Big Ten Football: What If the BCS Always Had a 4-Team Playoff?

It's been quite a few years since the Big Ten won a BCS Championship—nine seasons, in fact, and coming up on 10. But with the BCS deciding to move toward a four-team playoff system starting in 2014, we got to wondering: Has the Big Ten been getting screwed out of national championship opportunities this entire time?

There's only one way to find out: Hit the books, find all instances of a Big Ten team ranked third or fourth in the BCS, and imagine a world in which four-team fairness existed. For the record: We are not counting Nebraska as a Big Ten member until the Huskers actually joined in 2011, because otherwise who the heck do you think we are, the Big Ten Network?

Anyway, to the Wayback Machine!

The Not Quites

First, some teams that came close to making the top four since the inception of the BCS.

2010: Wisconsin, 5th
2010: Ohio State, 6th
2003: Ohio State, 5th
2002: Iowa, 5th

In this alternate reality, all four of these teams would have served as ample evidence (at least, to their own fans) that a four-team playoff is clearly lacking and, gosh, why aren't we at six teams, minimum? All of those teams were good enough to at least contend for a title, right? 

But fortunately we're not in that reality.

1998, Ohio State (No. 4)

The 1998 Ohio State Buckeyes spent most of the season looking like a potential championship team, even reaching the top spot in the BCS rankings coming into November. The team was full of superstars and recognizable names: Joe Germaine, David Boston, Ken-Yon Rambo, Andy Katzenmoyer and more.

Unfortunately, Michigan State, led by an unheralded head coach named Nick Saban, came into Ohio Stadium and scored the last 19 points in a jarring 28-24 upset. OSU's rank in the BCS plummeted to No. 8, and the Buckeyes never recovered en route to a ranking of No. 4 in the final BCS.

In a playoff, assuming normal seeding, OSU would have faced eventual national champions Tennessee in the first round. That game would have been more competitive than the Vols' waltz over Florida State in the actual title game, as FSU was pressed into starting Marcus Outzen in place of an injured Chris Weinke.

Nonetheless, Tennessee was sensational that year and would have still gone on to win the BCS Championship in a playoff.

2003, Michigan (No. 3)

In the list of all-time great Michigan teams, the 2003 squad doesn't always get much mention, and that's a bit understandable: The Wolverines finished 10-3 on the year and really only had one or two big-time wins to show for themselves.

And yet, it was only one horrible loss that kept Michigan away from serious national championship contention that year.

Michigan suffered a 31-27 loss at Oregon early in the year, but what really knocked the Wolverines out of the national consciousness for most of the year was a 30-27 loss at Iowa that featured a blown 14-0 lead and multiple punt team miscues as Michigan unsuccessfully experimented with the rugby punt.

The Wolverines would eventually work their way back to the No. 4 ranking in the BCS and a Rose Bowl bid, but considering that No. 3 USC met them there and thoroughly outclassed the Wolverines in a 28-14 victory, it's extremely hard to imagine Michigan as a worthy contender to the national championship in 2003.

2005, Penn State (No. 3) and Ohio State (No. 4)

To be clear, Ohio State and Penn State were both dynamite this year. Penn State won a classic matchup with the Buckeyes in the video above, a game that cemented the Nittany Lions as serious contenders in 2005.

In fact, Ohio State only lost this game at eventual third-ranked Penn State and a 25-22 slugfest to Texas early in the season. Penn State, meanwhile, was only knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten by a last-second catch by Mario Manningham in a 27-25 heartbreaker at Michigan. So the two teams had great years, and they certainly deserved to be ranked third and fourth in the nation.

It's just that this was the year of Texas vs. USC in the national championship, and if you're going to argue that Penn State or OSU could have beaten either of those two teams...no. Just no.

2006, Michigan (No. 3)

This was the year of arguably the biggest game in Michigan-Ohio State history, a matchup of two 11-0 teams in Columbus, No. 2 at No. 1. To add to the drama, former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler had passed away in the week leading up to the game.

Ohio State would win the game, 42-39 (and it wasn't that close; Michigan scored a touchdown in the last minute and never had the ball back), and the question arose as to whether Michigan deserved another shot at the Buckeyes in the BCS Championship.

The voters, of course, pushed Florida up to the second spot, but only after a 13-9 loss by USC to unheralded UCLA cleared the way. In a four-team playoff, Michigan would have faced that Florida team in the semifinals regardless of whether one team was ranked second or third, and considering the absolute mauling the Gators would go on to give OSU in the actual championship that year, it's laughable to think Michigan would have beaten Florida for a rematch with the Buckeyes.

In Review: Zero Championships...Right?

So, yes, realistically, a four-team playoff would have resulted in no more championships for the Big Ten in the BCS era. But it's fun to imagine it might have.

And, hey, maybe Ohio State would have upended Tennessee back in '98 and gotten a shot at upstart Kansas State with the BCS Championship on the line. And if John Cooper and Bill Snyder were playing each other for the crystal football in 1998, who knows how the college football world would have changed from there?

And maybe Penn State would have shut down Vince Young en route to a title matchup against vaunted USC in 2005. That would have been a bear-mauling for the ages, probably. But only probably. Would have been nice to find out.