The 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a double overtime national championship game.
The underdog Buckeyes defeated the defending-champion Hurricanes 31–24, ending Miami's 34-game winning streak.
Jim Tressel won the national championship in only his second year as head coach.
Rose Bowl officials were vocally upset over the loss of the Big Ten champ from the game.
Beginning with the 2002 season[citation needed], teams were allowed to schedule twelve regular season games instead of eleven leading to additional revenues for all teams and allowing players the enhanced opportunity to break various statistical records.
Coming off a national championship season and riding a 22-game winning streak, Miami was ranked No.
The Seminoles dropped in the next AP Poll, which featured Miami and Oklahoma tied at No.
2 Oklahoma beat Alabama 37-27, but lost quarterback Jason White to a season-ending ACL tear.
4 Florida State played Louisville in a driving rainstorm and suffered a 26-20 overtime loss.
2 Texas missed three short field goals and only escaped Oklahoma State 17-15 when the Cowboys failed to convert a two-point play after a fourth-quarter touchdown.
3 Oklahoma had a close call of their own, trailing Missouri in the fourth quarter before throwing a touchdown pass on a fake field goal and winning 31-24.
October 10-12: In 1991, 1992, and 2000, Florida State had lost their rivalry game with Miami on potential game-winning or tying kicks which went wide right.
Trailing 28-27, Florida State had one more chance at a field goal to win, but this time the kick sailed wide left and Miami escaped with the victory.
The AP poll remained the same, but the first BCS standings were also released this week and had a somewhat different order.
Despite falling to sixth in the AP standings, Ohio State moved up in the BCS, where they replaced Virginia Tech in the top five.
5 Georgia was defeated 20-13 by Florida, the Gators’ twelfth win over the Bulldogs in thirteen years.
Miami held onto first place in the Coaches Poll but dropped even further in the BCS, falling to third behind Oklahoma and Ohio State.
3 Ohio State escaped Purdue 10-6 on Craig Krenzel’s fourth-down touchdown pass with two minutes left.
2 Ohio State had their fourth close call in five weeks, needing overtime to get past Illinois 23-16.
The BCS had Miami back in first place and Georgia, the sixth-ranked team in the AP Poll, at No.
12 Michigan, who had spoiled several potential undefeated seasons for the Buckeyes in the past decade.
6 Georgia, who had already earned the SEC East title, was idle but moved up in the next AP Poll: No.
1 Miami clinched the Big East title with an easy 49-7 win at Syracuse.
1 Miami completed their second consecutive undefeated regular season and ran their overall winning streak to 34 games with a 56-45 victory over No.
14 Alabama had won the SEC West, but the Crimson Tide were ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA violations, so No.
2 Ohio State were a shoo-in for the national championship game in the Fiesta Bowl.
7 Washington State, who tied USC atop the Pac-10 and held the head-to-head tiebreaker.
After the national championship was set, the Orange Bowl had the next pick, and invited No.
The Rose Bowl was left to pair Oklahoma with Pac-10 co-champion Washington State.
[4] Rose Bowl committee executive director Mitch Dorger was not pleased with the results.