklahoma, they were never a serious threat to score. FSU’s lone points in a 13-2 loss were from a bad snap on an Oklahoma punt late in the game.
It’s a shame Miami was not able to get a chance against OU. The Hurricanes would have played the National Championship is what is now their home stadium. Almost laughably, a Florida State website recently stated that the 2000 Florida State team was the best one not to win a title.
Miami’s 1986 and 2002 teams and USC’s 2005 team are among the many teams that would have a claim to that they are ahead of Florida State.
Like the 2000 Hurricanes, a loss to a rival from the Sunshine state kept Richt and his 2002 Georgia Team out of the College Football Playoff. Only a loss to Florida kept Richt from ironically facing his alma mater with a chance to win a National Championship. Sports Illustrated summarized the Bulldogs season.
"“Lefty quarterback David Greene and dominant pass rusher David Pollack led the Bulldogs to a 13–1 season and a Sugar Bowl victory over ACC champ Florida State, with Greene throwing for 2,924 yards and 22 touchdowns and Pollack finishing with 14 sacks.Their only loss came by a touchdown to Florida in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, paving the way for Ohio State to topple Miami in the national title game.”"
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs might have been the second-best team in the country that season. Miami ironically played in the National Championship game that season. The Hurricanes would have won the title if not having it stolen by a late officials whistle in overtime.
Georgia and Ohio State were close. The Bulldogs finished the 2002 season outscoring their opponents by 238 points. Ohio State outscored theirs by 227. Ohio State defeated four top 25 teams, but only one that was in the top ten. The Bulldogs matched those numbers exactly.
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In the end, it didn’t matter. Ohio State finished the 2002 season undefeated. Georgia had one loss in the 2002 regular season. That would have been very difficult to make a case that the Bulldogs belonged in the title game ahead of the Buckeyes.