College Football Championships with A Plus-One: The 2001 Season
Let’s not mince words: The opponent to face Miami in the 2001 season’s national championship is inconsequential.
Not even Larry Coker was losing with that roster. The U had the greatest collection of talent in college football history, and that’s not even really up for debate. Let’s have a look:
OFFENSE
RBs: Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, Najeh Davenport
WRs: Andre Johnson, Roscoe Parrish,
TEs: Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow Jr.
OL: Bryant McKinnie, Brett Romberg, Chris Myers1, Joaquin Gonzalez
DEFENSE
DL: Vince Wilfork, Jerome McDougle, Andrew Williams, Jamaal Green, William Joseph
LB: Jonathan Vilma, D.J. Williams
DB: Ed Reed, Antrel Rolle, Sean Taylor, Phillip Buchanon, Kelly Jennings
Quibbling over which opponent Miami was going to throttle might seem inconsequential, but this was the worst debacle for the BCS in its first four years.
Nebraska faced Miami in the Rose Bowl, advancing the 2000s with a matchup that pit the dynasty of the ‘80s against the dynasty of the ‘90s. From that perspective, a Huskers-Hurricanes matchup was intriguing — and profitable.
Justification for a Miami-Nebraska title-game pairing ends there. The Cornhuskers ended the 2001 regular season with a 62-36 pummeling against rival Colorado, which advanced to the Big 12 Championship Game.
The Buffs then knocked off Texas in a thrilling league championship to knock a second Big 12 team out of the mix.
Colorado avenged an earlier loss to the Longhorns with that contest — an ugly loss at that, having fallen 41-7. But, the Buffs carrying a second loss complicated matters, as they opened the season falling to the David Carr-led Fresno State Bulldogs2.
Both of Colorado’s losses came early in the campaign, one was avenged, the Buffs stacked up impressive wins. So CU had a case. Oregon played a less impressive, in part because season-opening opponent Wisconsin disappointed after an initial Top 25 ranking. But the Ducks’ boasted a better record with just one loss, which came in a 49-42 shootout against a top 15-ranked Stanford team.
Two arguments, either of which could be justified — and the BCS sent Nebraska to the title game; Nebraska, a team that failed to win not only its conference, but its division.
Guess what solves all our “get beat by Miami in the national championship” questions? A Plus-One.
ROSE BOWL: No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 7 Illinois
Oregon’s exclusion from the 2001 season’s BCS Championship Game was a double-sided snub. Not only were the Ducks denied a shot at stunning Miami, but the setup also kept them out of the Rose Bowl. Oregon instead went to the Fiesta Bowl, where it handled Big 12 champion and fellow title-game snub Colorado easily.
Illinois concluded its 2001 regular season in similar fashion. The Fighting Illini were 10-1 with wins over teams ranked in the penultimate Top 25 (Ohio State and Louisville), lost on the road to a ranked Michigan team, and because of the way the BCS was formatted, missed what would have been the program’s first Rose Bowl Game in 17 years.
Illinois didn’t sniff that title game spot opposite Miami due to the Big Ten being collectively down in 2001, but a crack at Oregon in Pasadena could have at least put the Illini in the conversation.
Personal opinion? The Ducks would have cruised and been first in line for a Plus-One title shot. Oregon might also have tested Miami more than any other potential opponent because of two distinct advantages: UO had the better coach in Mike Bellotti, and the better quarterback in Joey Harrington.
Harrington’s lackluster NFL somewhat overshadows just how good he was in college. Oregon’s innovative offense under Jeff Tedford would at the very least have been entertaining to see against that all-world Hurricanes defense.
ORANGE BOWL: No. 1 Miami vs. No. 3 Colorado
The traditional Orange Bowl pitting a team from the former Big 8 against the Big East also solves one of the conundrums at the end of this regular season. Colorado had two losses, but a viable claim to contend for the championship based on how it finished.
Well, here you go! The Buffs draw Miami in what could fairly be deemed as a win-and-you’re-in scenario. End the season with a blowout of the No. 2-ranked team, avenge an earlier loss to No. 3 and knock off No. 1 in a road game deserves a championship game appearance.
FIESTA BOWL: No. 4 Nebraska vs. No. 8 Tennessee
I went back-and-forth on the Fiesta Bowl matchup for Nebraska. It wasn’t easy.
Maryland won the ACC with a 10-1 record, but had no wins over end-of-regular season Top 25 opponents, and the Terps were blown out by Florida State.
Florida ended the regular season ranked No. 5, boasting blowout wins over Florida State and SEC champion LSU. The Gators were also inexplicably three spots ahead of Tennessee, which beat Florida on Dec. 1 in a 34-32 classic.
Tennessee stumbled from No. 2 all the way down to 8 after losing the SEC Championship Game to three-loss LSU under an up-and-coming coach named Nick Saban.
I could have avoided any hesitation had BYU simply run the table instead of GIVING UP 70 POINTS TO HAWAII IN THE REGULAR-SEASON FINALE.
Anyway, I settled on Tennessee despite its SEC title-game loss and Florida’s higher ranking. The Vols owned the head-to-head win over the Gators, mopped the floor with a good Syracuse team in the season opener, and beat the same LSU bunch that handed them their second, national championship-disqualifying loss.
Tennessee might even have had a claim to make for a Plus-One title-game appearance with a win over Nebraska, assuming Illinois edged out a close, ugly win in the Rose Bowl over Oregon. However, I prefer to reward a conference champion. For that same reason, Nebraska’s path to the Plus-One championship is also out of its own control.
The Cornhuskers would need a Fiesta Bowl win, Illinois over Oregon in the Rose Bowl, and Colorado to beat Miami in order to bolster the value of that ugly, season-finale defeat.
NOT the Chris Meyers who, while guest-hosting the predatory for-profit college guy’s national radio show, went on an unsolicited, unprovoked rant against Hurricane Katrina survivors, referring to them as “people…standing on a rooftop trying to blame the government” and implied they were non-citizens.
This past season marked the 20th anniversary of the 2001 Fresno State team, which put the program on the map nationally for its aggressive non-conference scheduling. The 2021 Bulldogs followed a similar playbook with trips to Oregon and UCLA.