In this scenario, Sooners lose Stoops' one national title
Published: 1/26/2012 1:14 PM
Last Modified: 1/26/2012 1:14 PM
Momentum, at long last, appears to be carrying us toward a four-team playoff. NCAA and conference decision-makers are at least open to the possibility, perhaps as soon as the 2015 season (if you can call that "soon").
I'm not sure what the Oklahoma Sooners would think of that. It's sort of like admitting you're the teacher's pet in Snape's class, but OU has been a close friend of the BCS.
There was 2008, when the Sooners won a Big 12 South Division tiebreaker over Texas and Texas Tech thanks to their BCS number, destroyed Missouri in the Big 12 championship, and went on to play Florida for the national title.
There was 2004, when OU and USC had superior BCS scores to fellow unbeaten Auburn, and played for the national title in Miami.
And 2003, when the Sooners' BCS computation allowed them to play for another crown, despite being embarrassed by Kansas State in the Big 12 championship.
The system, screwed up as it is to everyone else, has been very kind to Bob Stoops & Co. It becomes even kinder when you consider how college football would have looked had the four-team playoff been part of the BCS since its inception back in 1998.
Dennis Dodd, the enterprising college football columnist for CBSSports.com, was curious enough to apply the plus-one format to the past 13 seasons. What he got was 13 Final Fours, in essence, instead of 13 final standings-to-field BCS championships.
OU, of course, remains part of the 2000, '03, '04 and '08 equations. The Sooners even sneak into the '07 Final Four as the No. 4 team in the final BCS standings. (Dodd has them losing to No. 1 Ohio State in the semi, 31-23, which beats what really happened – that 48-28 Fiesta Bowl loss to West Virginia.)
What does change, in Dodd's scenario, is the extra work OU has to do to play for those four national titles. The Sooners win two of his national semifinals -- 38-25 over Washington in '00 and 35-17 over Michigan in '03 – but that's it.
In Dodd's Final Four dream, No. 1 OU falls to No. 4 Alabama in the '08 semi, 26-24. In his '04 semi, No. 2 OU drops a 25-21 decision to No. 3 Auburn.
So that's two national title game appearances off the board.
And, worse, that '00 national championship.
Dodd has the Red October Sooners playing Miami, not Florida State, in his plus-one scenario. He has the Hurricanes winning, 27-23, because of a "bit more speed and athleticism."
It's just one columnist's opinion, of course, but very interesting all the same. If nothing else, it reinforces the idea that OU might be the one college football program (outside the SEC anyhow) perfectly fine with the current system.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
