While LSU players were finishing up final exams and looking forward to their match-up with Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, their video game counterparts were in a Death Valley rematch with the Florida Gators.
College Sports Television and Electronic Arts teamed up to put together the first-ever Division 1-A college football playoff.
Crystal Bowl 1: The Ultimate Championship featured 16 teams
in a four-round playoff that
crowned the No. 4-ranked Michigan Wolverines as national champions.
The games were simulated using the EA Sports NCAA Football 2004 video game.
The Bowl Championship Series’ top 15 teams and one at-large team, Boise State, selected by the “Crystal Bowl Selection Committee,” played against each other, according to the CSTV Web site.
“There was so much clambering for a unified champion; we took a look at the discussion of the BCS and decided to settle it on the field,” said CSTV Director of Corporate Communications Eric Handler.
The No. 2-ranked Tigers fared well in their first game against No. 15 Florida. LSU won 21-10 in Tiger Stadium with freshman Justin Vincent rushing for 142 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries.
In the second round of the simulated playoff, LSU faced Big 12 Conference Champions Kansas State, ranked No. 10.
The Tigers lost 21-10 in Death Valley as the defense gave up 210 passing yards and 89 rushing yards to Kansas State quarterback Ell Roberson.
“The simulation was representative of how the teams would actually play on the field, considering the up-to-date stats,” Handler said.
They used up-to-date 2003 statistics, appropriate weather conditions and other key intangibles, Handler said.
“We factored in home-field advantage and other small things that can help determine the outcome of a game,” Handler said.
Jeremy Mhire, a political science graduate student, doesn’t think that the computer simulated playoff was a good system to determine a national champion.
“It can’t be that representative considering Michigan got beat in the Rose Bowl by USC,” Mhire said. “I guess it is good from a statistical standpoint.”
Throughout the playoffs, starting Dec. 12, 2003, CSTV aired weekly football shows on Sunday evenings where analysts would provide box scores, highlights and statistics from the simulated games, according to a CSTV news release.
The Crystal Bowl 1 national champion was crowned Sunday, Jan. 4 at 5 p.m., just two hours before the Sugar Bowl and the battle for the actual BCS National Title.
In the Championship Game, the Michigan Wolverines beat the Kansas State Wildcats to claim the Crystal Bowl 1 Title.
Michigan, who actually lost to the University of Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1, upset No. 1-ranked Oklahoma in the semifinals to reach the Crystal Bowl Title Game.
EA Sports, independent of CSTV, also simulated a game between USC and LSU after the Nokia Sugar Bowl, using their NCAA Football 2004 for Playstation 2. USC won 23-17 on a neutral field and were crowned the “best team in the land this year,” according to the EA Sports online article.
College Sports Television, launched on April 7, 2003, features more than 30 college sports and has televised some LSU events in the past, Handler said.
“We featured Nick Saban’s weekly show and televised a LSU vs. Tulane baseball game,” Handler said.
CSTV is a national cable network based out of New York City. Two of the cofounders also created what is now ESPN Classic.
The network is provided to the Baton Rouge area by Access Advisory Group, Cox Communications, DIRECTV and DISH Network. It is carried on cable channel 38, Cox Sports Southwest, according to a Cox Communications customer service representative.