It wasn't in the BCS era but who gets the nod?

Top 15 in the ap poll prior to the bowl games:

1- Michigan 11-0
2- Nebraska 12-0
3- Tennessee 11-1
4- Florida State 10-1
5- UCLA 9-2
6- Florida 9-2
7- UNC 10-1
8- Wazzu 10-1
9- Ohio State 10-2
10- Kansas State 10-1
11- PSU 10-2
12- UGA 9-2
13- Auburn 9-3
14- Syracuse 9-3
15- LSU 9-3


Nebraska and Michigan are in for sure.

The last two spots are the question...

My 4 would be-
1- Nebraska
2- Michigan
3- FSU
4- Tennessee

All league champs with the last 2 only having narrow losses.


I would break it down like this:

Tennessee- IN. They had one 13 point loss to Florida early in the season and played 3 solid noncon opponents.
Florida State- IN. They had a razor thin margin of loss against UF but beat some good teams by good margins like UNC (17 points), GT (38 points), and UVA (26 points) while also beating Clemson, Miami, and USC.

Florida- OUT. Lost twice and might have been able to sneak in with wins over FSU and Tennessee if not for their blowout loss to UGA.

Wazzu- OUT. They have one loss by 13 points to 8-3 ASU. The problem is their 3 noncon games were really easy (0-11 Illinois, FCS move up Boise State, 1-10 ULL) and 4 of their 7 Pac10 wins were by a single score and the only team with a winning record they defeated by more than one score was 7-5 Oregon whom they beat by 11. Their other safe margins in league play came against 3-8 Cal and 5-6 Stanford. They were able to squeeze by a good 9-2 UCLA team at home, 6-5 USC, 6-5 Arizona, and 8-3 Washington. Not exactly the strongest resume.

UNC- OUT. Losing by 17 eliminates them.

Ohio State- OUT. The Big Ten wasn't very strong that year with virtually nobody other than Michigan or Ohio State picking up decent nonconference wins. Other than Penn State and Michigan tOSU's league foes went a combined 24-44 in the regular season with the MSU-ND game the only victory over a bowl team. Neither Michigan or tOSU played Purdue who was good. Ohio State lost to Penn State and Michigan who were the two best teams it played. The Big Ten was in a down year and had Michigan lost it probably would have lost it's spot in the playoff.

The Buckeyes do have wins over Arizona and Mizzou to help their case but I can't vault them over FSU, Tennessee, or UF when the only teams they beat with winning records (Iowa, Mizzou, AZ) beat
a combined three teams with winning records. (Purdue, OkSt, ASU) and the teams they defeated averaged between 4 and 5 wins.

KSU- OUT. Blown out by Nebraska and a weak noncon slate.

PSU- OUT. 2 Losses. Blown out by 2 teams.

UGA- OUT. 2 losses each by multiple scores.




Agree or disagree?