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The 5 Worst Champions of The BCS/College Football Playoff Playoff Era
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There’s a term for the person who graduates last in his or her medical school class.
It’s Doctor.
The same proposition holds true for teams that win college football championships. It doesn’t matter if a team wins its title by steamrolling the competition or because it benefitted from a lucky bounce or a timely call. The result is the same.
So while these 5 teams might not have always looked like world-beaters, they were at their best when it mattered most. And because of that, they will always be remembered as college football national champions.
Worst Champions of BCS/CFB Playoff Era
Here’s a look back at the 10 “worst” national championship teams of the BCS/Playoff era, which began in 1998
Let the debate begin!
5. 2002 Ohio State
Yes, the Buckeyes went undefeated. Yes, they had a record 14 players selected in the NFL Draft. And yes, they took a heavily favored Miami team to double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. But if not for a highly questionable pass interference call on what should have been the last play of the game, they wouldn’t even have been eligible to make this list. The controversy surrounds a 4th-and goal play in the first overtime. With the Hurricanes having already scored on their possession, the game appeared to end when defensive back Glenn Sharpe knocked down a pass in the end zone intended for receiver Chris Gamble. Miami’s celebration had already begun when a flag was thrown seconds after the play had ended and interference was called. The Buckeyes were gifted an extra set of downs, scored and went on to win in the second overtime to snap Miami’s 34-game winning streak and claim a title many to this day believe they shouldn’t have won.
4. 2003 LSU
Nick Saban won his first career natty and LSU’s first since Paul Dietzel’s Chinese Bandits of 1958. Or did he? While the Tigers were crowned national champions by the BCS and the Coaches poll after beating Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, voters on the Associated Press poll picked Southern Cal as its champion by virtue of its Rose Bowl win against Michigan. Although the BCS was designed to eliminate split championships, this one came about when the champions of the SEC, Big-12 and Pac-12 all ended the regular season with 1 loss. Even though the Trojans were ranked No. 1 by the AP at the time, the BCS computer rankings had the Tigers and Sooners as the top 2 teams, giving them the opportunity to play for the title. Who might have won had LSU and Southern Cal played that year? We’ll never know. But the Trojans would have been hard-pressed to score against the nation’s best defense that allowed an average of only 11 points per game.
3. 2011 Alabama
Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide is the only team to win a BCS national championship without having either won or even played for its conference crown. Bama got shut out of the SEC title game thanks to a 9-6, defensive slugfest loss to LSU in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 5. Even with the setback, Alabama still ended the season ranked No. 2 in the final Bowl Championship Series standings, setting up a rematch with the Bayou Bengals at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. This time, Doak Walker Award-winner Trent Richardson and the offense were able to put the ball into the end zone 3 times. That proved to be more than enough, as the Tide’s defense rose to the occasion again by limiting LSU to only 92 yards, 5 first downs and no points in a convincing 21-0 victory.
2. 2014 Ohio State
Not only were the Buckeyes the No. 4 seed in the 4-team Playoff field, they entered the postseason with an offense led by a third-string quarterback. Because of injuries to Braxton Miller and JT Barrett, coach Urban Meyer was forced to turn to untested Cardale Jones to run his offense. Jones made his first career start in the Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin before becoming an all-time flash-in-the-pan by beating Alabama and Oregon in the inaugural Playoff for the national title. Jones started only 8 more games in his career before declaring for the NFL Draft and flaming out. Although the team didn’t produce any first-round picks that season, it had 5 first-rounders the following year, led by defensive end Joey Bosa, the No. 3 overall pick.
1. 2007 LSU
Forget for a moment that both of the Tigers’ losses, at Kentucky in October and at home against Tennessee in the regular-season finale after having already clinched the SEC West title, came in triple-overtime. Or that they were ranked No. 1 on two different occasions during the season. No team in the BCS/Playoff era had ever won a national title with 2 losses on its resumé until Les Miles’ team pulled it off in 2007. It took second-half comebacks against Tulane, Florida, Auburn and Alabama to get LSU into the SEC Championship Game, and a lot of help from others even after beating Tennessee for the SEC crown to get into the BCS national championship game. But once there, quarterback Matt Flynn and a defense led by Outland Trophy winner Glenn Dorsey took care of business to beat No. 1 Ohio State 38-24 for their school’s second title in 5 years.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
