Arkansas
12-Team Playoff System to Debut in 2024, Will Finally Give Razorbacks Shot at Title
FAYETTEVILLE – Apart from for a fleeting second beneath the lights of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1998, Arkansas has by no means felt like a respectable risk for a shot at a nationwide championship for the reason that NCAA determined to begin having groups play for a respectable title within the ’90s.
Sure, there was a very good 12 months beneath Petrino the place there was technically a path, however everybody knew stepping into that on the finish of that path was Nick Saban and Alabama, so it wasn’t actually one thing individuals actually believed.
Even after a drubbing from the combating Sabans, there was nonetheless alleged to be a method, however No. 1 LSU dropped the hammer, giving the Razorbacks a pair of blowout losses.
Arkansas was third within the SEC West behind nationwide champion Alabama and SEC champion/nationwide runner-up LSU, but nonetheless adequate to simply bounce No. 8 Kansas St., however what was that value in these days?
Whereas there wasn’t a method for Arkansas to make nationwide championship noise in both of these years, starting in 2024, it seems to be like that is going to vary.
The Grumpy Grandaddy of all of them, the Rose Bowl, lastly determined to cease telling faculties not within the Pac 12 and Massive Ten to get off its garden, thus clearing the way in which for a 12-team faculty soccer playoff.
The inaugural first spherical will start the weekend earlier than Christmas in 2024 with groups seeded Nos. 5 by 12 taking part in the primary weekend earlier than the highest 4 groups be a part of them in Week 2.
However what if the NCAA had gone with a 12-team playoff from the outset as an alternative of starting with the BCS title video games that ultimately advanced into the present four-team playoffs? How may which have shaken out for the Razorbacks?
2011
After dropping to No. 1 LSU to shut the common season, Arkansas fell to No. 6 within the nation as soon as the championship video games had been all settled. This could have positioned the Razorbacks in opposition to the No. 11 seed.
Arkansas would have face an 11-2 Virginia Tech staff that 12 months. That may have meant a showdown with a Hokies staff that was blown out twice by No. 21 Clemson earlier than closing the 12 months with a loss to No. 13 Michigan within the Sugar Bowl.
The video games would have shaken out like this:
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 Baylor [Winner faces No. 4 Stanford]
No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 11 Virginia Tech [Winner faces No. 3 Oklahoma St.]
No. 7 Boise St. vs. No. 10 Wisconsin [Winner faces No. 2 Alabama]
No. 8 Kansas St. vs. No. 9 South Carolina [Winner vs. No. 1 LSU]
Had Arkansas gained, the Hogs would have confronted an Oklahoma St. staff that was a double-overtime loss to Iowa St. from being undefeated. This included an eventual win over No. 4 Stanford within the Fiesta Bowl.
Whereas that sounds daunting for probably the most gifted Arkansas groups to ever take the sector, it needs to be famous that the Cowboys struggled to take down Kansas St., 52-45; the identical Wildcats staff the Razorbacks simply dispatched within the Cotton Bowl again when bowl video games nonetheless kinda mattered.
Whereas it might have been a enjoyable trip, issues would have most probably ended the place the SEC season started, with a loss to Alabama that may have propelled the Hogs to a nationwide model of the SEC West standings with them at No. 3 behind LSU and Alabama as soon as once more.
1998
This explicit 12 months is one Arkansas followers will always remember.
When the BCS rankings got here out in Week 10, the primary 12 months faculty soccer set out on the grand experiment of getting an precise nationwide champion, an 8-0 Razorback staff in its first 12 months beneath Houston Nutt, had climbed to No. 7 heading into its showdown with No. 1 Tennessee.
Issues had been rolling alongside swimmingly. All Arkansas needed to do was run out the clock and take down Mississippi State the next week and the Hogs had been going to be an undefeated SEC West champion sure for the SEC championship recreation.
That was when Brandon Burlsworth by accident stepped on quarterback Clint Stoerner’s foot on 2nd & 12 with 1:47 to play.
Had Arkansas been lucky sufficient for Stoerner to easily fall to the bottom, the Razorbacks doubtless would have escaped. Nonetheless, the usually dependable sign caller tried to maintain his steadiness utilizing the soccer and misplaced management, permitting Tennessee to get well on the Arkansas 44 with the Hogs clinging to a 24-22 lead.
Travis Henry then mercilessly pounded the Razorback protection with large run after large run earlier than the Volunteers put it away with a landing.
Arkansas fell to No. 9 and would have been in place to make the theoretical playoff had Nutt not determined to place his kicker in mothballs for every week, resulting in a 22-21 upset by the hands of Mississippi St.
The loss not solely value the Razorbacks a rematch with Tennessee within the SEC championship recreation, it dropped them to No. 13 within the remaining BCS rankings, which implies there is no have to search for Arkansas within the 1998 brackets beneath because the Hogs could be first staff out.
The video games would have shaken out like this:
No. 5 UCLA vs. No. 12 Virginia [Winner faces No. 4 Ohio St.]
No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Nebraska [Winner faces No. 3 Kansas St.]
No. 7 Arizona vs. No. 10 Tulane [Winner faces No. 2 Florida St.]
No. 8 Florida vs. No. 9 Wisconsin [Winner vs. No. 1 Tennessee]
2006
Whereas 1998 may be a shock to Arkansas followers so far as the Razorbacks lacking a 12-team playoff, the 2006 season may be a shock within the different path because the Hogs squeeze on this theoretical rewriting of historical past.
This was the 12 months the place the Houston Nutt, Gus Malzahn, Springdale 5 drama overshadowed all the things in a season that started with USC hanging half 100 on Arkansas earlier than a 3-game dropping streak to Prime 10 groups that included an upset loss to No. 9 LSU, a defeat within the SEC championship recreation in opposition to Tim Tebow and future nationwide champion Florida, and a disappointing 17-14 loss to Bret Bielema’s Wisconsin staff within the Capital One Bowl again when Massive Ten groups could not purchase a win in opposition to SEC faculties.
Due to how negatively that season is considered, it most likely wasn’t prime of thoughts when followers take into consideration what years could have been a playoff risk. Regardless of tumbling from the No. 5 spot within the remaining week of the common season, Arkansas completed No. 12 within the remaining BCS standings used to find out bowl assignments again then.
This implies Arkansas will get in. Nonetheless, the fates had been sort by not permitting a playoff system to be in place on the time as Nutt would have led his dysfunctional locker room in opposition to No. 5 USC for the second time that 12 months, this time at USC.
The video games would have shaken out like this:
No. 5 USC vs. No. 12 Arkansas [Winner faces No. 4 LSU]
No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 11 Notre Dame [Winner faces No. 3 Michigan]
No. 7 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Oklahoma [Winner faces No. 2 Florida]
No. 8 Boise St. vs. No. 9 Auburn [Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio St.]
In fact, it needs to be famous that probably the most iconic moments in faculty soccer historical past, the Boise St. Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma adopted by a wedding proposal by a participant on the sector, wouldn’t have occurred.
2010
Whereas most followers bear in mind the 2011 season due to the Prime 5 end, it is usually forgotten that Arkansas managed two Prime 10 finishes in back-to-back seasons.
In 2010, the mighty Petrinos rounded out the season at No. 8 in what would have been their best alternative to win a nationwide championship of the fashionable period.
The Hogs took down Georgia between the hedges, had No. 1 Alabama on the ropes in a detailed loss and led eventual nationwide champion Auburn 43-37 within the fourth quarter on the street with back-up quarterback Tyler Wilson in for Ryan Mallett, who was injured within the first half. Sadly for the Razorbacks, Cam Newton determined to ensure everybody know he want to be a Heisman candidate with 28 unanswered factors in what was left of the fourth quarter.
That being mentioned, there was no staff in America that Arkansas could not beat that 12 months on the suitable day in the suitable setting. The Razorbacks would have opened because the No. 9 seed in opposition to a Michigan State staff that went on to lose to Alabama 49-7.
That may have arrange a rematch with Auburn with Mallet absolutely wholesome.
The video games would have shaken out like this:
No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 Missouri [Winner faces No. 4 Stanford]
No. 6 Ohio St. vs. No. 11 LSU [Winner faces No. 3 TCU]
No. 7 Oklahoma vs. No. 10 Boise St. [Winner faces No. 2 Oregon]
No. 8 Arkansas vs. No. 9 Michigan St. [Winner vs. No. 1 Auburn]
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