Bowden’s impressive 22-10-1 record in bowl games bolsters the claim that he likely could have won more national titles in the CFP format bcause the Seminoles were frequently ranked among the top five teams in the country.
This topic of discussion arose when Nick Saban tied Bear Bryant, winning his sixth national championship following the 2017 college football season. College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit stated that he believed it was easier for a head coach to win a national championship due to the College Football Playoff, which allows more teams to win the national championship, particularly when it was a four-team playoff.
In 2017, Alabama lost to Auburn in the final regular-season game of the year. They didn’t play in the SEC Championship Game, but the Crimson Tide still made the then-four-team college football playoff and went on to win the national championship.
Now, there’s a greater opportunity to win a national championship than ever before, and we’re reminded of it all the time. You could lose to your rival in the last game of the season. Ohio State lost to Michigan in 2024. You could not make the conference championship game. Ohio State did not play in the Big Ten Championship Game. You don’t even have to be in the top two of your conference. Ohio State finished third in the Big Ten Conference in 2024, and despite all that, you could still win a national championship.
Ohio State won the national championship in 2024 despite losing their last regular-season game, finishing third in the Big Ten Conference, and not even playing in their conference championship game. Penn State, which lost in the Big Ten Conference Championship game, advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinals and was a field goal away from playing for a national championship. Before the college football playoff system, if you didn’t win your conference title, you had no shot at winning a national championship. None.
Back in Bobby Bowden’s era, before a college football playoff, you could go undefeated and not even have a chance to play for the national championship. So, which system is easier to win a national championship? One that gives you countless mulligans or one that might not give you a chance at all?
If we were still using the old poll system when Bryant was coaching, Alabama would not have played for the national championship in January of 2018, and Saban would not have had the opportunity to win his sixth national championship. Think about that. Alabama would have been on the outside looking in on the national championship picture and would not have played for a national championship that year; instead, it would have played in a bowl game.
Neither Alabama in 2017 nor Ohio State in 2024 won their division, let alone played for a conference title, yet both won the national championship. That would have never happened in the pre-BCS, pre-playoff era. Before one automatically anoints Nick Saban as the greatest college football coach of all time because of his seven national titles, Bryant’s six were harder to come by because of reduced opportunities, poll politics, and bowl affiliations.
In the old poll system, last year, Ohio State would have been playing in a bowl game with no chance at a national title. After their loss to Michigan, Ohio State was ranked seventh in the AP Poll.
In today’s format, 12 teams make the playoffs, and they all have a chance at winning a national championship. In the past, before the playoff system and the BCS, a team could be ranked number two and not have a shot at a national title if the number one-ranked team had a conference-affiliated tie-in to a bowl game, or, for that matter, if the number two-ranked team did as well. The number two-ranked team had to hope the number one-ranked team lost, as they seldom met in a bowl game to decide the national championship.
For example, years ago, at the end of the regular season, if Alabama was ranked number two and USC was ranked number one, USC would have faced the Big Ten Conference representative in the Rose Bowl, as the Rose Bowl had automatic tie-ins to the Pacific-12 Conference versus the Big Ten Conference champion. Therefore, if USC won, Alabama could not prove on the field head-to-head versus USC who the real national champion was. The national champion was determined by the pollsters and not on the playing field.
A counterargument now is that teams play more games and therefore have additional opportunities to lose those games. Still, you can win a national championship today without winning your division or even playing in your conference championship game! Alabama did it in 2017. Ohio State achieved this in 2024 with two losses.
Florida State finished ranked fifth or higher in the final football polls for an incredible 14 consecutive seasons (1987-2000). Florida State would have been in a 12-team college football playoff every one of those seasons and perhaps some other years of Bowden’s Florida State as well. It leads one to wonder how many final fours Florida State would have been in under Bobby Bowden. Let’s look at the years Florida State would have been in the national championship conversation.
Florida State won a national title in 1993 and 1999, and it would be difficult for anyone to deny that Florida State wasn’t the best team in the country those years. In addition, the Seminoles remarkably had three other opportunities to play for the national championship in bowl games in 1996, 1998, and 2000, which amounted to five national championship appearances over an eight-season span. However, Florida State came up short on the field of play those three years, so we can rule out those years as possibly ending with a national championship.
To recap those seasons….
—Florida State was undefeated at 11-0 and ranked number one at the end of the 1996 regular season, facing third-ranked Florida in a rematch in the Sugar Bowl. The Gators turned the tables on the Seminoles and captured the national title, winning 52-20. The Seminoles finished the season ranked third.
—In 1998, Florida State was ranked number two and faced top-ranked Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship, and the Volunteers prevailed 23-16. The Seminoles finished with an 11-2 record and ended the season ranked third in the final AP poll.
—Two years later, it was another number one versus number two battle for the Seminoles as Florida State again was ranked second and squared off against the number one team in the country, this time the Oklahoma Sooners, in the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma won 13-2 over Florida State, and the 11-1 Seminoles finished fifth in the season-ending poll.
What about the other years Florida State finished in the top four of the final regular season polls and did not have an opportunity to play for the national championship?
–In 1979, Florida State was ranked fourth after the final regular season poll behind Alabama, USC, and Ohio State. The Seminoles would lose in the Orange Bowl 24-7 to fifth-ranked Oklahoma, so winning the national championship via a four-team playoff would have been unlikely.
—The following year, 1980, Florida State was ranked second before the bowl games behind Georgia, with Pitt ranked third and Oklahoma fourth. With only a one-point loss to Miami (10-9) earlier in the season, and despite beating then-fourth-ranked Pitt 36-22, Florida State lost 18-17 in the Orange Bowl again to Oklahoma. Florida State would finish the year with a 10-2 record and a ranking of fifth.
—Perhaps the most likely year Florida State would have benefited from a college football playoff was 1987. At the end of the regular season, the top four ranked teams in the country were: Oklahoma, Miami, Florida State, and Syracuse. The only loss the Seminoles suffered was a one-point loss to Miami, 26-25. Florida State would go on to defeat fifth-ranked Nebraska 31-28 in the Fiesta Bowl and finish the season 11-1 and ranked second behind only Miami. How would Florida State have fared in a rematch against Miami? No doubt, Bowden and the Seminoles wish they had that opportunity.
—At the end of the 1988 regular season, the top four teams in the country were Notre Dame, Miami, West Virginia, and Florida State. The 1988 season saw Florida State finish the season ranked third after defeating seventh-ranked Auburn 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl. The Seminoles finished with an 11-1 record, with the one loss coming in Week One to Miami, 31-0. Notre Dame and Miami were, in all likelihood, the two best teams in the country in 1988; therefore, a realist would not think the Seminoles would have fared well in a playoff.
—In 1992, the top four teams in the final regular season poll were: Miami, Alabama, Florida State, and Texas A&M. Again, the only loss that season for Florida State was against the Hurricanes in Miami by a 19-16 score. Florida State defeated 11th-ranked Nebraska 27-14 in the Orange Bowl to finish the season 11-1 and ranked second in the final poll. Alabama beat favored Miami 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl to win the national championship.
—At the end of the 1997 regular season, the four highest-ranked teams were Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Florida State. The only loss the Seminoles suffered was a 32-29 defeat in Gainesville to the Florida Gators. The Seminoles defeated ninth-ranked Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl 31-14 and finished the season third in the final poll.
One could argue that Bowden’s impressive 22-10-1 record in bowl games bolsters the claim that he likely could have won more than the two national titles under the old poll system and in a college football playoff format, in which the Seminoles were often one of the top five teams in the country. The best chance? It was likely in 1987 — if only the CFP existed then.
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John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can be found at his blog.
