After decades of dreaming about it, years demanding it, and months arguing about it, the Playoff Era is finally here. The old BCS system would have produced a National Championship Game of #1 Florida State (only undefeated) and #2 Alabama (SEC Champion), but with both of those squads losing in the National Semifinals, the new system is instantly validated.
This offseason, we will take the role of the Selection Committee and look at how every BCS season (1998-2013) would have played out in the current College Football Playoff setup. As a staff, we will analyze, debate, and ultimately select the 4 most deserving teams and seed them #1 through #4. Once the bracket is set, we will throw the historical matchups into the game simulator over at What If Sports, a complex algorithm that simulates any matchup of teams from 1996 to the present. We will simulate each matchup 25 times for a more accurate sample size, and report the series results and average score. How different would the college football landscape look if the 4-team playoff had come 16 years sooner? Would the SEC still have held the crystal trophy for 7 straight seasons? Would Oregon have a championship by now? How would the famous #3 teams such as 2000 Miami, 2003 USC, 2004 Auburn, and 2011 Oklahoma State fare with a shot at glory? Would the BCS busters prove themselves? Let the games begin - here's what should have been: 2010 SEASON BACKGROUND & SELECTION COMMITTEE 2010 presented another issue that the BCS couldn't handle: 3 undefeated teams for 2 spots. Thankfully, our Selection Committee didn't face this challenge and was able to place the three perfect teams all in the bracket: Auburn, Oregon, and TCU. Yes, the Horned Frogs won a non-AQ conference, but this team was so utterly dominant that its 12-0 record simply couldn't be ignored. Out of conference they played two BCS teams and beat both (Oregon State and Baylor), beat #6 Utah 47-7, and finished with an average margin of victory of 43-11. As for the #4 spot, several issues arose. The only other 1-loss conference champion came from the Big Ten, except there were 3 sharing the title. Wisconsin beat Ohio State, who beat Michigan State, who beat Wisconsin. Wisconsin was recognized by the Big Ten as the league champion and was given the bid to the Rose Bowl. Our Committee deferred to the actual league here and gave Wisconsin the nod. They earned the #4 playoff spot over 11-1 Stanford, who lost to Oregon and finished as Pac-10 runner-ups.
2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
Cam Newton seemed to be invincible. Heck, he was nicknamed Superman. But here in our computer simulated College Football Playoff, the Wisconsin defense was too much for Cam to handle. This is one of the more shocking upsets of our feature, as the Badgers knock off Auburn, decisively, 19 games to 6 (average score 34-23).
In the other semifinal, Oregon was similarly dominant, winning the series 16-9 over TCU. These non-AQ Horned Frogs again proved their worth, fresh off of a near National Championship in the 2009 simulation. The average score was just 29-28 Oregon. In search of the school's 1st National Championship, head coach Chip Kelly had his Ducks fully prepared and outclassed Wisconsin 16 games to 9 with an average score of 35-28. Darron Thomas distributed the ball out to Kelly's array of weapons, and LaMichael James had speed that the Big Ten champs couldn't keep up with. 
LINKS to our other CFB Simulation Features:
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