The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Buffaloes (11–1–1) took the AP poll while the Yellow Jackets (11–0–1) took the UPI Coaches poll by one vote over Colorado, 847 to 846. During the season Colorado had a particularly controversial victory over Missouri in what would later be known as the "Fifth Down Game". It was finally confirmed that Tom Osborne changed his first-place vote from Colorado to Georgia Tech, which would be the only time a coach changed his vote from the pre-bowl #1 after that #1 team won their bowl game. Unlike several seasons to come in the 1990s, the two teams that became split national champions could have actually met in a 1 vs. 2 bowl game. Georgia Tech's ACC champion status did not preclude them from taking their #2 ranking to the Orange Bowl to face the automatic Big-8 champion in #1 Colorado for a decisive title game. But the Orange Bowl committee had invited Notre Dame Fighting Irish when they were ranked #1 prior to their second loss of the season on November 17.
Rule changes Approved reducing the width of the goal posts from 23 feet 9 inches to 18 feet 6 inches starting in 1991. Mandated visible 25-second clocks at each end zone. Allowed the defense to advance fumbles that occur beyond the line of scrimmage. Previously, fumbles could only be advanced if they were caught in the air.
Conference standings
Bowl games
New Year's Day Bowls: Orange Bowl: No. 1 Colorado 10, No. 5 Notre Dame 9 Florida Citrus Bowl: No. 2 Georgia Tech 45, No. 19 Nebraska 21 Cotton Bowl: No. 4 Miami (FL) 46, No. 3 Texas 3 Rose Bowl: No. 8 Washington 46, No. 17 Iowa 34 Sugar Bowl: No. 10 Tennessee 23, Virginia 22 Gator Bowl: No. 12 Michigan 35, No. 15 Mississippi 3 Hall of Fame Bowl: No. 14 Clemson 30, No. 16 Illinois 0 Fiesta Bowl: No. 18 Louisville 34, No. 25 Alabama 7
Other Bowls: John Hancock Bowl: No. 22 Michigan St. 17, No. 21 USC 16 Copper Bowl: California 17, Wyoming 15 Holiday Bowl: Texas A&M 65, No. 13 Brigham Young 14 Freedom Bowl: Colorado St. 32, Oregon 31 Peach Bowl: Auburn 27, Indiana 23 All-American Bowl: North Carolina St. 31, No. 23 Southern Mississippi 27 Blockbuster Bowl: No. 6 Florida St. 24, No. 7 Penn St. 17 Liberty Bowl: Air Force 23, No. 24 Ohio St. 11 Aloha Bowl: Syracuse 28, Arizona 0 Independence Bowl: Louisiana Tech 34, Maryland 34 California Bowl: San Jose St. 48, Central Michigan 24
Final AP Poll
+ 1990 Final AP Poll School Record (W–L–T) Points1 Colorado (39) 11–1–1 1,4752 Georgia Tech (20) 11–0–1 1,4413 Miami (FL) (1) 10–2–0 1,3884 Florida State 10–2–0 1,3035 Washington 10–2–0 1,2466 Notre Dame 9–3–0 1,1797 Michigan 9–3–0 1,0258 Tennessee 9–2–2 9939 Clemson 10–2–0 95010 Houston 10–1–0 94011 Penn State 9–3–0 90712 Texas 10–2–0 88713 Florida 9–2–0 86314 Louisville 10–1–1 77515 Texas A&M 9–3–1 62716 Michigan State 8–3–1 61017 Oklahoma 8–3–0 45218 Iowa 8–4–0 37019 Auburn 8–3–1 28820 Southern California 8–4–1 26621 Mississippi 9–3–0 25322 Brigham Young 10–3–0 24623 Virginia 8–4–0 18824 Nebraska 9–3–0 18525 Illinois 8–4–0 146
Final UPI/Coaches Poll Georgia Tech Colorado Miami (FL) Florida State Washington Notre Dame Tennessee Michigan Clemson Penn State Texas Louisville Texas A&M Michigan State Virginia Iowa Brigham Young Nebraska Auburn San Jose State Syracuse USC Mississippi Illinois Virginia Tech Florida, Houston and Oklahoma were not eligible to be ranked in the coaches poll due to NCAA probation.
Heisman Trophy voting The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player
Player School Position 1st 2nd 3rd Total Ty Detmer BYU QB 316 208 118 1,482 Raghib Ismail Notre Dame WR 237 174 118 1,177 Eric Bieniemy Colorado RB 114 153 150 798 Shawn Moore Virginia QB 46 96 135 465 David Klingler Houston QB 7 27 50 125 Herman Moore Virginia WR 6 14 22 68 Greg Lewis Washington RB 4 5 19 41 Craig Erickson Miami (FL) QB 0 6 19 31 Darren Lewis Texas A&M RB 0 9 13 31 Mike Mayweather Army RB 3 4 3 20 Source:
Other major awards Maxwell Award – Ty Detmer, BYU Walter Camp Award – Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame O'Brien Award – Ty Detmer, BYU Lombardi (Linebacker) – Chris Zorich, Notre Dame Outland (Interior) – Russell Maryland, Miami-FL AFCA Coach of the Year – Bobby Ross, Georgia Tech
National title Colorado Buffaloes – AP Poll Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – UPI Poll
No. 1 and No. 2 progress WEEKS No. 1 No. 2 Event PRE-1 Miami Notre Dame BYU 28, Miami 21 Sep 8 2 Notre Dame Auburn Florida St 48, Ga. Southern 6 Sep 15 3–5 Notre Dame Florida State Stanford 36, Notre Dame 31 Oct 6 6 Michigan Virginia Michigan St. 28, Michigan 27 Oct 13 7 Virginia Miami Notre Dame 29, Miami 20 Oct 20 8 Virginia Auburn Auburn 17, Miss. St. 16 Oct 27 9 Virginia Notre Dame Georgia Tech 41, Virginia 38 Nov 3 10 Notre Dame Washington UCLA 25, Washington 22 Nov 10 11 Notre Dame Colorado Penn State 24, Notre Dame 21 Nov 17 12 Colorado Miami Miami 33, Syracuse 7 Nov 24 13–14 Colorado Georgia Tech End regular season
I-AA team wins over I-A teams Italics denotes I-AA teams.
Recap of the year Voters were divided in the first poll of the 1990 college football season. The first rankings reflected the lack of consensus, as No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Colorado each received at least three first-place votes in the preseason poll.
Week One: August 26-September 1, 1990 There was little movement in the polls as most teams either played against non-competitive foes or did not begin the season until September 8. The only significant game was a 31–31 tie between No. 5 Colorado and No. 8 Tennessee in the first-ever Pigskin Classic, played at Anaheim Stadium. The next AP Poll featured Miami and Notre Dame still at Nos. 1 and 2, Auburn and Florida State tied at No. 3, and Michigan at No. 5.
Week Two: September 8, 1990 The most significant game and slight upset of week two came in Provo, Utah, where No. 16 Brigham Young, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, held off the defending champion, No. 1 Miami Hurricanes, 28–21. No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 5 Michigan, who were scheduled to play each other the following week, had not begun their season. No. 3 Auburn defeated Cal State Fullerton 38-17, while fellow No. 3 Florida State beat East Carolina 45-24. A comeback by No. 6 Colorado staved off defeat against unranked Stanford, 17–14. The pollsters remained unimpressed by Colorado, dropping them to No. 9 despite the win. The Gene Stallings era began for No. 13 Alabama with a 27–24 loss to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, quarterbacked by Brett Favre; the Tide opened their season with three straight losses. The Steve Spurrier era also began at Florida, as the unranked Gators beat Oklahoma State 50-7. In Charlottesville, No. 14 Virginia beat No. 9 Clemson 20-7 in what was viewed as an upset. It was Virginia's first win ever over the Tigers, after 29 consecutive losses since their first meeting in 1955. The top five teams in the next poll were No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Brigham Young.
Week Three: September 15, 1990 The most important game of week three was a top five match-up of No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 4 Michigan. In an exciting game, the Fighting Irish prevailed 28–24. No. 2 Auburn won 24-10 at Mississippi, No. 3 Florida State defeated Georgia Southern 48-6, No. 5 Brigham Young beat Washington State 50-36, and No. 6 USC got past Penn State 19-14. The other game that would have season-long significance was No. 21 Illinois' upset of No. 9 Colorado, 23–22. The game would figure prominently in the national championship argument in January. Spurrier also won his SEC debut, with No. 24 Florida besting Alabama 17–13. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Brigham Young, and No. 5 USC.
Week Four: September 22, 1990 No. 1 Notre Dame squeaked past No. 24 Michigan State 20-19, with the crucial moment being a bizarre play where a Rick Mirer pass bounced off the chest of Spartans cornerback Todd Murray and into the hands of receiver Adrian Jarrell, putting the Irish in position to score the game-winning touchdown. No. 2 Florida State won 31-13 at Tulane, while No. 3 Auburn was idle. No. 4 Brigham Young defeated San Diego State 62-34, but No. 5 USC was blasted 31-0 by No. 21 Washington. No. 6 Tennessee, which was idle this week, moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Brigham Young, and No. 5 Tennessee.
Week Five: September 29, 1990 No. 1 Notre Dame defeated Purdue 37-11, and No. 2 Florida State beat Virginia Tech 39-28. No. 5 Tennessee had their second tie in a little over a month, as No. 3 Auburn rallied from a 17-point deficit to even the score; a missed Volunteers field goal with 15 seconds left led to a 26-26 final tally. No. 4 Brigham Young visited Oregon and lost 32-16. No. 6 Michigan won 45-17 over Maryland, and No. 7 Virginia defeated William & Mary 63-35. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Virginia, and No. 5 Auburn.
Week Six: October 6, 1990 The most controversial game of the season—and one of the most controversial of all time—occurred this week, when No. 12 Colorado beat Missouri on a last minute lunge by back-up quarterback Charles Johnson. The problem, however, was that Johnson actually scored on a Fifth Down due to an error by the seven officials calling the game. The game would have major ramifications for the national championship at year's end.
Meanwhile, Stanford's Tommy Vardell scored four touchdowns (all on runs from the one-yard line) to lead the Cardinal to a 36-31 upset of No. 1 Notre Dame. No. 2 Florida State visited No. 9 Miami and lost 31-22. No. 3 Michigan dominated Wisconsin 41-3, while No. 4 Virginia was idle. No. 5 Auburn barely escaped unheralded Louisiana Tech, winning 16-14 on a last-second field goal, and the Tigers fell out of the top five in the next poll. No. 6 Tennessee was also idle, and No. 7 Oklahoma moved up with a 31-17 win at Oklahoma State: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Tennessee. All of the top five teams received first place votes, as did No. 8 Nebraska, No. 10 Florida, and No. 13 Houston.
Week Seven: October 13, 1990 After sitting on top of the college rankings for only four days, Michigan became the third number one team of the year to get knocked off the top spot, losing 28–27 at home in Ann Arbor to archrival Michigan State; the Wolverines failed a two-point conversion with seconds to go as Desmond Howard could not hold on to the ball when he was allegedly interfered with, in a very controversial no-call by the referees. This opened the door for No. 2 Virginia, who moved atop the polls for the first time in team history with a 31-0 shutout of North Carolina State. No. 3 Miami was similarly dominant in a 34-0 win over Kansas. The day's other upset of a top-five team was No. 4 Oklahoma's 14–13 loss to unranked Texas in the Red River Shootout. No. 9 Florida also endured their first loss in the Spurrier era, losing a 45–3 rout at the hands of No. 5 Tennessee despite being down only 7–3 at halftime. No. 18 Georgia Tech knocked off No. 15 Clemson, 21–19, in a game that was to be of greater importance at the end of season. The next poll featured No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Auburn.
Week Eight: October 20, 1990