There are too many times when a college football season ends leaving the fans with a sense of unfulfilled dreams. Maybe it's when an undeserving Heisman winner is chosen or the team that wins the championship cannot possibly be considered the best team in the nation under any rational circumstance. We have become sophisticated enough that these yearnings are less than they once were - thanks to a consensus and undisputed national champion - but they still arise occasionally. These feelings were far more common prior to the BCS system and perhaps no better example could be cited than the end of the 1990 season.
Colorado won the national title that had eluded it in 1989, but nobody respected them, feeling they had cheated or lucked their way into a tainted title. Georgia Tech got 1/2 a championship thanks to be the nation's only unbeaten team, but nobody gave serious thought to a Tech repeat or even really cared outside the Yellow Jacket fan base. Miami partisans thought they fielded the nation's best team in 1990 - Coach Dennis Erickson even suggested this in an interview that aired prior to the Orange Bowl - but failed to win yet another title. Notre Dame had ended the year by blowing a couple of second half leads and failing to finish off teams (Penn State and Colorado) who clearly were not as talented recruiting-wise. Texas lived with the bitter aftertaste of a magical season where they only lost once to Colorado (late in the game even) but then were thoroughly humiliated on national TV when Miami spanked them, 46-3, in a game that appeared as though the Canes could have scored twice as many points had they wanted. Auburn was testy because on the verge of hitting the top spot in the rankings for the first time since 1985, they had imploded in November. And the new mouth that roared in Gainesville, Steve Spurrier, thought his Gator bunch was the best team in the SEC in 1990 but were ineligible for the championship. It should be noted that Spurrier believed this despite the fact his lone conference loss was an embarrassing 45-3 shellacking administered by SEC champion Tennessee. There were plenty of unsatisfied dreams in college football as the calendar turned to the 1991 regular season. But if 1990 was unsatisfying thanks to the split national championship, the sequel would make things worse as opposed to better.
Colorado entered the season with the nation's second longest winning streak at ten games. The Buffs, however, had lost way too much to be considered a potential repeat champion. No, the champion of 1991 was expected to finally - FINALLY - fulfill a four-year standard of the media repeatedly hyping them as "the best team in the country," Florida State. In his 16th season in Tallahassee, Bobby Bowden began the year at number one and knowing his team - and only his - was in control of its own destiny. He had lined up some stiff competition, too, including an opener against BYU, a road game at the Big House in Ann Arbor, a road game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, host to the annual war with Miami in November, and the usual in-state scrapping with the newly revived Gators. The preseason schedule looked like a series of mountains to climb, but the Seminoles were the heavy favorites to win it all. Of course, Bowden had been here before - just three years earlier, in fact. FSU opened 1988 with 44 first-place votes and a rap song recorded by several of the players - only to waltz into Miami and get pulverized, 31-0. This history, in fact, led to some early trash talking from Miami about how they were going to once again ruin the Seminoles's dreams of a title.'
PRESEASON RANKINGS
1) Florida St
2) Miami
3) Michigan
4) Washington
5) Notre Dame
6) Georgia Tech
7) Florida
8) Penn St
9) Clemson
10) Colorado
Georgia Tech's dreams of a repeat as well as a 17th straight game without defeat (the nation's longest streak) ended on opening night in the Meadowlands when Penn State zoomed out to a 34-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. While Tech rallied to make it look close at 34-22, the Jackets were victimized by four fumbles by QB Shawn Jones, who had led them to the Promised Land in 1990. The very next night, Florida State opened against BYU in Anaheim - just as Colorado had the previous year. Unlike the Buffs, whose game with the Vols ended in a tie, FSU thumped the Cougars, 44-28, and manhandled defending Heisman winner Ty Detmer in the process.
Week two brought a major upset in Starkville. New coach Jackie Sherrill had elevated Texas A/M to equal and even past Texas during his near decade run in College Station. In his first big game at a perennial losing program (Mississippi State), Sherrill put a quality team on the field that stunned the previous year's top five Longhorns, 13-6. Although the Bulldogs only had one touchdown themselves, it was enough to win. And an impressive Washington win on the road at Stanford - a game that saw Cardinal tackle Bob Whitfield publicly declare Stanford would win by 60 points - lifted the Huskies over Michigan to #3 in the poll. The top four teams all had first-place votes, but it was Florida State that seemed to be gaining votes and strength by the week.
Week three saw Florida begin SEC hosting Alabama and one of the earliest controversies regarding Steve Spurrier's mouth. At least one media outlet reported that Spurrier had declared Florida would beat Alabama by at least 30 points. Spurrier, who was known both to stick his foot deep in his mouth as well as be brutally honest to a fault, insisted he'd never said or implied any such thing. The first half saw an old-fashioned SEC defensive showdown, Florida going in at the half leading only 6-0. This was nothing short of amazing given that Alabama fumbled the ball six times in the first half, losing three. The Tide also got flagged for 54 yards in penalty yards, which was more than Florida had rushing yards. But in an effort to get his team moving, Coach Gene Stallings sent in Jay Barker as quarterback for the first time in SEC play. The Tide began the second half with a false start penalty by Jon Stevenson (five more yards in penalties), Barker threw an interception on his first pass of the second half. Florida netted a quick touchdown followed by another and the rout was on. It ended in Florida's favor, 35-0, knocking Alabama out of the polls (from 16 to below 25). There was no way anybody in Florida Field or across the country that night could possibly have known that Alabama would not leave the field with fewer points than their opponents a single time in the next 31 games. The win lifted Florida from seven to five, surpassing Notre Dame, who lost to Michigan, 24-14. The Wolverines introduced the nation to their new Heisman candidate, Desmond Howard, by blowing out to a 17-0 lead and then hanging on for dear life. Perhaps the most consequential loss, though, was the shocking upset in Boulder of defending champion Colorado. Lined up for a potential game-clinching field goal and working some of their magic of the previous two years via a fumble recovery to set it up, the bills came due when Santana Dotson blocked a chip shot that was returned all the way back to the Colorado 30. Baylor kicked the winner to make it 16-14 with 51 seconds left then held off the Buffs comeback attempt. Only three weeks into the season and both national champions from 1990 were dethroned. The year was already shaping up to be quite interesting.
The following week saw the all-too-common occurrence of a letdown, as Florida headed to Syracuse basking in the afterglow of an SEC win only to get throttled by the Orangemen, 38-21. The Gators fell behind on a dazzling reverse kickoff touchdown by Kirby Dar Dar. While the Gators got as close as seven points with less than five minutes left in the third quarter, they never could overcome the fast start and lost the last time Florida played a road out of conference game outside the Southeast. Tennessee put a dent in the Mississippi State freshman fun of Jackie Sherrill, but it took them the entire day to do it. In fact, it took two Vols drives in the final 12 minutes to give Tennessee a narrow 26-24 home win over the Dawgs. The day was also notable as the first career home start of Ohio State junior Kirk Herbstreit, who led his team to a 33-19 beating of Washington State. Wazzu's quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, was sacked nine times in the Cougars' defeat. But no game set the tone for the season as the one that night in Lincoln, Nebraska.
When Washington was blown out by Alabama in the 1986 Sun Bowl, Huskies Coach Don James returned to Seattle convinced he had lost because of the team speed of Alabama. James set about building his monster around speed, recruiting fast players who could tackle and fit into his new idea. Because the Huskies played on the West Coast, many fans in the Eastern half of the USA either never saw or rarely saw the Huskies play. So James scheduled a home and home at what turned out to be just the right time to introduce the national television audience to his well-oiled machine. The oil appeared to need changing through the first 36 minutes of the game as the Huskies trailed Nebraska on the road, 21-9. In the previous five years, Nebraska was 26-2 at home with an average victory margin of 33 points, their only two losses come to year-end #2 Oklahoma in 1987 and national champion Colorado in 1990. All of a sudden, the Huskers were hit by a tidal wave, a deluge of points as Washington turned the 21-9 deficit into a 36-21 pasting of the Big Eight standard bearer. So impressed were the Nebraska partisans that they applauded the Huskies as they left the field victorious. Washington made a statement that would linger for the rest of the season. But a week later it was virtually forgotten after Michigan and Florida State lined up for a donnybrook at the Big House.
The day before the Michigan-FSU game, however, a nuclear bomb hit the program at Auburn University and combined with a tragedy that would unfold over the next week swallowed much of the SEC season into inescapable gloom. Auburn had its toughest road game of the season scheduled against Tennessee for September 28. Coach Pat Dye spent a couple of days prior to the Vols game in Boston with a representative from the NCAA as Dye shared the results of an internal investigation into Auburn's basketball and tennis programs. Both would subsequently be placed on probation by the NCAA, but it was the story in "The Montgomery-Advertiser" that swallowed Auburn's season into despair. On September 27, the newspaper carried front page allegations from two former Auburn players (Eric Ramsey and Alex Strong) that both had received substantial payment from boosters and coaches with the Auburn program. While such charges were quite common in the 1980s, Ramsey's drama added an unanticipated element: Ramsey claimed to have a collection of over 100 audio tapes that would prove his version of events to be true. Perhaps stunned by the revelations, Auburn bowed to Tennessee, 30-21, but the game was secondary to the repetitive commentary of the ESPN announcers regarding the not yet proven to exist tapes. Earlier in the day, however, Florida State and Michigan put on a classic. Defensive back Terrell Buckley got things started with a bang when he snagged an interception from Desmond Howard and went forty yards for the touchdown. Howard responded like a champion, getting the score knotted at 7-7 with his own touchdown. FSU opened the trick play manual as two quarterbacks - starter Casey Weldon and backup Charlie Ward - got into the game with a lateral toss back to the other that gained 29 yards, followed by a fake field goal by fullback William Floyd. Michigan hung tough, trailing only 25-23 in the second before Florida State got a touchdown to make it 31-23. Florida State was too much, however, and the 51 points were the most any opponent ever scored in the Big House. It would have been worse had FSU not missed FIVE point after attempts or lost a fumble at the Michigan one. It was the former that would come back to haunt them later in the year. The tragedy occurred at the home of one of the most exciting teams thus far in 1991, Mississippi State, and put a damper on what had been a fun time.
The Bulldogs lost to Florida, 29-7. During the game, nose guard Rodney Stowers fractured his tibia. This is a common football injury, but Stowers developed complications, including a fat embolism and pulmonary hemorrhage, and died on Thursday, October 3, at the age of 20, only months after becoming a father. The state had just been through the shock of the death of the paralyzed Ole Miss DB Chucky Mullins in May. State would hang tough for the year, but Stowers's death would affect the program both on and off the field as the players attempted to come to grips with mortality.
Michigan's loss moved Washington into the top three, right behind FSU and Miami. Tennessee was all the way up to number four, Oklahoma fifth, and Baylor parlayed their win over Colorado into a #7 ranking that stunned the observers. And then all hell broke loose, both in Washington D.C. and on the college gridiron.
The DC follies centered on the 11th hour accusations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. But it was another Thomas - Lamar Thomas - who ignited the Miami Hurricanes after a 6-6 halftime deadlock with Penn State by catching a 42-yard TD pass after the Canes got going to give them a 26-14 lead. The Canes defense held on and Lamar Thomas, never known for humility, gave a post-game interview declaring that he should have had his own mug all over television that weekend because he was better looking than Clarence Thomas. Florida began a two-decade long tradition of breaking Volunteer hearts by upending #4 Tennessee, 35-18. And Illinois stunned #11 Ohio State, 10-7, with the Buckeyes only TD coming on a pass from starter Kent Graham to WR Joey Galloway. And Oklahoma went down to Texas in the Red River Rivalry, 10-7.
And what was that but another upstart team roaring into the top ten: the California Golden Bears suddenly found themselves at number eight, just in time to host #3 Washington. The Bears would give the Huskies more fight than any other team in 1991, but it wasn't enough. The game was tied for all of 1:05 in the third quarter at 17 when Beano Bryant dashed 65 yards to the touchdown that wound up winning the game for Washington. This game followed a barn burner in Birmingham, where Alabama and Tennessee looked an awful lot like Alabama-Florida but with a twist. Entering the fourth quarter, the Vols led by the narrow margin of 6-3. More amazing, the two teams had now gone seven quarters against each other without either team scoring a touchdown. With both their best player (David Palmer) and quarterback (Danny Woodson) out of the game, Alabama exploded behind Siran Stacy, who had owned the Vols in 1989. Two quick Stacy TDs and a Derrick Lassic TD had the Tide rolling at 24-6. With just 6:21 left, the game appeared in hand. Less than four minutes later, Tennessee had scored two touchdowns and were within striking distance at 24-19. Stacy, usually sure-handed, then lost a fumble but Tide DE John Copeland saved the day by tackling Vols QB Andy Kelly as time ran out to preserve a wild victory for the Tide.
Two tragedies came together the final Saturday in October when Mississippi State visited Auburn and escaped with a stunning victory, 24-17. State ran an option play that they converted for a 61-yard touchdown to take the final lead with less than two minutes remaining and to spoil Homecoming for the Tigers. Notre Dame, meanwhile, was back in the top five after fullback Jerome Bettis led the Irish to a 24-20 win over USC, their ninth consecutive win in the series. October ended as it began with FSU, Miami, and Washington as the top three ranked teams in the nation, the Huskies picking up first-place votes each week. And once again, the fans began worrying about the nightmare scenario of two unbeaten teams that could not play one another in the bowl game. Florida State and Miami would settle their issues on the field (barring a tie, of course), but Washington had a contract with the Rose Bowl. What the Huskies needed was Michigan to get to the Rose Bowl with only one loss and then rout them. Of course, the Huskies still had several opponents they had to beat as well.
Tragedy struck another school on November 1 when a graduate student at Iowa killed three professors and a classmate before killing himself. Iowa wore trimless black helmets as a memorial and then promptly went out and beat Ohio State, 16-9. Florida took complete control of the SEC race by demolishing despairing Auburn, 31-10. And a memorable thriller in Boulder - with a game ending wind chill around -20 - wound up in a tie after Colorado (in this case literally) iced the Nebraska kicker by calling all three timeouts after they'd lined up for the game-winning 41-yard field goal. After spending several minutes out in the deep freeze, kicker Byron Bennett saw his attempt at clinching the Big Eight blocked, ending the festivities in a 19-19 draw. (One can only imagine the consequences were this game played today, with additional commercials and multiple overtimes). And Alabama, having quietly recovered from the Florida debacle, won a defensive struggle with Mississippi State, 13-7, despite the Bulldogs being only six feet from the winning touchdown in the waning moments. A freshman offensive lineman jumped too soon - perhaps pulled by a Tide defender calling signals - and the five yards was all the cushion Alabama needed. A fourth down desperate heave into the end zone by Sleepy Robinson was intercepted, and the Tide escaped still in the SEC hunt. However, the Tide would need to win and also needed Florida to lose to both Georgia and Kentucky.
It seems more major news stories break during Alabama-LSU week than at any other time. Iran-Contra (1986), the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1995, during the game no less), the Fort Hood massacre (2009), and the arrest of Jerry Sandusky (2011, on the morning of the game) have all been the subject of news coverage at halftime of each game. And 1991 brought a bombshell that seems tame in retrospect: the immediate retirement of Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Magic Johnson after confirmation he was HIV positive. That story broke just after the evening news on November 7 and was the subject of much discussion, including during the halftime of Alabama-LSU, as Roger Twibell and others discussed the potential fallout of athletes in contact sports bleeding and potentially infecting one another. Although it cast a pall over a seemingly meaningless game, the Tide and Tigers put on another classic down on the bayou. David Palmer, getting no traction as a Heisman candidate but easily the Tide's best offensive player, got the proceedings started with a bang when he returned LSU's punt 89 yards for a touchdown with less than two minutes gone in the contest. A methodical first drive led by Jay Barker took the Tide close but - to the chagrin of Alabama fans - the Tide settled for a field goal, a major area of concern (entering the game, Tide kickers were only 7 of 14 for field goals as Stallings was rotating between Hamp Greene and Matt Wethington). LSU responded with their own old-fashioned drive that cut the lead to 10-7. A short Siran Stacy run following a great drive put Alabama up, 17-7, just six minutes into the second quarter. On the last play of the half, Wethington - to the shock of probably everyone - nailed a 42-yard field goal despite a high snap that put the Tide up, 20-7. Indeed, it seemed like just a casual football game at this point. After holding the Tide at bay, LSU put together their own drive that cut the lead to 20-10 on a Pedro Suarez field goal. And suddenly, the Tide offense couldn't do anything right. George Teague made a sensational tackle that stuffed a fourth-down attempt but the Tide was offsides, giving LSU a new set of downs. The Tide defense spent the bulk of the third quarter on the field, but Antonio Langham bailed the Tide out by intercepting Jesse Daigle's pass in the end zone to end the threat. The Tide offense responded with a phenomenal drive that went up in smoke when a botched fumble exchange at the LSU 11-yard line was recovered by the Tigers. Needing two scores to win and 0 for 8 on the third down for the game, LSU put together another great drive, cutting right into the defense with a mixture of passing and rushing to cut the lead to 20-17. Needing to convert a third down, Jay Barker triple pumped before throwing an interception at midfield. The Tide forced LSU into 3rd and 17 only to see the Tigers get 16 yards to set up fourth and one, which they converted when Alabama jumped offsides. With 2:49 left, LSU opted to go for the tie and see what happened. What happened was Antonio London blocking Pedro Suarez's 28-yard attempt, preserving the lead. Faced with a fourth and one at their own 45, Gene Stallings opted to go for the win, and he got it in another classic in Red Stick. But as exciting as that game was, the game of the day was in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame pulled an el foldo for the ages.
Tennessee had had a pretty good year in 1991. Other than losses in consecutive weeks to Florida and Alabama, the Vols had won every game and had only one close call, the Mississippi State comeback. The Irish had only lost to Michigan and were ranked #5 in the polls, well in line to move up. With a chance to avenge their 1990 loss to the Irish, Tennessee proceeded to turn the ball over three times in the first 20 minutes and fall into a seemingly insurmountable 31-7 hole. With 14 seconds left in the half, Notre Dame prepared to add to their lead with a 32-yard field goal. Not only was it blocked but the Vols' Floyd Miley picked up the block and ran 85 yards for a touchdown that made the halftime deficit a manageable 31-14 and elicited an "Oh my" cliche from announcer Dick Enberg. The key development from the play, however, might have been the injury to Irish kicker Craig Hentrich. Tennessee took over the game in the second half, finally taking a one-point lead with 4:53 remaining. Notre Dame put together a drive that took them all the way to the Tennessee nine with only four seconds left. Forced to use his backup kicker for a chip shot 27-yard field goal, Lou Holtz watched helplessly as Rob Leonard's kick hit the ample backside of Jeremy Lincoln to send the Irish to their second defeat of the year. It was without a doubt the game of the week. The game of the year, however, took place seven days later in Tallahassee.
There had been great stability in the rankings thus far in 1991. Unlike 1990, when six different teams held the top spot (and a seventh won the UPI national title), Florida State had been on top since week one and was not losing very many votes along the way. Washington, in fact, may have been done in by East Coast bias. Although the Huskies had eight first-place votes to only four for Miami, the Canes were in second place because other voters were ranking Washington third or worse. Indeed, the entire top ten entering the third week of November had eight eastern teams, Washington and Cal (although Nebraska was #11). But the Canes and Seminoles met once again for a chance to eliminate one of them playoff style. And as had been virtually always the case in recent years, Miami prevailed once again.
The Miami-FSU football rivalry did not really become a major story until 1987. Although the two teams had played every year since 1969, it wasn't until Miami survived a Florida State comeback attempt that fell short on a failed two-point conversion that the game garnered public attention. In 1988, the game was moved up to opening week as the Seminoles, a pre-season pick for many magazines to win it all, were drilled by defending champion Miami, 31-0. In 1989, FSU managed to beat the Canes only to watch Miami sneak through and win yet another national title when Notre Dame knocked off Colorado. In 1990, Miami again broke Seminole hearts by knocking off #2 FSU, 24-10. It seemed that 1991 would be the year FSU would finally break the curse of the Canes. As it turned out, a new word entered the football lexicon: Wide Right. The buildup to the game was the biggest in regular season college football since the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma "Game of the Century." (Modern fans may use 2011 LSU-Alabama as point of reference; however, the latter was bigger because both teams had a previous week bye). It was the first 1-2 game featuring in-state rivals since the 1968 Purdue-Notre Dame game. Florida State was averaging 41 points per game while Miami had only surrendered 58 points the entire season. Miami also had gone 7-0 in their last seven games against #1 ranked teams. The two teams had won 16 (FSU) and 14 (Miami) straight entering the game.
Prior to the game, FSU Coach Bobby Bowden mused that he didn't really like the top ranking and the pressure it put on his team. He said that perhaps the way to win it all was to lose early and fall below the national radar until winning a big game late in the year. He cited 1989 Miami and both titlists from 1990 (Colorado and Georgia Tech) as examples of using that formula for success. Bowden's first trip to national glory would be delayed by a game change he had no control over and could not prevent. NCAA rules committee members were complaining about the high numbers of short field goals being made in the college game so prior to the 1991 season they made a change: the goalpost gap was narrowed from 23'4" to 18' 6", the same distance they had been in 1958 just prior to the change. To make it more challenging, however, they opted to leave the inbound hashmarks at the same spot, creating a bit of a challenge for kicks from either side. Not that anyone thought FSU-Miami might come down to a field goal. The Canes struck first, taking the opening kickoff 74 yards and scoring on Stephen McGuire's two-yard run to give Miami a 7-0 lead. Florida State responded by driving all the way to the Miami one-yard line and settling for a field goal after getting called for two penalties. The two teams proceeded to make several mistakes, Miami dropping passes left and right while Florida State kept making stupid penalties. McGuire fumbled the ball away at his own 24, which set up Florida State's first touchdown. It wasn't without a lot of effort, however, as FSU again wound up at the Miami one-yard line and didn't score until fourth down. The rest of the half was dominated by the defenses as Gino Torretta threw two interceptions. Just prior to the half, Miami attempted to tie the game but FSU blocked the attempt, and the teams went in with the Noles in front, 10-7. In the third quarter, Florida State came out swinging as they held the ball for over ten minutes and twice drove the ball inside the Miami ten-yard line. On both drives, FSU wound up settling for field goals, but they entered the fourth quarter leading, 16-7. Methodically, Miami held onto the ball and drove down to kick a field goal that cut the lead to 16-10. After holding the Noles without any scoring, Miami got the ball back trailing by six with seven minutes left. Torretta led Miami on a scoring drive that took four minutes off the clock and included converting a fourth and six when they were in field goal range. The Canes subsequently scored to take a 17-16 lead with only three minutes left. Florida State responded with a drive of their own that also included a fourth down conversion to keep it going. With no timeouts left and third and nine at the Miami 17 with 29 seconds left, Bowden opted to go for the field goal a play early. His later justification was that he was out of timeouts and taking a big risk of an interception with a pass play or having to hurry up on fourth down for a running play. Plus, he reasoned, a bad snap would at least give him a second chance and, besides, his kicker was 3 for 3, and the kick was only from 34 yards. Kicker Gerry Thomas got the kick away, but he kicked it just to the right of the goalpost, sending Miami fans into a state of ecstasy and the Nole fans into utter despair, particularly when noting that the kick would have been good just a year earlier. Miami won and immediately garnered most of the first-place votes that had been going to Florida State. All of the other games this Saturday paled in comparison both by buildup and execution. And now we were probably heading for a major controversy: Miami or Washington?
It must be noted here that Miami was by no means a popular team outside of their city in 1991. The Canes had earned a reputation as Thug U, a school of players that didn't follow the rules either on the field or off. Suspicions abounded that Miami was running afoul of NCAA regulations. The bigger issue regarding Miami was their willingness to trash talk, not only on the field where nobody could hear it but also in the press before and especially after games. And to be fair there was at least a tiny racial component to some of the objection because the bulk of Miami's players were players of color. Their reputation as misguided missiles had been cemented when they arrived at the 1987 Fiesta Bowl wearing battle fatigues. Although Jimmy Johnson had left three seasons earlier for the Dallas Cowboys, his own whining about issues and willingness to be insulting when he could have just said nothing did not help matters, either. And the suspicions that Miami was bending NCAA rules at every corner would ultimately be validated in 1995 when a four-year NCAA investigation determined Miami players had, in fact, been rewarded with money ranging from $20 to $200 per instance of touchdown or vicious hit. In addition to the cash payments, Miami also disbursed over $223,000 in wrongly awarded financial aid to 141 football players. It should not surprise anyone that Miami was cited for lack of institutional control and not only the football team but also the baseball, tennis, and women's golf teams were sanctioned as well.
Washington's popularity nationally had more to do with the fact they weren't Miami than it did with any particular affection for the Huskies. In fact, Washington would get their own NCAA probation long before the NCAA settled its bill with Miami, complete with added Pac Ten sanctions that saw long-time Washington Coach Don James quit just days before the 1993 season began. But the immediate problem was pretty obvious: Washington was going to play in the Rose Bowl and Miami was going to play......somewhere NOT the Rose Bowl. This, of course, assumed both teams won out. Such, however, was a mere formality looking at it given that Washington only had the Apple Cup with 4-6 Washington State left while Miami had a lousy Boston College team and a San Diego State team with a good record but no real schedule to speak of.
Washington easily took care of their part, but Miami struggled. In fact, Miami didn't escape with the win until Glenn Foley's Hail Mary - on the 7th anniversary of Doug Flutie's no less - fell incomplete in the end zone on the last play. Miami won, 19-14, but they lost big-time at the ballot box. Washington added 12 of Miami's #1 votes to close the gap at number two. One final weekend would set the stage.
The big game the final weekend of the season saw Florida add to Florida State's misery by beating FSU, 14-9. The Noles were undoubtedly affected by their Miami loss. Nevertheless, in only three Saturdays FSU had gone from the #1 team in the country to the #3 team in the state of Florida. And the last shoe dropped in the Eric Ramsey case at Auburn as he played tapes suggesting Pat Dye had intimate involvement with Ramsey's funding while playing. Auburn lost the Iron Bowl to Alabama, 13-6, in the only Birmingham Iron Bowl to ever have Auburn's logo at midfield (because it was considered an Auburn home game). The final regular season rankings looked like this:
1) Miami
2) Washington
3) Michigan
4) Florida
5) Iowa
6) Penn State
7) Florida St
8) Alabama
9) Texas A/M
10) Nebraska
This was just the year pundits had been longing for to justify a playoff. Think about it: Washington and Michigan were obligated to face one another in the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines only loss coming to Florida State in September. The Sugar Bowl buzzed with the excitement of getting the equivalent of a playoff game (by 1991 standards anyway) that would end the Florida round-robin tournament. It is likely Miami, in fact, saw things the exact same way when they opted to diss the Sugar Bowl and stay home.
Miami's reluctance to play Florida in the Sugar Bowl was understandable on several levels. First, although the series had only recently concluded, Florida led the all-time series, 25-24. The Gators, in fact, had beaten the 1983 national champions in a 28-3 rout and then topped Miami's national title contender in 1985 as well. A loss would also hurt the Canes on the recruiting trail as Steve Spurrier was just getting revved up for the decade in 1991. And there was another fact that nobody really wanted to talk about: Miami's bowl record away from the safe confines of the Orange Bowl was less than spectacular. In 1984, Miami's defending champions had a rough season and then lost to UCLA in the Fiesta Bowl. In 1985, they'd gone to New Orleans declaring they should be national champions if Oklahoma beat Penn State only to get blasted 35-7 by Tennessee. In 1986, they'd again lost a close Fiesta Bowl and with it the national title. And in 1989, they'd barely survived an Alabama team whose coach was actively seeking the quickest route out of Tuscaloosa while preparing to face a much more talented Miami team. Even with that distraction, Alabama would have won the game if there had only been instant replay. Twice they forced Hurricane fumbles that were not properly awarded. Yes, they had smoked a mediocre Texas in 1990, but Miami's bowl record away from home during their dynasty was 2-3 while their home record was 3-0, and they hadn't lost there since the Flutie Hail Mary in 1984. Plus, Miami had another motivation: Nebraska was a much bigger national name than Florida in 1991. Miami knew they would not get much criticism by facing a Nebraska team that had played Washington head to head. As they were number one and had already claimed three titles, any win - no matter how close - over Nebraska would justify another national title. Thus, the Canes avoided Florida and brought to town the same Nebraska team that three-loss Colorado had held to a tie on November 2.
Washington took the field first against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. They did well, too, the outcome never being in any sort of serious doubt. Michigan scored late to make the 34-7 gashing they were receiving a closer looking 34-14, and Washington's Don James, with a chance to punch in more points from the five-yard line, opted to not run up the score but instead sit on the ball and run out the clock. Washington had manhandled the #3 team in the nation. And now it was Miami's turn to see what they could produce. The Canes responded well, taking a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter and adding to it with another TD in the third and another field goal. The Canes shut down the Huskers, 22-0, and now the mad debate began for who was the rightful number one. Miami prevailed in the AP - it's pretty much impossible to unseat an undefeated #1 - but their lack of courage cost them dearly in the coaches poll, formerly the UPI and now - for the first time - called the CNN/USA Today coaches poll. Washington was awarded that version of the national title and while the head coaches of both teams were somewhat disappointed that the two teams would not play, they were also relieved that neither had been snubbed. There were also some connections: Washington Coach Don James had played at Miami in the 1950s while Miami Coach Dennis Erickson had coached Washington State before he took the Miami job (and later coached the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL).
WHO SHOULD HAVE WON?
What is often forgotten in this whole scenario is that Miami's decision to not play Florida very nearly cost them any version of the national championship. Washington beat Miami by nine points in the Coaches Poll; Miami, however, only beat Washington by FOUR points in the AP poll. Miami LOST five votes from the AP voters AFTER shutting out Nebraska at home, 22-0. This is unheard of, but it happened. And it happened because the AP voters took into account Miami's willingness to dodge an opponent.
Of course, we shouldn't bash Miami too much here. It isn't Miami's fault that college football had a rigged system that would not match up 1 vs 2. But the perception at the time was that Miami was ducking AND Washington was the more impressive team. And indeed they were, one of only two teams in history to have no final scores closer than seven points. The other? 1995 Nebraska, which is some elite company.
Three straight years of controversial champions (1989-1991) was continuing to leave a sour taste in the mouths of college football fans. Furthermore, the inconvenient truth was that going all the way back to 1968, the bowl games had only managed to arrange a 1 vs 2 game on six occasions. Finally, the powers that be decided to do something about it. Starting in 1992, they formed a national championship determinant called the Bowl Coalition to be used for a three-year period. The Bowl Coalition would not have worked in 1991 because Washington was involved. The Bowl Coalition consisted of five conferences (excluding the Big Ten and Pac Ten), Notre Dame, and seven bowl games. The main agreement was that a conference champion of an obligated bowl (for example, the SEC champion and the Sugar Bowl) would be freed from the obligation to permit a 1 vs 2 tilt. The exclusion of the Pac Ten and Big Ten was due not so much to their Rose Bowl tradition as to the fact that they had TV agreements in place that they feared would lead to a lawsuit with ABC Sports. This seemed to be a theoretical problem for the most part: no Big Ten team had been in the running for a national championship since 1979, and Washington's great 1991 team was the first venture into the title picture since USC the same year.
Change was coming to college football, hopefully for the better.
Colorado won the national title that had eluded it in 1989, but nobody respected them, feeling they had cheated or lucked their way into a tainted title. Georgia Tech got 1/2 a championship thanks to be the nation's only unbeaten team, but nobody gave serious thought to a Tech repeat or even really cared outside the Yellow Jacket fan base. Miami partisans thought they fielded the nation's best team in 1990 - Coach Dennis Erickson even suggested this in an interview that aired prior to the Orange Bowl - but failed to win yet another title. Notre Dame had ended the year by blowing a couple of second half leads and failing to finish off teams (Penn State and Colorado) who clearly were not as talented recruiting-wise. Texas lived with the bitter aftertaste of a magical season where they only lost once to Colorado (late in the game even) but then were thoroughly humiliated on national TV when Miami spanked them, 46-3, in a game that appeared as though the Canes could have scored twice as many points had they wanted. Auburn was testy because on the verge of hitting the top spot in the rankings for the first time since 1985, they had imploded in November. And the new mouth that roared in Gainesville, Steve Spurrier, thought his Gator bunch was the best team in the SEC in 1990 but were ineligible for the championship. It should be noted that Spurrier believed this despite the fact his lone conference loss was an embarrassing 45-3 shellacking administered by SEC champion Tennessee. There were plenty of unsatisfied dreams in college football as the calendar turned to the 1991 regular season. But if 1990 was unsatisfying thanks to the split national championship, the sequel would make things worse as opposed to better.
Colorado entered the season with the nation's second longest winning streak at ten games. The Buffs, however, had lost way too much to be considered a potential repeat champion. No, the champion of 1991 was expected to finally - FINALLY - fulfill a four-year standard of the media repeatedly hyping them as "the best team in the country," Florida State. In his 16th season in Tallahassee, Bobby Bowden began the year at number one and knowing his team - and only his - was in control of its own destiny. He had lined up some stiff competition, too, including an opener against BYU, a road game at the Big House in Ann Arbor, a road game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, host to the annual war with Miami in November, and the usual in-state scrapping with the newly revived Gators. The preseason schedule looked like a series of mountains to climb, but the Seminoles were the heavy favorites to win it all. Of course, Bowden had been here before - just three years earlier, in fact. FSU opened 1988 with 44 first-place votes and a rap song recorded by several of the players - only to waltz into Miami and get pulverized, 31-0. This history, in fact, led to some early trash talking from Miami about how they were going to once again ruin the Seminoles's dreams of a title.'
PRESEASON RANKINGS
1) Florida St
2) Miami
3) Michigan
4) Washington
5) Notre Dame
6) Georgia Tech
7) Florida
8) Penn St
9) Clemson
10) Colorado
Georgia Tech's dreams of a repeat as well as a 17th straight game without defeat (the nation's longest streak) ended on opening night in the Meadowlands when Penn State zoomed out to a 34-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. While Tech rallied to make it look close at 34-22, the Jackets were victimized by four fumbles by QB Shawn Jones, who had led them to the Promised Land in 1990. The very next night, Florida State opened against BYU in Anaheim - just as Colorado had the previous year. Unlike the Buffs, whose game with the Vols ended in a tie, FSU thumped the Cougars, 44-28, and manhandled defending Heisman winner Ty Detmer in the process.
Week two brought a major upset in Starkville. New coach Jackie Sherrill had elevated Texas A/M to equal and even past Texas during his near decade run in College Station. In his first big game at a perennial losing program (Mississippi State), Sherrill put a quality team on the field that stunned the previous year's top five Longhorns, 13-6. Although the Bulldogs only had one touchdown themselves, it was enough to win. And an impressive Washington win on the road at Stanford - a game that saw Cardinal tackle Bob Whitfield publicly declare Stanford would win by 60 points - lifted the Huskies over Michigan to #3 in the poll. The top four teams all had first-place votes, but it was Florida State that seemed to be gaining votes and strength by the week.
Week three saw Florida begin SEC hosting Alabama and one of the earliest controversies regarding Steve Spurrier's mouth. At least one media outlet reported that Spurrier had declared Florida would beat Alabama by at least 30 points. Spurrier, who was known both to stick his foot deep in his mouth as well as be brutally honest to a fault, insisted he'd never said or implied any such thing. The first half saw an old-fashioned SEC defensive showdown, Florida going in at the half leading only 6-0. This was nothing short of amazing given that Alabama fumbled the ball six times in the first half, losing three. The Tide also got flagged for 54 yards in penalty yards, which was more than Florida had rushing yards. But in an effort to get his team moving, Coach Gene Stallings sent in Jay Barker as quarterback for the first time in SEC play. The Tide began the second half with a false start penalty by Jon Stevenson (five more yards in penalties), Barker threw an interception on his first pass of the second half. Florida netted a quick touchdown followed by another and the rout was on. It ended in Florida's favor, 35-0, knocking Alabama out of the polls (from 16 to below 25). There was no way anybody in Florida Field or across the country that night could possibly have known that Alabama would not leave the field with fewer points than their opponents a single time in the next 31 games. The win lifted Florida from seven to five, surpassing Notre Dame, who lost to Michigan, 24-14. The Wolverines introduced the nation to their new Heisman candidate, Desmond Howard, by blowing out to a 17-0 lead and then hanging on for dear life. Perhaps the most consequential loss, though, was the shocking upset in Boulder of defending champion Colorado. Lined up for a potential game-clinching field goal and working some of their magic of the previous two years via a fumble recovery to set it up, the bills came due when Santana Dotson blocked a chip shot that was returned all the way back to the Colorado 30. Baylor kicked the winner to make it 16-14 with 51 seconds left then held off the Buffs comeback attempt. Only three weeks into the season and both national champions from 1990 were dethroned. The year was already shaping up to be quite interesting.
The following week saw the all-too-common occurrence of a letdown, as Florida headed to Syracuse basking in the afterglow of an SEC win only to get throttled by the Orangemen, 38-21. The Gators fell behind on a dazzling reverse kickoff touchdown by Kirby Dar Dar. While the Gators got as close as seven points with less than five minutes left in the third quarter, they never could overcome the fast start and lost the last time Florida played a road out of conference game outside the Southeast. Tennessee put a dent in the Mississippi State freshman fun of Jackie Sherrill, but it took them the entire day to do it. In fact, it took two Vols drives in the final 12 minutes to give Tennessee a narrow 26-24 home win over the Dawgs. The day was also notable as the first career home start of Ohio State junior Kirk Herbstreit, who led his team to a 33-19 beating of Washington State. Wazzu's quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, was sacked nine times in the Cougars' defeat. But no game set the tone for the season as the one that night in Lincoln, Nebraska.
When Washington was blown out by Alabama in the 1986 Sun Bowl, Huskies Coach Don James returned to Seattle convinced he had lost because of the team speed of Alabama. James set about building his monster around speed, recruiting fast players who could tackle and fit into his new idea. Because the Huskies played on the West Coast, many fans in the Eastern half of the USA either never saw or rarely saw the Huskies play. So James scheduled a home and home at what turned out to be just the right time to introduce the national television audience to his well-oiled machine. The oil appeared to need changing through the first 36 minutes of the game as the Huskies trailed Nebraska on the road, 21-9. In the previous five years, Nebraska was 26-2 at home with an average victory margin of 33 points, their only two losses come to year-end #2 Oklahoma in 1987 and national champion Colorado in 1990. All of a sudden, the Huskers were hit by a tidal wave, a deluge of points as Washington turned the 21-9 deficit into a 36-21 pasting of the Big Eight standard bearer. So impressed were the Nebraska partisans that they applauded the Huskies as they left the field victorious. Washington made a statement that would linger for the rest of the season. But a week later it was virtually forgotten after Michigan and Florida State lined up for a donnybrook at the Big House.
The day before the Michigan-FSU game, however, a nuclear bomb hit the program at Auburn University and combined with a tragedy that would unfold over the next week swallowed much of the SEC season into inescapable gloom. Auburn had its toughest road game of the season scheduled against Tennessee for September 28. Coach Pat Dye spent a couple of days prior to the Vols game in Boston with a representative from the NCAA as Dye shared the results of an internal investigation into Auburn's basketball and tennis programs. Both would subsequently be placed on probation by the NCAA, but it was the story in "The Montgomery-Advertiser" that swallowed Auburn's season into despair. On September 27, the newspaper carried front page allegations from two former Auburn players (Eric Ramsey and Alex Strong) that both had received substantial payment from boosters and coaches with the Auburn program. While such charges were quite common in the 1980s, Ramsey's drama added an unanticipated element: Ramsey claimed to have a collection of over 100 audio tapes that would prove his version of events to be true. Perhaps stunned by the revelations, Auburn bowed to Tennessee, 30-21, but the game was secondary to the repetitive commentary of the ESPN announcers regarding the not yet proven to exist tapes. Earlier in the day, however, Florida State and Michigan put on a classic. Defensive back Terrell Buckley got things started with a bang when he snagged an interception from Desmond Howard and went forty yards for the touchdown. Howard responded like a champion, getting the score knotted at 7-7 with his own touchdown. FSU opened the trick play manual as two quarterbacks - starter Casey Weldon and backup Charlie Ward - got into the game with a lateral toss back to the other that gained 29 yards, followed by a fake field goal by fullback William Floyd. Michigan hung tough, trailing only 25-23 in the second before Florida State got a touchdown to make it 31-23. Florida State was too much, however, and the 51 points were the most any opponent ever scored in the Big House. It would have been worse had FSU not missed FIVE point after attempts or lost a fumble at the Michigan one. It was the former that would come back to haunt them later in the year. The tragedy occurred at the home of one of the most exciting teams thus far in 1991, Mississippi State, and put a damper on what had been a fun time.
The Bulldogs lost to Florida, 29-7. During the game, nose guard Rodney Stowers fractured his tibia. This is a common football injury, but Stowers developed complications, including a fat embolism and pulmonary hemorrhage, and died on Thursday, October 3, at the age of 20, only months after becoming a father. The state had just been through the shock of the death of the paralyzed Ole Miss DB Chucky Mullins in May. State would hang tough for the year, but Stowers's death would affect the program both on and off the field as the players attempted to come to grips with mortality.
Michigan's loss moved Washington into the top three, right behind FSU and Miami. Tennessee was all the way up to number four, Oklahoma fifth, and Baylor parlayed their win over Colorado into a #7 ranking that stunned the observers. And then all hell broke loose, both in Washington D.C. and on the college gridiron.
The DC follies centered on the 11th hour accusations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. But it was another Thomas - Lamar Thomas - who ignited the Miami Hurricanes after a 6-6 halftime deadlock with Penn State by catching a 42-yard TD pass after the Canes got going to give them a 26-14 lead. The Canes defense held on and Lamar Thomas, never known for humility, gave a post-game interview declaring that he should have had his own mug all over television that weekend because he was better looking than Clarence Thomas. Florida began a two-decade long tradition of breaking Volunteer hearts by upending #4 Tennessee, 35-18. And Illinois stunned #11 Ohio State, 10-7, with the Buckeyes only TD coming on a pass from starter Kent Graham to WR Joey Galloway. And Oklahoma went down to Texas in the Red River Rivalry, 10-7.
And what was that but another upstart team roaring into the top ten: the California Golden Bears suddenly found themselves at number eight, just in time to host #3 Washington. The Bears would give the Huskies more fight than any other team in 1991, but it wasn't enough. The game was tied for all of 1:05 in the third quarter at 17 when Beano Bryant dashed 65 yards to the touchdown that wound up winning the game for Washington. This game followed a barn burner in Birmingham, where Alabama and Tennessee looked an awful lot like Alabama-Florida but with a twist. Entering the fourth quarter, the Vols led by the narrow margin of 6-3. More amazing, the two teams had now gone seven quarters against each other without either team scoring a touchdown. With both their best player (David Palmer) and quarterback (Danny Woodson) out of the game, Alabama exploded behind Siran Stacy, who had owned the Vols in 1989. Two quick Stacy TDs and a Derrick Lassic TD had the Tide rolling at 24-6. With just 6:21 left, the game appeared in hand. Less than four minutes later, Tennessee had scored two touchdowns and were within striking distance at 24-19. Stacy, usually sure-handed, then lost a fumble but Tide DE John Copeland saved the day by tackling Vols QB Andy Kelly as time ran out to preserve a wild victory for the Tide.
Two tragedies came together the final Saturday in October when Mississippi State visited Auburn and escaped with a stunning victory, 24-17. State ran an option play that they converted for a 61-yard touchdown to take the final lead with less than two minutes remaining and to spoil Homecoming for the Tigers. Notre Dame, meanwhile, was back in the top five after fullback Jerome Bettis led the Irish to a 24-20 win over USC, their ninth consecutive win in the series. October ended as it began with FSU, Miami, and Washington as the top three ranked teams in the nation, the Huskies picking up first-place votes each week. And once again, the fans began worrying about the nightmare scenario of two unbeaten teams that could not play one another in the bowl game. Florida State and Miami would settle their issues on the field (barring a tie, of course), but Washington had a contract with the Rose Bowl. What the Huskies needed was Michigan to get to the Rose Bowl with only one loss and then rout them. Of course, the Huskies still had several opponents they had to beat as well.
Tragedy struck another school on November 1 when a graduate student at Iowa killed three professors and a classmate before killing himself. Iowa wore trimless black helmets as a memorial and then promptly went out and beat Ohio State, 16-9. Florida took complete control of the SEC race by demolishing despairing Auburn, 31-10. And a memorable thriller in Boulder - with a game ending wind chill around -20 - wound up in a tie after Colorado (in this case literally) iced the Nebraska kicker by calling all three timeouts after they'd lined up for the game-winning 41-yard field goal. After spending several minutes out in the deep freeze, kicker Byron Bennett saw his attempt at clinching the Big Eight blocked, ending the festivities in a 19-19 draw. (One can only imagine the consequences were this game played today, with additional commercials and multiple overtimes). And Alabama, having quietly recovered from the Florida debacle, won a defensive struggle with Mississippi State, 13-7, despite the Bulldogs being only six feet from the winning touchdown in the waning moments. A freshman offensive lineman jumped too soon - perhaps pulled by a Tide defender calling signals - and the five yards was all the cushion Alabama needed. A fourth down desperate heave into the end zone by Sleepy Robinson was intercepted, and the Tide escaped still in the SEC hunt. However, the Tide would need to win and also needed Florida to lose to both Georgia and Kentucky.
It seems more major news stories break during Alabama-LSU week than at any other time. Iran-Contra (1986), the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1995, during the game no less), the Fort Hood massacre (2009), and the arrest of Jerry Sandusky (2011, on the morning of the game) have all been the subject of news coverage at halftime of each game. And 1991 brought a bombshell that seems tame in retrospect: the immediate retirement of Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Magic Johnson after confirmation he was HIV positive. That story broke just after the evening news on November 7 and was the subject of much discussion, including during the halftime of Alabama-LSU, as Roger Twibell and others discussed the potential fallout of athletes in contact sports bleeding and potentially infecting one another. Although it cast a pall over a seemingly meaningless game, the Tide and Tigers put on another classic down on the bayou. David Palmer, getting no traction as a Heisman candidate but easily the Tide's best offensive player, got the proceedings started with a bang when he returned LSU's punt 89 yards for a touchdown with less than two minutes gone in the contest. A methodical first drive led by Jay Barker took the Tide close but - to the chagrin of Alabama fans - the Tide settled for a field goal, a major area of concern (entering the game, Tide kickers were only 7 of 14 for field goals as Stallings was rotating between Hamp Greene and Matt Wethington). LSU responded with their own old-fashioned drive that cut the lead to 10-7. A short Siran Stacy run following a great drive put Alabama up, 17-7, just six minutes into the second quarter. On the last play of the half, Wethington - to the shock of probably everyone - nailed a 42-yard field goal despite a high snap that put the Tide up, 20-7. Indeed, it seemed like just a casual football game at this point. After holding the Tide at bay, LSU put together their own drive that cut the lead to 20-10 on a Pedro Suarez field goal. And suddenly, the Tide offense couldn't do anything right. George Teague made a sensational tackle that stuffed a fourth-down attempt but the Tide was offsides, giving LSU a new set of downs. The Tide defense spent the bulk of the third quarter on the field, but Antonio Langham bailed the Tide out by intercepting Jesse Daigle's pass in the end zone to end the threat. The Tide offense responded with a phenomenal drive that went up in smoke when a botched fumble exchange at the LSU 11-yard line was recovered by the Tigers. Needing two scores to win and 0 for 8 on the third down for the game, LSU put together another great drive, cutting right into the defense with a mixture of passing and rushing to cut the lead to 20-17. Needing to convert a third down, Jay Barker triple pumped before throwing an interception at midfield. The Tide forced LSU into 3rd and 17 only to see the Tigers get 16 yards to set up fourth and one, which they converted when Alabama jumped offsides. With 2:49 left, LSU opted to go for the tie and see what happened. What happened was Antonio London blocking Pedro Suarez's 28-yard attempt, preserving the lead. Faced with a fourth and one at their own 45, Gene Stallings opted to go for the win, and he got it in another classic in Red Stick. But as exciting as that game was, the game of the day was in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame pulled an el foldo for the ages.
Tennessee had had a pretty good year in 1991. Other than losses in consecutive weeks to Florida and Alabama, the Vols had won every game and had only one close call, the Mississippi State comeback. The Irish had only lost to Michigan and were ranked #5 in the polls, well in line to move up. With a chance to avenge their 1990 loss to the Irish, Tennessee proceeded to turn the ball over three times in the first 20 minutes and fall into a seemingly insurmountable 31-7 hole. With 14 seconds left in the half, Notre Dame prepared to add to their lead with a 32-yard field goal. Not only was it blocked but the Vols' Floyd Miley picked up the block and ran 85 yards for a touchdown that made the halftime deficit a manageable 31-14 and elicited an "Oh my" cliche from announcer Dick Enberg. The key development from the play, however, might have been the injury to Irish kicker Craig Hentrich. Tennessee took over the game in the second half, finally taking a one-point lead with 4:53 remaining. Notre Dame put together a drive that took them all the way to the Tennessee nine with only four seconds left. Forced to use his backup kicker for a chip shot 27-yard field goal, Lou Holtz watched helplessly as Rob Leonard's kick hit the ample backside of Jeremy Lincoln to send the Irish to their second defeat of the year. It was without a doubt the game of the week. The game of the year, however, took place seven days later in Tallahassee.
There had been great stability in the rankings thus far in 1991. Unlike 1990, when six different teams held the top spot (and a seventh won the UPI national title), Florida State had been on top since week one and was not losing very many votes along the way. Washington, in fact, may have been done in by East Coast bias. Although the Huskies had eight first-place votes to only four for Miami, the Canes were in second place because other voters were ranking Washington third or worse. Indeed, the entire top ten entering the third week of November had eight eastern teams, Washington and Cal (although Nebraska was #11). But the Canes and Seminoles met once again for a chance to eliminate one of them playoff style. And as had been virtually always the case in recent years, Miami prevailed once again.
The Miami-FSU football rivalry did not really become a major story until 1987. Although the two teams had played every year since 1969, it wasn't until Miami survived a Florida State comeback attempt that fell short on a failed two-point conversion that the game garnered public attention. In 1988, the game was moved up to opening week as the Seminoles, a pre-season pick for many magazines to win it all, were drilled by defending champion Miami, 31-0. In 1989, FSU managed to beat the Canes only to watch Miami sneak through and win yet another national title when Notre Dame knocked off Colorado. In 1990, Miami again broke Seminole hearts by knocking off #2 FSU, 24-10. It seemed that 1991 would be the year FSU would finally break the curse of the Canes. As it turned out, a new word entered the football lexicon: Wide Right. The buildup to the game was the biggest in regular season college football since the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma "Game of the Century." (Modern fans may use 2011 LSU-Alabama as point of reference; however, the latter was bigger because both teams had a previous week bye). It was the first 1-2 game featuring in-state rivals since the 1968 Purdue-Notre Dame game. Florida State was averaging 41 points per game while Miami had only surrendered 58 points the entire season. Miami also had gone 7-0 in their last seven games against #1 ranked teams. The two teams had won 16 (FSU) and 14 (Miami) straight entering the game.
Prior to the game, FSU Coach Bobby Bowden mused that he didn't really like the top ranking and the pressure it put on his team. He said that perhaps the way to win it all was to lose early and fall below the national radar until winning a big game late in the year. He cited 1989 Miami and both titlists from 1990 (Colorado and Georgia Tech) as examples of using that formula for success. Bowden's first trip to national glory would be delayed by a game change he had no control over and could not prevent. NCAA rules committee members were complaining about the high numbers of short field goals being made in the college game so prior to the 1991 season they made a change: the goalpost gap was narrowed from 23'4" to 18' 6", the same distance they had been in 1958 just prior to the change. To make it more challenging, however, they opted to leave the inbound hashmarks at the same spot, creating a bit of a challenge for kicks from either side. Not that anyone thought FSU-Miami might come down to a field goal. The Canes struck first, taking the opening kickoff 74 yards and scoring on Stephen McGuire's two-yard run to give Miami a 7-0 lead. Florida State responded by driving all the way to the Miami one-yard line and settling for a field goal after getting called for two penalties. The two teams proceeded to make several mistakes, Miami dropping passes left and right while Florida State kept making stupid penalties. McGuire fumbled the ball away at his own 24, which set up Florida State's first touchdown. It wasn't without a lot of effort, however, as FSU again wound up at the Miami one-yard line and didn't score until fourth down. The rest of the half was dominated by the defenses as Gino Torretta threw two interceptions. Just prior to the half, Miami attempted to tie the game but FSU blocked the attempt, and the teams went in with the Noles in front, 10-7. In the third quarter, Florida State came out swinging as they held the ball for over ten minutes and twice drove the ball inside the Miami ten-yard line. On both drives, FSU wound up settling for field goals, but they entered the fourth quarter leading, 16-7. Methodically, Miami held onto the ball and drove down to kick a field goal that cut the lead to 16-10. After holding the Noles without any scoring, Miami got the ball back trailing by six with seven minutes left. Torretta led Miami on a scoring drive that took four minutes off the clock and included converting a fourth and six when they were in field goal range. The Canes subsequently scored to take a 17-16 lead with only three minutes left. Florida State responded with a drive of their own that also included a fourth down conversion to keep it going. With no timeouts left and third and nine at the Miami 17 with 29 seconds left, Bowden opted to go for the field goal a play early. His later justification was that he was out of timeouts and taking a big risk of an interception with a pass play or having to hurry up on fourth down for a running play. Plus, he reasoned, a bad snap would at least give him a second chance and, besides, his kicker was 3 for 3, and the kick was only from 34 yards. Kicker Gerry Thomas got the kick away, but he kicked it just to the right of the goalpost, sending Miami fans into a state of ecstasy and the Nole fans into utter despair, particularly when noting that the kick would have been good just a year earlier. Miami won and immediately garnered most of the first-place votes that had been going to Florida State. All of the other games this Saturday paled in comparison both by buildup and execution. And now we were probably heading for a major controversy: Miami or Washington?
It must be noted here that Miami was by no means a popular team outside of their city in 1991. The Canes had earned a reputation as Thug U, a school of players that didn't follow the rules either on the field or off. Suspicions abounded that Miami was running afoul of NCAA regulations. The bigger issue regarding Miami was their willingness to trash talk, not only on the field where nobody could hear it but also in the press before and especially after games. And to be fair there was at least a tiny racial component to some of the objection because the bulk of Miami's players were players of color. Their reputation as misguided missiles had been cemented when they arrived at the 1987 Fiesta Bowl wearing battle fatigues. Although Jimmy Johnson had left three seasons earlier for the Dallas Cowboys, his own whining about issues and willingness to be insulting when he could have just said nothing did not help matters, either. And the suspicions that Miami was bending NCAA rules at every corner would ultimately be validated in 1995 when a four-year NCAA investigation determined Miami players had, in fact, been rewarded with money ranging from $20 to $200 per instance of touchdown or vicious hit. In addition to the cash payments, Miami also disbursed over $223,000 in wrongly awarded financial aid to 141 football players. It should not surprise anyone that Miami was cited for lack of institutional control and not only the football team but also the baseball, tennis, and women's golf teams were sanctioned as well.
Washington's popularity nationally had more to do with the fact they weren't Miami than it did with any particular affection for the Huskies. In fact, Washington would get their own NCAA probation long before the NCAA settled its bill with Miami, complete with added Pac Ten sanctions that saw long-time Washington Coach Don James quit just days before the 1993 season began. But the immediate problem was pretty obvious: Washington was going to play in the Rose Bowl and Miami was going to play......somewhere NOT the Rose Bowl. This, of course, assumed both teams won out. Such, however, was a mere formality looking at it given that Washington only had the Apple Cup with 4-6 Washington State left while Miami had a lousy Boston College team and a San Diego State team with a good record but no real schedule to speak of.
Washington easily took care of their part, but Miami struggled. In fact, Miami didn't escape with the win until Glenn Foley's Hail Mary - on the 7th anniversary of Doug Flutie's no less - fell incomplete in the end zone on the last play. Miami won, 19-14, but they lost big-time at the ballot box. Washington added 12 of Miami's #1 votes to close the gap at number two. One final weekend would set the stage.
The big game the final weekend of the season saw Florida add to Florida State's misery by beating FSU, 14-9. The Noles were undoubtedly affected by their Miami loss. Nevertheless, in only three Saturdays FSU had gone from the #1 team in the country to the #3 team in the state of Florida. And the last shoe dropped in the Eric Ramsey case at Auburn as he played tapes suggesting Pat Dye had intimate involvement with Ramsey's funding while playing. Auburn lost the Iron Bowl to Alabama, 13-6, in the only Birmingham Iron Bowl to ever have Auburn's logo at midfield (because it was considered an Auburn home game). The final regular season rankings looked like this:
1) Miami
2) Washington
3) Michigan
4) Florida
5) Iowa
6) Penn State
7) Florida St
8) Alabama
9) Texas A/M
10) Nebraska
This was just the year pundits had been longing for to justify a playoff. Think about it: Washington and Michigan were obligated to face one another in the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines only loss coming to Florida State in September. The Sugar Bowl buzzed with the excitement of getting the equivalent of a playoff game (by 1991 standards anyway) that would end the Florida round-robin tournament. It is likely Miami, in fact, saw things the exact same way when they opted to diss the Sugar Bowl and stay home.
Miami's reluctance to play Florida in the Sugar Bowl was understandable on several levels. First, although the series had only recently concluded, Florida led the all-time series, 25-24. The Gators, in fact, had beaten the 1983 national champions in a 28-3 rout and then topped Miami's national title contender in 1985 as well. A loss would also hurt the Canes on the recruiting trail as Steve Spurrier was just getting revved up for the decade in 1991. And there was another fact that nobody really wanted to talk about: Miami's bowl record away from the safe confines of the Orange Bowl was less than spectacular. In 1984, Miami's defending champions had a rough season and then lost to UCLA in the Fiesta Bowl. In 1985, they'd gone to New Orleans declaring they should be national champions if Oklahoma beat Penn State only to get blasted 35-7 by Tennessee. In 1986, they'd again lost a close Fiesta Bowl and with it the national title. And in 1989, they'd barely survived an Alabama team whose coach was actively seeking the quickest route out of Tuscaloosa while preparing to face a much more talented Miami team. Even with that distraction, Alabama would have won the game if there had only been instant replay. Twice they forced Hurricane fumbles that were not properly awarded. Yes, they had smoked a mediocre Texas in 1990, but Miami's bowl record away from home during their dynasty was 2-3 while their home record was 3-0, and they hadn't lost there since the Flutie Hail Mary in 1984. Plus, Miami had another motivation: Nebraska was a much bigger national name than Florida in 1991. Miami knew they would not get much criticism by facing a Nebraska team that had played Washington head to head. As they were number one and had already claimed three titles, any win - no matter how close - over Nebraska would justify another national title. Thus, the Canes avoided Florida and brought to town the same Nebraska team that three-loss Colorado had held to a tie on November 2.
Washington took the field first against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. They did well, too, the outcome never being in any sort of serious doubt. Michigan scored late to make the 34-7 gashing they were receiving a closer looking 34-14, and Washington's Don James, with a chance to punch in more points from the five-yard line, opted to not run up the score but instead sit on the ball and run out the clock. Washington had manhandled the #3 team in the nation. And now it was Miami's turn to see what they could produce. The Canes responded well, taking a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter and adding to it with another TD in the third and another field goal. The Canes shut down the Huskers, 22-0, and now the mad debate began for who was the rightful number one. Miami prevailed in the AP - it's pretty much impossible to unseat an undefeated #1 - but their lack of courage cost them dearly in the coaches poll, formerly the UPI and now - for the first time - called the CNN/USA Today coaches poll. Washington was awarded that version of the national title and while the head coaches of both teams were somewhat disappointed that the two teams would not play, they were also relieved that neither had been snubbed. There were also some connections: Washington Coach Don James had played at Miami in the 1950s while Miami Coach Dennis Erickson had coached Washington State before he took the Miami job (and later coached the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL).
WHO SHOULD HAVE WON?
What is often forgotten in this whole scenario is that Miami's decision to not play Florida very nearly cost them any version of the national championship. Washington beat Miami by nine points in the Coaches Poll; Miami, however, only beat Washington by FOUR points in the AP poll. Miami LOST five votes from the AP voters AFTER shutting out Nebraska at home, 22-0. This is unheard of, but it happened. And it happened because the AP voters took into account Miami's willingness to dodge an opponent.
Of course, we shouldn't bash Miami too much here. It isn't Miami's fault that college football had a rigged system that would not match up 1 vs 2. But the perception at the time was that Miami was ducking AND Washington was the more impressive team. And indeed they were, one of only two teams in history to have no final scores closer than seven points. The other? 1995 Nebraska, which is some elite company.
Three straight years of controversial champions (1989-1991) was continuing to leave a sour taste in the mouths of college football fans. Furthermore, the inconvenient truth was that going all the way back to 1968, the bowl games had only managed to arrange a 1 vs 2 game on six occasions. Finally, the powers that be decided to do something about it. Starting in 1992, they formed a national championship determinant called the Bowl Coalition to be used for a three-year period. The Bowl Coalition would not have worked in 1991 because Washington was involved. The Bowl Coalition consisted of five conferences (excluding the Big Ten and Pac Ten), Notre Dame, and seven bowl games. The main agreement was that a conference champion of an obligated bowl (for example, the SEC champion and the Sugar Bowl) would be freed from the obligation to permit a 1 vs 2 tilt. The exclusion of the Pac Ten and Big Ten was due not so much to their Rose Bowl tradition as to the fact that they had TV agreements in place that they feared would lead to a lawsuit with ABC Sports. This seemed to be a theoretical problem for the most part: no Big Ten team had been in the running for a national championship since 1979, and Washington's great 1991 team was the first venture into the title picture since USC the same year.
Change was coming to college football, hopefully for the better.
