Doc 5: BCS-era number fives -- No. 1 Florida
This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.
Happy Cinco de Mayo week. As we celebrate the fifth day of the fifth month of the year in our weekly Doc 5 feature, why not stick with the five theme?
This week we're going to rank the top five No. 5s from the BCS era. Why would they be significant? Well, with the new four-team Playoff, these teams would have been the first team left out of a playoff if the BCS rankings were used in lieu of the selection committee.
Yes, we've already redone the BCS with a Playoff this offseason, but we didn't give the No. 5s any love. Now it's time to do that. Let's get started.
TOP FIVE BCS-ERA NUMBER FIVES
No. 1: 2009 Florida
Would we ever live in a College Football Playoff era in which an SEC team that goes undefeated in the regular season would miss the Playoff? And what if that team was No. 1 to start the season? It seems unfathomable.
It's what would have happened with Florida in 2009.
The Gators went 8-0 in the SEC and were 12-0 in the regular season. It was an incredibly filling and delicious entrée. It's just that dessert sucked. And it ended up ruining the entire meal.
The deliciousness happened throughout the entire meal too, with the exception of a gristly bite. That was a home game against Arkansas where Florida needed a field goal from Caleb Sturgis with nine seconds left to break a 20-20 tie and win by three.
And it was a win that didn't escape controversy either. When Florida tied the game at 20 in the fourth quarter, it did so with the help of a late-hit penalty that moved the ball to the 10-yard-line. In the week after the game, the SEC admitted no foul should have been called.
But let's skip ahead to that terrible dessert. Florida played then-No. 2 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. It was a BCS Championship Game semifinal of sorts, and boy, it went horribly for the Gators.
Florida was shut out in the second half and lost 32-13. Alabama forced Florida to abandon the run (the Gators had 14 rushing attempts), and Tim Tebow threw the ball 35 times.
In most seasons, Florida would have stayed in the top four. However, 2009 wasn't most seasons. Five teams finished the season undefeated, led by Alabama and Texas. Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State were also unbeaten.
The Gators fell to fifth, ahead of only Boise State.
Was Florida a better team than both TCU and Cincinnati? Well, the Gators demolished Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, so perhaps the question only remains about TCU.
But since Cincy was undefeated, it was rewarded by the BCS formula. Would a College Football Playoff selection committee feel the same way? We're going to find out.
Based off Jeff Long's comments that the committee will be looking for the four "best" teams rather than the four "deserving" ones, it could play into Florida's hands. At the beginning of the season and for the entire regular season, Florida was a consensus pick as one of the four best teams in the country, if not the best. If we have a similar situation in the future in our new College Football Playoff era, you can damn well bet this Gators team will be used as an example.
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is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg
