I'm not sure it mattered this year, since Michigan and Vandy got to that stage undefeated. Even in the old system, that would have forced what was basically a best of three series, right? I guess the years where the change makes the biggest difference are those where one team gets to the final undefeated, but the other gets there with one loss in their bracket and still gets the reset.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, but the answer to the part I've highlighted in red is, "No."
In the system prior to this, there was a single winner-take-all game, consisting of the winner of each of the two brackets or "pools" in the CWS. You could get to that final "championship" game with either zero or 1 losses, but it was always still a single game and not a best of three series.
There have been a few different iterations, but pre-1988 it used to be a true double elimination tournament, with no separate sides. So the "final" game always paired a 1-loss team with a 0-loss team. If the 0-loss team won, it was over. If the 1-loss team won, then it forced another game.
Then from 1988-2002, they split the sides into two 4-team double-elimination tournaments, but had an idiotic single-game championship. I think this is the time period you're referring to in the part I highlighted in red? This setup was totally bogus, because a team could lose one on their side, while the team on the other side went undefeated, and yet they were paired in a winner-take-all game. As you said, the team with 1 loss is granted a "reset" and if they win, then their previously undefeated opponent effectively becomes the only team in a double-elimination tournament, that can be eliminated with a single loss. Absolute crap, and this is what happened to Texas in 1989.
In 2003 they finally fixed it by making it a best of 3 series between the 2 pool winners, which was way way way better. I'm assuming this change from a single game to a best of 3 is what MarqHusker was referring to, and if so, all I can say is THANK GOD it happened. The previous setup was horribad.
I was reminiscing about the setup prior to that, which was a true 8-team double-elimination tournament, which was not very TV friendly, to say the least.