I attended Ohio State during the exciting but also disappointing Cooper years. With the CFP in place now and the Bucks taking the inaugural championship from the 4th seed, I was thinking back to how some Buckeye teams from the past would have fared if there was a playoff for previous years.
My first thought was to 2 of Cooper's best teams: 96 and 98. 1995 is also a possibility for discussion, though we finished tied for #4 with Tennessee, ended up losing to them in the Citrus Bowl and not sure if anyone was beating Nebraska that year. The 1996 and 1998 teams were stacked and if they had a chance to play it out on the field vs the other top teams, I think Cooper would have ended up with 2 National Championships on his resume!
In 1996, the final regular season AP Poll had (AP champs in bold):
- Florida State (lost to #3 Florida 52-20 in Sugar Bowl)
- Arizona State (lost to #4 Ohio State 20-17 in Rose Bowl)
- Florida (beat #1 Florida St 52-20 in Sugar Bowl)
- Ohio State (beat #2 Arizona St 20-17 in Rose Bowl)
In 1998, the final regular season AP Poll had:
- Tennessee (beat #2 Fla St 23-16 in Fiesta Bowl)
- Florida State (lost to #1 Tenn 23-16 in Fiesta Bowl)
- Ohio State (beat #8 Tx A&M 24-14 in Sugar Bowl)
- Kansas State (lost to NR Purdue 37-34 in Alamo Bowl)
