What If Playoff Vote - 1984

[OrangeAfroMan]

#3 Florida was on probation, so wouldn't have been ranked by the playoff committe (a la OSU in 2012).



#1 BYU - WAC
Only undefeated team.  Opened season with close win @ #3 Pitt.  Faced no other ranked opponents.
Great offense with a truly great passing game.  Elite punt returner - Vai Sikahema.




#2 - Oklahoma - Big 8
Tied #1 Texas and lost to 5-6 Kansas.  Early season blowout win vs #17 Pitt.  Ended the season with two elite wins (@ #1 Nebraska and vs #3 Oklahoma State).  Option offense was pedestrian by OU standards, this team was led by its defense.  Only allowed over 17 points once.



#3 - Washington - Pac-10
Another great defensive team, giving up over 16 points only once.  Win @ #3 Michigan was only vicotry over ranked team.  Lost only other game vs ranked team (#16 USC).  Did not win Pac-10 conference.  Reached #1 ranking midseason befoe losing to USC.  Poor QB play offset by good RB.  Defense had incredible 27 INTs.



#4 - Nebraska - Big 8
Number one scoring defense in country.  Offense failed them in only two losses (@ unranked Syracuse, vs OU).  Wins over #8 UCLA and #9 Oklahoma State.  Rose to #1 ranking before regular-season finale vs OU loss.  Strong running game (obviously) with 2-QB system.  Poor FG kicking (5 made FG in 12 ATT).




All-Americans involved:
OL Mark Traynowicz - Nebraska
DL Tony Casillas - Oklahoma
DL Ron Holmes - Washington

*OL Lomas Brown - Florida
  

[MarqHusker]

Well we did get to see OU play Wash, and saw OU get an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Sooner Schooner.  Such a dubious flag.

[OrangeAfroMan]

This year is an interesting dynamic.  No one believes in the #1 team.  2 already beat 4.  Florida, Washington, and Oklahoma are thought to probably have been the best team, depending on which you believe in, but in this exercise, Nebraska gets a shot.

[utee94]

The Big 8 gets TWO in, in only the second year of the playoff????  Selection committee is obviously rigged!

I'm going with U-Dub.

Edit: Oh, and ANOTHER rematch.  Nobody will ever watch this thing on TV.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are we confident BYU would even make the playoff?

[ELA]

Are we confident BYU would even make the playoff?

Yeah, that part would be interesting, I think he's just using the straight up polls, but I did the exercise a couple years ago, going in reverse order, of picking what you thought the playoff field SHOULD be.  I don't think we made it back to 1984.

[ELA]

After a pair of "upsets" in the semis, Nebraska beats Washington for the title.

They were ineligible, but Florida may have been the "best" team by the end of that season.  Started 0-1-1, Pell got fired, Hall took over, and the won 9 in a row.  Closed by beating #11 Auburn (24-3), #8 Georgia (27-0) and #12 Florida State (27-17).  It was Florida's first SEC title, and easily their best team ever, and the title was subsequently vacated.

[Anonymous Coward]

May I make a gentle suggestion?

I think I see where this series is going. Similar to the jersey numbers threads of the summer. I encourage the series but wonder if maybe, until the end of the postseason, it is best if we only have ~1 such thread per week and then go nuts with infinites thereafter.

This is just peak "This is everything we've waited for" time. And if a quarter of the front page were to soon become this series that may be a drag.

Having said that: Sorry for being a drag.

[ELA]

May I make a gentle suggestion?

I think I see where this series is going. Similar to the jersey numbers threads of the summer. I encourage the series but wonder if maybe, until the end of the postseason, it is best if we only have ~1 such thread per week and then go nuts with infinites thereafter.

This is just peak "This is everything we've waited for" time. And if a quarter of the front page were to soon become this series that may be a drag.

Having said that: Sorry for being a drag.

I was actually going to say the same, save it for when we don't have a lot going on.

[medinabuckeye1]

#1 BYU - WAC
Opened season with close win @ #3 Pitt.

#2 - Oklahoma - Big 8
Early season blowout win vs #17 Pitt.  

That Pitt team was a big part of the reason for this screwy season:

• As you noted, Pitt opened #3.  The then lost 20-14 at home to unranked BYU.  (NOTE:  Only 20 teams were ranked back then)
• That moved BYU from unranked to #13 and Pitt from #3 to #17.  
• After a bye in week two, in week three #17 Pitt lost 42-10 at home to #15 Oklahoma.  
• That dropped Pitt out of the rankings for good and propelled Oklahoma up to #11.  

After losing to BYU and Oklahoma the Panthers lost to Temple and WVU to drop to 0-4 before beating a woeful ECU.  Then they lost two more (USCe, Miami, FL) before tying a bad Navy team and losing to Syracuse to drop to 1-7-1 before beating a bad Tulane team and a mediocre Penn State team to finish the season 3-7-1.  

The 1984 Pitt team should NEVER be viewed as an elite opponent for BYU, Oklahoma, or any of the other five teams that beat them that year.  

To put it in perspective BYU's six point win over the Panthers was not as good as:

• OU's 32 point win over Pitt
• USCe's 24 point win over Pitt
• Maimi, FL's 20 point win over Pitt
• WVU's 18 point win over Pitt

That win matched Syracuse's six point win over Pitt and was barely better than Temple's one point win over Pitt.  

BYU was not even close to an elite team that year.  Their wins:

• Over 8-4 Air Force by five points
• Over 7-4 Hawaii by five points
• Over 6-6 Michigan by seven points
• Over 6-6 Wyoming by three points
• Over 6-5-1 Utah by 10 points
• Over 6-5 Tulsa by 23 points
• Over 5-6 Baylor by 34 points
• Over 4-8 New Mexico by 48 points
• Over 4-7-1 SDSU by 31 points
• Over 3-7-1 Pitt by six points
• Over 3-8 Colorado State by 43 points
• Over 2-9 UTEP by 33 points
• Over 1-10 Utah State by 25 points

Nothing in that resume looks NC worthy or even CFP worthy.  

[Brutus Buckeye]

They'd have the H-H tiebreaker over Harbaugh's Wolverines. 

[Entropy]

OU would be my vote

[OrangeAfroMan]

Yes I’ll keep it at one per week.  I had the same thought.



I’m just going by AP poll, because it was gospel back then.

[OrangeAfroMan]

If this playoff happened, I think Nebraska would mercy-rule BYU in the first round.




I also think Florida was objectively the best team in 1984.