Poll Controversies Revisited: 1994 - The Lifetime Achievement Award

Part 1

Two years into the Bowl Coalition Poll, and college football had yet another championship controversy. Notre Dame was complaining, the system was just awaiting for either a Big Ten or Pac Ten contender, and West Virginia found that $1.1 million extra could go a long way towards soothing your anger at being left out of the national title picture. But the game got a series of lucky breaks that helped capture the nation's attention and for a brief moment made college football the game's premiere sport.

The first lucky break came when Major League Baseball went on strike on August 12 in the midst of its most exciting season since 1941. It had players threatening to break Roger Maris's single-season home run record, hit .400 for the first time since Ted Williams, a Triple Crown contender, and it was the first season of the wildcard playoffs that made most teams a contender even in August. On September 14, baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced the season was over, a move that ensured football would be the only real national sport in the spotlight into October. Labor strife in both the NHL and NBA further enhanced football as hockey began later than normal, and the NBA issues weren't settled until the very last moment. With the NFL being thoroughly dominated by the NFC in general - and the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers in particular - college football was the competitive major sport that drew the nation's attention. To make it even better, there were seven to eight national championship contenders from all areas of the country. And no program's stature had changed as much since the close of the 1993 as that of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Dismissed for years as a regional power that could repeatedly rout the also-rans of the Big Eight but seemed to lose every single game against a foe of equal talent, Nebraska's close defeat at the hands of Florida State elevated their program in the eyes of fans, voters, and pundits. The team that the previous November had been dismissed as a fraud was now a potential title contender. The reputation of coach Tom Osborne as a guy who "did it the right way" set the stage for a repeat of 1993 only with Osborne cast as Bobby Bowden. Indeed, the recent history of college football suggested the voting was rewarding any coach with a long career of achievement that could get close enough to justify their selection as champion. Joe Paterno (1982), LaVell Edwards (1984), Lou Holtz (1988), Bobby Ross (1990), Don James (1991), Gene Stallings (1992), and Bobby Bowden (1993) had all won national titles in recent years. In most of those years there was little controversy, but the rankings often seemed to reflect a willingness to rank a team on the basis of its coach needing a title than on reality (see 1993).

There was, however, a series of dark clouds over the sport. In May, "Sports Illustrated" reported about a $9,000 shopping spree done by several dozen Florida State Seminoles players six days before the Notre Dame game. One departed Seminole declared that half the team was there. SI established that at least seven players went to Foot Locker and an additional six had been paid in cash. Just as had happened to 1991 champion Washington and 1992 champion Alabama, winners were getting scrutinized. The other dark cloud involved 1968 Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Simpson made national headlines on June 17 with a low-speed Bronco chase that captured the attention of the entire country that Friday evening. Simpson was in jail awaiting trial as the season began, and he would be in the news well into the 1995 college football season.

AP PRE-SEASON RANKINGS
1) Florida
2) Notre Dame
3) Florida State
4) Nebraska
5) Michigan
6) Miami
7) Arizona
8) Colorado
9) Penn St
10) Wisconsin

USA TODAY COACHES POLL PRE-SEASON RANKINGS
1) Florida
2) Florida State
3) Nebraska
4) Notre Dame
5) Michigan
6) Miami
7) Colorado
8) Arizona
9) Penn St
10) Alabama

Voters were divided on who should be number one. Florida was only two points ahead of Notre Dame, the margin of their two additional first-place ballots (15-13). Nebraska had the most first-place votes in the AP poll but because some of the voters were less than convinced that the Orange Bowl had been a new team rather than some fortunate timing, the Cornhuskers began at #4. Eight teams had AP first-place votes, including one for #12 Alabama. In the coaches poll, eight teams again had first-place votes except Florida topped the votes received and Penn State (not Alabama) had a first-place ballot. One thing that became clear at the beginning of 1994 was that the voters had not yet accepted the end of the Miami dynasty. The Canes had lost to Florida State (no shame in that), West Virginia (whom the pundits insisted was overrated), and then been blown out, 29-0, by Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl. In their last two bowl games, Miami had been outscored, 63-13, and had zero offensive touchdowns. Arizona's recent wins over Washington (1992) and Miami (1993) and near miss over Miami (1992) had them in the national consciousness. The Wildcats' Desert Swarm defense was led by All-American linebacker Tedy Bruschi. While their offense left much to be desired, Arizona's defense was truly spectacular. Among the convinced was "Sports Illustrated," who ran an August 29, 1994 cover edition declaring Arizona to be number one. And in a move reminiscent of a similar tactic a decade earlier, the Kickoff Classic matched up foes that had competing claims in 1993, West Virginia and Nebraska.

This same selection had occurred in 1984, when Auburn disputed Miami's 1983 title. Unfortunately, the teams are simply not the same as the previous year, and West Virginia in particular was a senior-laden team that had lost most of their starters to graduation. Nebraska, meanwhile, returned junior QB Tommie Frazier and had a potential Heisman candidate at running back where Lawrence Phillips had had his coming out game in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska also had a stout defense that included the Peter brothers, Christian and Jason, Grant Wistrom, and Michael Booker. While these were relatively unknown names at the time, all would go on to great fame at Nebraska and some in the NFL. And there was at the time an as yet unknown element to Nebraska: a new offense built around speed rather than power.

In 1986, Washington coach Don James had watched the superlative speed of Alabama wreak havoc on his team in a 28-6 Sun Bowl loss. James went back to Seattle and told his assistants they were going to build a team around speed, and the result was a 1991 national championship. Nebraska had played the co-champions in 1991, both of them (Miami was the other), and been beaten down pretty good, losing to Washington by 15 and Miami by 22. After that shutout by Miami, Osborne had a Don James type of revelation and went back to Nebraska intent on recruiting speed. Of course, a philosophy change takes time as James learned in 1987 (when Washington lost four games) and as Osborne learned in 1992 when his Huskers were shockingly upset by Iowa State. By 1994, his first speed recruits were sophomores and juniors that had come close to a national title. In fact, Nebraska practiced every day with the scoreboard reading 1:16 - the time on the clock that was left when Florida State got the ball back for their national title winning drive. Nebraska had the coach, the motivation, and the philosophy going into what promised to be an exciting year. And they got it started with a bang, shutting out West Virginia, 31-0, as Frazier scored on three different runs and threw a touchdown pass. The year - and the Huskers - were off and running.

One week later, Arizona began their pursuit of the title with a narrow 19-14 win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. QB Tom Luginbill hit a Wildcats touchdown 45 seconds into the game, and the Wildcats held on for a 19-14 win. But the Wildcats also showed a propensity to turn the ball over, which was the main reason the game was so close. New FSU quarterback Danny Kanell got his mug on TV for one of the first times after FSU thumped Virginia, 41-17, saying he was just glad to see a story about FSU that was NOT about the developing Foot Locker scandal (a circumstance that led Florida Coach Steve Spurrier to call his arch rival Free Shoes University). A tragedy in Tennessee showed the frailty of the sport: after waiting four full years to play behind talented quarterbacks Andy Kelly and Heath Shuler, Vols QB Jerry Colquitt tore his knee up and ended his career only seven plays into the UCLA game, which the Bruins barely won, 25-23. This game marked the first appearance of a young freshman named Peyton Manning, who threw no passes. The season was off and running. And the first great game came on September 10.

Though not in the same conference, Michigan-Notre Dame was long one of those great rivalry games in the tradition of Oklahoma-Texas, important but no real bearing on the conference title picture. This was one of the most hyped Notre Dame teams (!) in recent memory, with even the normally reserved Beano Cook boldly declaring that Irish QB Ron Powlus was going to win three Heisman Trophies and multiple national championships. The Irish had lost their last home game, of course, to Boston College at the very end. And to Lou Holtz it must have felt like deja vu. A back and forth game saw Powlus hit WR Derrick Mayes with 52 seconds left to put the Irish ahead, 24-23. That's when Todd Collins took Michigan close enough for kicker Remy Hamilton to mimic BC's 41-yard game winnner with his own 42-yard game winning field goal that stunned the Irish at the whistle, 26-24. The polls were a bit volatile already as Florida topped the AP and Nebraska the coaches poll. And then came a series of unbelievable Saturdays right after baseball cancelled its post-season.

The early morning game on Jefferson Pilot was Auburn-LSU, a game that did not really emerge as a rivalry until the dawn of the new century. Auburn came into the game riding a 13-game winning streak compiled mostly against the riff-raff of college football save for their home wins over Florida and Alabama in 1993. LSU, still not developing in Curley Hallman's fourth year, came to Jordan-Hare stadium and put on one of the most improbable displays of coaching incompetence ever seen. Early in the fourth quarter, LSU took a 23-9 lead over Auburn after a field goal. Auburn's offense had not scored a single touchdown against the LSU defense. What followed was unreal. LSU QB Jamie Howard tossed a pass behind his receiver that Auburn defender Ken Alvis picked off and raced for the end zone, knocking Howard over as the last tackler on the play and scoring a touchdown that brought Auburn within seven points. Just one minute later, Howard threw an ill-advised pass on third and ten that was also intercepted and returned for a pick six that shockingly tied the game at 23. Recovering from his double faux pas, Howard took LSU on a 13-play, 70-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock and gave LSU the lead on a field goal, 26-23. When LSU held Auburn to a three and out, the game seemed over. LSU had 3:42 they needed to take off the clock to win but on third and four, Howard threw yet another interception into triple coverage that was again returned for a touchdown that gave Auburn the lead, 30-26. Once again, Howard dusted himself off and drove LSU back into Auburn territory to the 25 and threw yet another interception at the Auburn 10 to Brian Robinson, who tried to make yet another pick six. But Robinson was blindsided by and LSU wideout and fumbled, LSU recovering at the 47 and still alive with a new set of downs. Howard then went for the kill in the end zone and Auburn's Chris Shelling picked it off to seal the game, completing an improbable comeback: five interceptions, three returned for touchdowns, in 12 minutes of game play. Auburn's winning streak was now 14 games, and it appeared the Tigers would never lose again. Alabama won yet another game where they played just barely good enough to win against a mediocre Arkansas team in Fayetteville. Indeed, Bama's only real offense of the day came on one play. With the score tied and Alabama at their own 26 facing third and 11, the rush forced Jay Barker out of the pocket. Just as he reached the line of scrimmage, Barker tossed one of his typical passes over the coverage to running back Sherman Williams, who had gotten behind the linebackers. Williams cut back to his left and dodged the deep coverage and hit full speed, racing across the goal line with what turned out to be the only touchdown of a rather bland game and ultimately giving the Tide a harrowing 13-6 victory. Florida showed they were serious contenders by not only beating Tennessee but blasting the Vols with their worst home loss in 70 years, 31-0. Nebraska stayed in stride with the Gators, ripping UCLA in Lincoln with 484 yards rushing and a 49-21 beating. But the following weekend gave the year it's seminal moment at the Big House in Michigan.

Several big stories unfolded the weekend of September 24. Steve McNair, a talented quarterback at Alcorn State, began to get some Heisman buzz after an ESPN profile. The problem, of course, is that McNair was running up huge numbers against lesser competition. Though McNair would go on to a stellar NFL career, the fact remained that he played in Division I-AA (now FCS), and this fact weighed against the hype. Nebraska got news that was not just threatening to a championship but to their quarterback's life when Heisman candidate Tommie Frazier was found to have a 6-8 inch blood clot behind his right knee. Team doctors immediately warned that any re-formation of the clot would end Frazier's season. Coach Tom Osborne and Frazier both noted that Frazier had complained of pain behind the knee during the UCLA game, but it was assumed to have come from a tackle. Mississippi State got their first exposure to Peyton Manning, who came on in relief of future baseball star Todd Helton, and the Bulldogs held him off to win 24-21, and gain some national recognition. Competing for news with Frazier, Washington and Miami finally played 2-3 years too late when the Huskies went to the Orange Bowl in Miami and promptly ended the Hurricanes' 58-game home winning streak, an NCAA record. All of this, however, paled in comparison to one toss from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook.

After narrowly beating Notre Dame, the Wolverines of Michigan were enjoying some national recognition again. So, too, the Colorado Buffaloes, only four years removed from a national championship. The two squared off in the Big House, and the Buffs took a 14-9 lead into the half. Colorado's last play of the first half was a play known as "Rocket Left," the Buffs' variant of a "Hail Mary" touchdown attempt, and it was intercepted by Michigan's Chuck Winters. At halftime, assistant coach Rick Neuheisel made an adjustment in the play, stating that if it ever came up again this particular adjustment would lower the risk of interception. After making their own halftime adjustments, Michigan owned Colorado, winning the third quarter, 17-0, and taking a 26-14 lead into the final frame. With eight minutes left, Kordell Stewart methodically brought his team down the field, setting up a first and goal with about five minutes left and Colorado needing two touchdowns. But Stewart fumbled the ball into the end zone while trying to score, giving Michigan the ball at the 20 and leaving the Buffs 12 points behind and without the ball. If that reality wasn't enough, the Buffs were flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that allowed Michigan to start at the 35. Colorado's defense forced a punt and needing two scores, the Buffs took over at their own 28-yard line with 3:52 left. Utilizing eventual Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam and a combination run/pass option, Stewart took his team down the field in about 90 seconds and got the first touchdown on a one-yard run by Salaam to close the gap to 26-21. The onsides kick was recovered by Michigan, and everyone pretty much assumed the game was over. All Michigan needed was one first down, and Colorado even made it easier for them by jumping offsides when they had the Wolverines in a third and seven. Despite the advantage of only needing six feet to put the game away, Michigan blew the opportunity by jumping before the snap and surrendering the yardage. In the most important development, the officials met and put five seconds back on the clock. Tim Biakabatuka held onto the ball (good) but fell short of the first down, meaning that Michigan would have to give the Buffs the ball for one more try. Michigan punted to Colorado, leaving the Buffs with 21 seconds needing 85 yards and a touchdown to win. Stewart hit Westbrook across the middle of the field at the Buffs 36 for a first down that stopped the clock. Stewart then spiked the ball with six seconds left. Colorado called "Rocket Left," the same play that had ended the first half. Three wide receivers - Michael Westbrook, Blake Anderson, and Rae Carruth - lined up to the left, one other receiver to the right. Stewart took the snap from shotgun and waited to give his receivers time to make it to the end zone. Once they were close, Stewart rared back and left fly. The ball deflected off of Anderson at the one-yard line and bounced into the air where Westbrook came down with the ball cleanly for a touchdown, the most incredible finish to a college game in a decade. Colorado had won, 27-26, giving Michigan a dose of what it was like to lose at home on the last play as the Wolverines had beaten the Irish just two weeks earlier. Colorado and Michigan had put on an incredible game witnessed by millions with an incredible finish. The Buffs jumped to #5 as the season moved to October. And on the evening of October 1, it was the worst passing offense in the SEC playing the SEC's career passing leader that put on an old-fashioned gunfight when Alabama met Georgia under the lights at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Jay Barker, now a senior, had won all but one of his career starts at quarterback for Alabama. He had won an SEC title, two division titles, and a national title. The sense, however, was that Barker was on the field because you couldn't play football without someone playing quarterback. He was not a good runner, and fans often cringed when he dropped back to pass. Barker seemingly made just enough lucky tosses to keep his job, and he rarely made mistakes. He was a game manager but not the guy you wanted if you were two scores behind. Entering the Georgia game, Tide fans were wary with the knowledge that falling too far behind would end the game early. During the Tide's long winning streak (and even the subsequent losses in 1993), Alabama had played front-running football, either taking the lead and holding it or not falling more than 10-12 points behind because the Tide wasn't built for a comeback. Georgia would severely test this reality.

Utilizing an effective short passing game, Eric Zeier took Georgia right down the field to a 7-0 lead that took seven minutes off the clock before Alabama's offense ever saw the field. After a three and out, Zeier took over at his own ten and with the help of a 40-yard run by receiver Hines Ward got Georgia back into field goal range. His next toss bounced off of the Georgia receiver and into the hands of Tide defender Eric Turner. Barker took over and immediately began to do his best impersonation of Zeier, tossing balls across the middle and in the slants primarily to wide receiver Toderick Malone. Barker then ran a reverse, faking it to the talented Sherman Williams and tossing back to Marcel West, who got a first down. West might have broken for the end zone, but he tripped over the foot of his blocker. Barker ended the first quarter 6 for 6 for 41 yards, and the Tide then went for it on a fourth and inches at the Georgia 20, Barker making the first down. Barker then attempted to run a reverse to Tarrant Lynch, who was stopped in the backfield but suddenly shifted and ran straight up the middle instead of wide, finding no Georgia defenders and making his way into the end zone for the tying touchdown. Alabama's first TD drive looked a lot like Georgia's, almost as though an entirely different playbook was being used. This, however, was all Alabama had to cheer about for much of the night. Zeier became the all-time SEC passing leader and he took Georgia out to a 21-7 lead until just before the half. Bama kicker Michael Proctor, generally reliable, attempted a field goal that hit the upright but bounced correctly (from the Tide viewpoint) that made it 21-10 at the intermission.

Barker began the second half with a 30-yard toss into double coverage that Toderick Malone came down with. Running repeated play action passes, Barker found Malone wide open on a missed coverage to the right that gave the Tide a touchdown to make it a game. Stallings opted to go for two, but Sherman Williams dropped the too difficult to handle pass that left the game at 21-16. Zeier then attempted a bomb that was underthrown and intercepted by Tommy Johnson at the Alabama 19, snuffing out another Georgia rally. Barker went back to work, scrambling for a first down, hitting Malone on third to keep it going. Towards the Georgia red zone, Barker threw a pass that for all the world looked like an interception, but Chad Key out-tussled his defender and hauled it in for another first down. Jay Barker, he of the questionable passing skills, was 19 for 23, 237 yards, and 1 TD with four minutes left in the third quarter. The Georgia defense held when the Tide switched to the run, and Proctor's field goal made it 21-19 with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter. Zeier came back out and cut the Tide defense to shreds, driving 80 yards downfield for a TD that made it 28-19, Georgia, as the fourth quarter began.

With 12:29 left, Georgia had the ball and a third down situation near midfield. Georgia was an astonishing 7 for 8 on third, but Zeier was taken down by the ankles by Matt Parker and Georgia forced to punt. Taking over at their own 28, Barker hit Lynch on the short out and got 22 yards. On the next play, Barker ran an absolutely perfect bomb to Malone, who split the defenders and raced to the end zone with a touchdown that made it 28-26, Georgia, with plenty of time left. The Tide defense rose to the occasion, Proctor hit a game-winning field goal, and Alabama was 5-0 for the third straight year. One week later and Florida State discovered that the head that wears the crown tends to be rather heavy.

Once again, the Florida State-Miami game had a lot riding on it. A Canes loss would end their hopes of a national championship while a loss by Florida State was precarious given they still had games against Clemson, #16 Duke, Notre Dame, and Florida remaining. Led by Warren Sapp, the Canes shook off the Washington loss by forcing five turnovers including a Pick Six, held the Noles to 47 yards rushing and 219 overall, and ended the Noles shot for a repeat with a 34-20 shellacking that wasn't even as close as the score suggested. The same week saw reality set in for Arizona in a shocking upset loss, 21-16, to Colorado State. And Nebraska was facing even more trauma. Tommie Frazier had been ruled out for the year after a recurrence of his blood clot occurred on October 6. His replacement, Brook Berringer, suffered a partially collapsed lung that ruled him out of the upcoming Kansas State contest. The Cornhuskers were down to their third-string quarterback, but the weeekend of October 15 saw the two teams from Alabama enter the national picture with scintillating wins.

The day belonged to Auburn, still unbeaten since Thanksgiving Day of 1992. The Tigers strolled into the Swamp (so named by Coach Steve Spurrier) riding a 17-game winning streak against the now number one team in both polls. Auburn raced out to leads of 10-0 and then 22-14, causing Spurrier to bench his starting QB Terry Dean - forever as it turned out - and replace him with Danny Wuerffel, who completed his first nine passes and led the Gators to a 33-29 fourth quarter lead. And then on a third and 15 needing to run the clock, Wuerffel did his best Jamie Howard impersonation by tossing a pick to Brian Robinson, who took it out to the Auburn 45 with 1:20 left. Patrick Nix drove the Tigers to pay dirt, converting a fourth down for the ballgame in the process, and hitting Frank Sanders for a game-winning touchdown with 30 seconds left. This victory led Terry Bowden, who had been relatively reserved through the incredible run, to declare that since Auburn had beaten #1 Florida, "This ought to make us number one." Auburn was once again the fly in the ointment of the Coalition Poll system, and the Tigers would remain so until someone beat them. The day belonged to Auburn, but the night belonged to Alabama.

Once again, the Third Saturday in October brought an Alabama-Tennessee game to television. The Vols had just named a new starter at quarterback, Peyton Manning. He was 2-0 in his first two games, having beaten both Washington State and Arkansas. As had happened in recent years (1990 and 1991), the game went in at halftime with nothing but field goals, 3-3. Barker hit Marcel West for a touchdown, but a Vols TD and a field goal gave Tennessee a 13-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. It was time for ball control, and Jay Barker played it perfectly. Using Sherman Williams (mostly), the Tide drove 80 yards and took an insane 7:45 off the clock to take a 17-13 lead on Williams's four-yard plunge. The Tide left Manning the freshman with three minutes to work some magic. Manning hooked up with WR Joey Kent for completions of 17, 17, and 18 yards to take Tennessee within striking distance. The Tide defense held and with a fourth down at the Alabama 12, Manning's pass fell incomplete and clinched Alabama's eighth win in nine years (with one tie).

And Nebraska survived the loss of two quarterbacks when Matt Turman spent the day handing off to Lawrence Phillips and the Cornhusker D shut down K-State for a 17-6 win. Voters, however, opted to put Penn State as the new number one after the Nittany Lions' thrilling win over Michigan.

The season was halfway over, and there was no telling how this one would play out.

AP RANKINGS (18 OCTOBER 1994)
1) Penn St
2) Colorado
3) Nebraska
4) Auburn
5) Florida

COACHES POLL RANKINGS (17 OCT 94)
1) Penn St
2) Nebraska
3) Colorado
4) Miami
5) Alabama

(Note: Auburn ineligible for coaches poll ranking).

Part 2

Miami had long had a thug reputation that accompanied their excellent play, but in 1993 the Hurricanes were victims of some pathetic West Virginia fans. Mountaineer partisans had rocked the Miami team bus and spit on a number of the players prior to the previous game, but WVA was 2-4 heading to the Orange Bowl, and the returning Miami players made up for it, thumping West Virginia, 38-6, to keep their slim national championship hopes alive. Alabama continued to win ugly, falling behind Ole Miss, 10-0, before the game was halted 25 minutes due to lightning. The key play of the game came with the Tide trailing 10-7 in the fourth quarter when Rebels DB Alundis Brice was flagged for pass interference on a 2nd down and 35 play that netted Alabama a 15-yard penalty and a new set of downs. After the drive stalled and Alabama tied it, Brice was flagged for running into the kicker. Gene Stallings violated the usual protocol, taking points off the board and gaining the touchdown that put Alabama ahead. A later TD iced the game at 21-10, and the Tide ended October undefeated and rising in the polls. So, too, Colorado until the big showdown with Nebraska.



Entering the 2 vs 3 showdown in Lincoln, many hearts thought back to the game five years earlier when Colorado entered the national consciousness by beating Nebraska in Boulder, 27-21, in their march to honor the fallen quarterback Sal Aunese. This time it was Nebraska with an injured (though not deceased) quarterback, and the Huskers seized momentum early. Colorado's first three possessions were in their own end of the field and only ran 3:24 off the clock. Brook Berringer proved to be a capable fill-in, throwing 12 of 17 for 142 yards and mixing in enough traditional Big Red running to wipe out the Buffs, 24-7, in a game that never felt that close. The win so impressed the AP pollsters that they moved Nebraska ahead of #1 Penn State, which wouldn't have been too bad except PSU not only beat #14 Ohio State, they utterly humiliated the Buckeyes, 63-14, the most points Ohio St had surrendered since the first year of the Teddy Roosevelt administration. So two unbeaten teams, one atop each poll - for one week until Joe Paterno once again learned how unfair polls can be. And a new contender arose out West when Oregon out dueled Arizona, 10-9, to take the lead in the Pac Ten race for the Rose Bowl.



Entering November, the season was headed for a potential car crash. Four teams were unbeaten (Nebraska, Penn St, Alabama, Auburn) while four other one-loss teams (Colorado, Miami, FSU, Florida) could potentially make the title game depending on circumstances. Alabama remained undefeated with a ho-hum 35-17 blistering of LSU, the 700th win in school history as Alabama joined Michigan and Notre Dame in that elite club. Kansas held Nebraska to a three and out and then watched Brook Berringer lead six consecutive scoring drives in a 45-17 Cornhusker rout. But the biggest injustice of the season occurred in Bloomington, Indiana, where the final score showed a narrow Penn State win over the Hoosiers, 35-29. But the score was highly misleading. With Penn State leading by three touchdowns and six minutes to play, Paterno pulled his starters to give playing time to third and fourth-string reserves. Indiana got one touchdown and then - on the final play of the game - Indiana hit a touchdown and went for two that made the score an artificially close 35-29. The coaches poll - the very same poll that earlier in the season had expressed disgust at teams running up the score to impress pollsters - dropped Penn State out of the number one spot and replaced them with Nebraska. In two weeks, Penn State had routed #14 by 48 points and beaten Indiana by six in a never-in-doubt game and yet managed to fall out of the top spot in two separate polls. As it turned out, Paterno's problems with the rankings may have been just beginning.



On the November 12, 1994 edition of ESPN College Game Day, popular co-host Lee Corso made what seemed to be a controversial suggestion, particularly given his past declarations. In 1992, Corso had disparaged Texas A/M as overrated and the pollsters moved Florida State ahead of the Aggies, leading to cries of rage towards ESPN and Corso in College Station. (What precise role Corso's suggestion played will never be known). In this particular show as the merits of whether Nebraska or Penn State should be number one were discussed, Corso laid down a crystal clear point: if Alabama ran the table then the Crimson Tide, NOT Penn State nor Nebraska, should be number one. He pointed out that Alabama's final four games would be a series of hurdles that no team could conquer without winning it all: #16 Mississippi State on the road, unbeaten Auburn at home, an SEC title game against one-loss Florida, and a Sugar Bowl berth against one-loss Florida State. Corso was clear that he did not think Alabama was capable of accomplishing this, but he made the point that an unbeaten team facing Alabama's schedule had to be rewarded if there was any semblance of NCAA rankings justice. Mississippi State was the first Alabama challenge, and the Bulldogs put a fright into the Tide right up to the final whistle.



This was one of the more bizarre years for the Crimson Nation. Alabama was not built to come from behind yet the Tide would come from behind NINE times in the fourth quarter in this exciting, unforgettable season. MSU played smash mouth in the first half, rushing for 167 yards. A field goal put the Dawgs in front, 25-15 with 7:57 left and cowbells clanging, and once again Alabama looked vulnerable. Once again, they rose to the occasion. Starting from his own 32, Barker was sacked for a seven-yard loss and the Tide wound up in 3rd and 17 with the season on the line. Barker hit Marcel West wide open for the first down, West taking it to the ground immediately. Barker called a shorter version of the same play and hit Curtis Brown to get the Tide just inside Bulldog territory at the 44. With passing opening up running lanes, Sherman Williams picked up about five yards and then Barker struck. One second down, he pump faked and unloaded a bomb to Curtis Brown, who beat the defender and crossed the goal line for a touchdown that brought the Tide within three points. After forcing a punt, Deshea Townsend's good return that set Alabama up at midfield was negated by a blocking in the back penalty. The Tide began at their own 34 needing a field goal to tie and a touchdown to win. Barker sliced through the Bulldog defense with short passes and then pump faked again and hit Sherman Williams in the seam for a large gain that got them into field goal range. On third and goal, Barker handed off to Dennis Riddle (not Williams not Lynch) for the winning touchdown. The defense held the Bulldog comeback attempt, and Alabama had won the first of the four-game stretch. Florida State avenged their sole 1993 loss against Notre Dame with a 23-16 win. Penn State fell behind Illinois, 21-0, then won the game late with a 96-yard drive that began with 6:07 to go and ended with a Nittany Lions win, 35-31 in Champaign. And Terry Bowden finally learned what it was like to NOT win a college football game at Auburn when Georgia and Auburn wound up in a 23-23 tie. The Tigers were still unbeaten but any miniscule chance they had at an AP national title was gone. Alabama's win moved the Tide into #3 as the Coalition Poll realized that a disaster appeared ready to befall them in only the third year.



Ohio State's John Cooper finally beat Michigan, 22-6. Cooper was about to field some successful Buckeyes teams that couldn't beat Michigan, but he prevailed in 1994. The biggest game of the day, however, was at Legion Field in Birmingham, where Alabama and Auburn both entered the Iron Bowl undefeated for the first time since 1971. The Tide, in fact, was entering the Iron Bowl undefeated for the third time in six years, and they were the last team to beat Auburn, whose unbeaten skein had reached 21 games. For much of the afternoon, it didn't appear to be much of a contest. Alabama quickly bolted out to a 21-0 halftime lead that was so dominant even Auburn play-by-play announcer Jim Fyffe declared it looked like men playing against boys. And it was fitting that Keith Jackson's last Iron Bowl was this one as Auburn climbed off the canvas and put up a fight. Alabama began the second half with the ball and took it right down the field. With a first and ten at the Auburn 16, the drive stalled. On third and 12, Barker dropped back to pass and then inexplicably fumbled the ball that Auburn recovered. On the verge of finishing the Tigers off, a turnover gave them new life. Auburn cashed in on the reprieve as Patrick Nix led Auburn down the field for a quick score to stop the bleeding, 21-7. But Alabama picked up right where they'd left off on the next drive, cutting the Auburn defense repeatedly and picking up first downs on third and short with a mixture of short passes and handoffs to Williams. So dazzling and confident was the Alabama offense that Gene Stallings opted to go for it on fourth and one at the Auburn 16 despite having a competent field goal kicker. Barker's quarterback sneak got the Tide a new set of downs. Alabama had Auburn on their heels and was on the verge - for the second time - of finishing them off when yet another turnover flipped momentum and gave Auburn new life. A 16-play, 75-yard drive that milked eight minutes off the clock went for nought when Barker, who had a field goal in his pocket at the nine, made a terrible throw going for the kill that was intercepted in the end zone by Brian Robinson. When Nix led Auburn on a second scoring drive to make it 21-14, every heart in the state raced with anticipation. Alabama's Lynch safely fielded the onsides kick attempt, but the Tide was forced to punt, and Bryne Diehl gave Alabama the break of the game. Trying to pin Auburn deep, Diehl's punt hit inside the five and was surely about to go into the end zone, but it didn't. The ball suddenly spun sideways, and Alabama downed Auburn at the one foot line with the season in the balance. Nix bravely led the Tigers back towards midfield but a controversial spot on fourth down came up just short, and Auburn's unbeaten streak was finally over. Alabama escaped, 21-14, and looked forward to a week of rest before facing Florida for the third straight year in the SEC title game.



Two other big stories came out of the games of November 19. Bill McCartney, the former Michigan assistant who had built Colorado from an also-ran into a national power, somewhat surprisingly, announced his resignation in the post-game press conference following the Buffs 41-20 win over Iowa State at Folsom Field. McCartney was only 54 years old - younger, in fact, than the coaches of the top three ranked teams in the polls (Osborne, Paterno, Stallings). But his family life had endured a public scrubbing at the hands of a less than sympathetic press, and one rumor attached to his resignation that ultimately proved true was that his daughter was pregnant for the second time with the illegitimate child of one of his players. Though five years older than the first time (and now an adult), McCartney likely did not want to face the scrutiny and ridicule coming his way. He would coach the Fiesta Bowl and the go on to lead Promise Keepers, a conservative evangelical group of men committed to biblical principles. The other big story was the sudden rise of the Oregon Ducks, whose win over arch rival Oregon State in the Civil War clinched their first Rose Bowl berth since 1958. The Ducks benefited from the mediocrity that had befallen the Pac Ten - only one team (USC) had fewer than four losses, and the Trojans had three losses and a tie - and a solid defense. The rise of the Ducks would particularly harm Penn State once the bowl bids were determined because the press and pollsters arbitrarily assumed that a Rose Bowl without USC or UCLA was, by definition, a game against a subpar opponent.



One more week of games were played, and the results helped clear the path to the title game though not in ways previously imagined. Nebraska completed an unbeaten regular season with a 13-3 road win at Oklahoma that was playing with the motivation that head coach Gary Gibbs, who never came close to replicating his predecessor Barry Switzer, had resigned before being fired just days before the game. Notre Dame and USC ended their annual skirmish in a 17-17 tie that benefited neither team and reminded fans of why college football really needed overtime. (This would arrive in 1996). But the most relevant game to clearing the path to the national title came in Tallahassee, where Steve Spurrier's Gators entered the fourth quarter leading defending champion Florida State, 31-3. The final 13 minutes appeared to be a formality. Instead, the Seminoles put QB Danny Kanell with four wide receiver sets in the entire quarter, and his numbers were mind-boggling: 18 for 22, 223 yards, 1TD. That's for 13 minutes of one quarter! (His game stats were 40 for 53, 421 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT). FSU scored to close the gap to one with 1:45 remaining. Bowden, who had shown courage many times in the past and played for the win, figured that the time gave him an opportunity to win but also - in all probability - Bowden's repeat chances were nil with three unbeatens ahead of him but this was the perfect chance to ensure that Spurrier did not win a title, so Bowden opted to take the Gators out of the national title race. Bowden opted for the PAT that tied the game, and he later explained that his kids had shown too much heart and there was too much time left for him to put that loss on them. Bowden generally got away with the tie, both because of the huge comeback and the fact his team was not ranked #1 (plus the time remaining gave both teams a chance). The regular season ended with three unbeaten teams perched at the top: Nebraska, Penn State, and Alabama, with the Tide getting one lone first place vote in the AP poll.



POST-SEASON



Bowl bids would not go out until December 5, but rumors began abounding in the week prior to the SEC championship game. The title game, suffering from lower ticket sales in 1993 and bad weather both years, was moved indoors to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, taking away any perceived Crimson Tide home field advantage. Alabama fans began having nightmares of 1966, facing the possibility of finishing the year third in the polls despite an unbeaten record. The Tide needed to win and needed some help but ultimately got neither.



Jay Barker entered the game as an adequate quarterback statistically, but one stat overrode them all: Barker was 32-1-1 as a starting quarterback, the winningest percentage of any Alabama quarterback in the school's glorious history that included Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Richard Todd, and Jeff Rutledge, all NFL QBs. Barker gave Florida dose of its own quick strike medicine on his third snap, hitting Curtis Brown while being flushed from the pocket. When the two Florida defenders collided, Brown set sail on a 70-yard touchdown play that ignited the crowd and gave Alabama a quick 7-0 lead. Danny Wuerffel responded two drives later by hitting Reidel Anthony with a perfect pass into triple coverage that put Florida into Tide territory for the first time. Moments later, Wuerffel threw another perfect pass that went behind the back of Tommy Johnson and into Anthony's hands for the game-tying touchdown. Johnson had Anthony covered perfectly and still got beat on the play. Alabama then began a dizzying array of short passes mixed with off tackle runs and even a reverse that kept Florida on the sidelines and chewed valuable time, but the Tide settled for a 22-yard Proctor field goal to take a 10-7 lead. Florida responded with a similar drive - Wuerffel repeatedly completing passes into triple coverage - and got a long FG to tie it at ten. Barker then made one of his rare mistakes, looking right at his intended receiver, and Florida's Fred Ray picked it off to put Florida well into Tide territory. But with a chance to take the lead, Wuerffel's pass was picked off by Deshea Townsend, who set sail for the end zone and only the quick thinking of Wuerffel to force him out of bounds saved a Pick Six. The teams exchanged punts and Alabama wasted a great return by Townsend, first with Barker getting sacked on 3rd and 12 for a huge loss and then by giving up a blocked punt that had Florida starting yet another drive in Tide territory. Wuerffel carved up the Tide defense with short passes to Ike Hilliard and Fred Taylor, and he plunged over from the one-yard line to give the Gators the 17-10 lead they took into halftime.



After the teams exchanged punts, Deshea Townsend - yet again - kept Alabama going with a good punt return that started the drive in Gator territory. Protcor, who had not hit a field goal from beyond 35 yards all year, suddenly drilled a 47-yarder that made it 17-13, Florida. Learning from the previous punts, Florida's next Shayne Edge punt went out of bounds around the Tide 40, keeping it out of Townsend's hands. After a first down and a hold that put the Tide in 2nd and 20, Barker tossed over the coverage to Curtis Brown for a 21-yard gain and a new set of downs. The Gators then held, sacking Barker for an 11-yard loss that left Proctor to try a 48-yard field goal that he made, leaving the score at 17-16 entering the fourth. The fulcrum of momentum was rapidly moving towards Alabama. The Gators of 1994 had played only two close games, a loss to Auburn and a tie to Florida State. Alabama, on the other hand, had trailed eight times entering (or in) the fourth quarter and had yet to lose. It promised to be a gut-wrenching fourth quarter, and it was.



The SEC championship game was one of the first Division I-A college games to invoke an overtime scenario in order to prevent a tie. With a one-point margin entering the fourth, Keith Jackson and Bob Griese took a moment to remind viewers that there was "an overtime provision" and the game would be played until there was a winner. With the two teams slugging it out, field position was paramount. Diehl's fourth quarter punt left Florida inside their own twenty when momentum shifted even harder in Alabama's direction. Wuerffel tossed a pass in the direction of Aubrey Hill, who collided with Cedric Samuel. The ball bounced off Samuel's helmet and into the waiting arms of Dwayne Rudd, a large but speedy freshman linebacker who caught it in stride and dashed 23 yards for a touchdown that gave Alabama a 22-17 lead and left Stallings with the dilemma of whether to go for two or not. Stallings opted for the PAT, making it 23-17, Alabama, with 8:56 remaining. At this point, Florida had gained only 32 yards in the second half. And then Spurrier reached into his bag of tricks and produced a rabbit. After gaining a first down, Wuerffel suddenly signaled to the sidelines and began hobbling off the field. Spurrier played along with the ruse, checking out Wuerffel's leg while third-string QB Eric Kershner, who Keith Jackson noted "might have the strongest arm of the quarterbacks." Kershner threw an over the top pass that gained 24 yards into Tide territory. Subsequent replays did show that Wuerfell may have been injured on the play, but his reaction was delayed to put it mildly. One third and one, Florida passed and got the game's luckiest break when Willie Gaston dropped a sure interception that he may well have taken back for a touchdown. Fred Taylor converted the fourth and one with a second effort. With Wuerffel having problems reading coverages of mid-level, Spurrier opted for a wide receiver screen to Anthony. In the same alignment, Wuerffel ran the same pass except this time Anthony threw the ball downfield to Chris Doering, who set up the Gators with first and goal at the 2. Wuerffel hit Doering in the end zone, and the PAT made it 24-23, Florida. It was now time to sit tight because Alabama had been in the situation too many times this year, the Tide only needed a field goal to win, and Proctor was having the game of his life.



Alabama immediately went into a clock-eating drive of short passes and easy runs. First, Barker hit Williams for seven yards then gave him an off tackle handoff that netted a first down. Fresh legs in the form of Dennis Riddle kept the drive going followed by a handoff to Williams. At their own 45 with a fourth and one and 2:28 left, Alabama went for it. Lynch bowled over the right side for a first down, and the crowd noise grew louder. Barker then threw a pass into triple coverage to Toderick Malone, who tipped it and saw Florida's Eddie Lake intercept it to end the game, win the SEC title, and cost Alabama any shot at the national title.



Much of the post-game post-mortem centered on Stallings not going for two after Rudd's touchdown. Rumor later developed that Stallings had asked defensive coordinator Bill Oliver if the Tide could prevent Florida from scoring and after an affirmative response, Stallings opted for the PAT. However, there were still nearly nine minutes left, and Florida had only moved the ball for 32 yards in the second half. The PAT gave the Tide a six-point lead, and there's no telling what can happen. Alabama had blocked nine punts in 1994, so a blocked PAT was not out of the question. In either case, Alabama was set up to win the game but failed to do so. To many Tide fans who had enjoyed the season, the loss was not so much crushing as it may have been a relief since the pollsters clearly were (again) not taking Alabama's national title threat seriously. Not only Alabama's season but the entire Coalition Poll was now in tatters. The one thing that couldn't happen did, and Joe Paterno, who had already taken three teams through seasons unbeaten only to be denied a national title, wound up playing second fiddle to Tom Osborne's attempt at the Lifetime Achievement Award.



There were two big controversies headed into the bowl games. The more important one centered on whether Penn State - who at one time had been #1 in both polls and done nothing at all that suggested they be dropped - would win a share of the national title if both teams won out. While the Oregon rise was an interesting story, they were not a big name program (at the time) and their four losses made them one of the weaker Rose Bowl teams (record-wise) in history. What Penn State really needed was for USC to make the game, regardless of record, and then blow the Trojans off the field. The second controversy was the inexplicable (from a rankings standpoint) selection of four-loss Notre Dame rather than Alabama to play #4 Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. If it could be said that the Irish had been screwed in 1993, they benefited unfairly on past laurels in 1994. Alabama left for the Florida Citrus Bowl and a match with a talented Ohio State team that featured Bobby Hoying, Eddie George, and lineman Orlando Pace.





The Orange Bowl pitting Miami and Nebraska was actually played on January 1, while the other traditional New Year's Day bowl games waited until January 2. Colorado laid waste to the Irish in Bill McCartney's last game, 41-24, sending him out a winner with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Rashaan Salaam. Alabama played yet another exciting game that saw three turnovers in a 14 second span, two blocked punts, a blocked field goal and a missed Michael Proctor field goal from chip shot level of 25 yards. It also saw a Joey Galloway touchdown that shouldn't have been as his foot was out of bounds. With 42 seconds left, Barker hit Sherman Williams against the blitz, and Williams raced 50 yards with the game-winning touchdown in a 24-17 classic. The Sugar Bowl staged a rematch of "The Choke at Doak" from November, pitting Florida against Florida State, and this time the Seminoles won, 23-17, in a game known as "The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter." Penn State steamrolled the Ducks, blowing them out, 38-20, and hoping for some respect from at least one of the polling organizations. But it wasn't to be as Tom Osborne's long two decade climb to the pinnacle finally happened.



Nebraska went into the Orange Bowl against Miami with a press focused largely on the Huskers' recent misery in the game. The Big Red were 0-5 against Florida State and Miami, and they had lost two national titles on the final play in 1983 and 1993. Osborne made the controversial decision to start Tommie Frazier, who had not played since September 24, at quarterback, but noted before the game that he was going to play both Frazier and Brook Berringer. Miami tore out to a 10-0 early lead, thanks to an ill-thrown interception by Frazier that preceded a Canes 97-yard drive. Berringer came on in relief and after great field position via punt return hit a 19-yard TD pass to Mark Gillman. When Miami scored on the first drive of the second half to take a 17-7 lead, the sound of crepe paper for the hanging could be clearly heard across the country. Once again, Nebraska was going to be humiliated in the big game. What happened instead was the birth of a dynasty.



The momentum shifted when Nebraska LB Dwayne Harris sacked Miami QB Frank Costa in his own end zone for a safety and the ball, the score now Miami leading, 17-9. After forcing Miami to punt and expecting good field position, Nebraska got it but not in the way they imagined. The snap sailed over punter Dane Prewitt's head, and Prewitt responded by kicking the ball out the back of the end zone from in the field of play. The resultant penalty put Nebraska with a first and goal early in the fourth at the Hurricanes four-yard line with a chance to tie the game. Trying to toss away his first down pass, Berringer instead threw an interception in the corner of the end zone that reinforced Nebraska's reputation for choking. With 12:07 remaining, Osborne made his move and put Frazier back into the ballgame. Warren Sapp sacked Frazier for a loss on the first play, but he responded with an option pitch to Lawrence Phillips that got 25 yards and a first down and then a handoff to Cory Schlesinger from the 15 wound up in the end zone with a Nebraska touchdown. A soft toss to Eric Alford made the two-point conversion good, and Nebraska and Miami entered the final nine minutes in a 17-17 tie. When Nebraska got the ball back, Frazier kept it for runs of 21 and 6 yards and Schelsinger again scored, this time with 2:46 to play and putting Nebraska in front, 24-17. Miami's subsequent rally was snuffed out when Costa was sacked twice and then threw an interception. Nebraska was back on top after 24 years, 22 with Osborne at the helm. And the voters in both polls were so enthralled that Osborne made a clean sweep of it, leaving Penn State muttering just as Notre Dame had the year before. Had the Nittany Lions played in any other conference but the Big Ten or Pac Ten, they would have played Nebraska head-to-head and Miami, who needed a win and a Penn State loss to become champions, would have been a footnote. It was becoming clear that the Bowl Coalition and this arrangement was not going to work without the help of the missing conferences. In three years, the Coalition Poll had produced one undisputed result and two disputed results that were worse than split national championships. At least in the cases of previous disputes, a poll could award a seemingly deserving team a championship (Georgia Tech in 1990 is a great example). But neither Notre Dame nor Penn State got any such consideration. College football was finding that even having one champion was insufficient if the route to the title was marred with nonsense.





EPILOGUE

As it turned out, the Bowl Coalition was about to die a quick death due to unforseen circumstances. A series of dominoes fell that ultimately destroyed one conference while making two others stronger. The fallout of this led to the death of the Bowl Coalition. The first domino to fall was the administration of the death penalty to the football program at Southern Methodist in Dallas on February 25, 1987. This hammer served to weaken an already weakened conference that consisted entirely of a bunch of teams in Texas plus the Arkansas Razorbacks. Indeed, fans outside the SWC would have been hard-pressed to name the members of the conference. The next dominoes toppled when Jim Delany became Big Ten commissioner in 1989 and signaled his intent to expand his conference beyond ten teams. When Delany announced the acquisition of Penn State University on June 4, 1990, the other conferences now had to decide whether to move or stand pat. SEC commissioner Roy Kramer was already trying to add Miami and Florida State in the hopes of creating a monster conference, but neither team was willing to take the offer, Bobby Bowden particularly noting that he'd never win a national title playing that gauntlet of teams. This left the SEC to aim lower and add independent South Carolina and - more relevant to the Bowl Coalition - Arkansas for the 1992 season. The loss of Arkansas and the diminution of Southern Methodist combined with multiple teams on probation repeatedly led to the embarrassment of a five-team tie for the SWC conference title in 1994. Texas A/M was winning 10-11 games per year but nobody took the Aggies seriously at national title contenders. Facing almost certain extinction or a push to complete irrelevance, the Southwest Conference voted on February 25, 1994, to combine some SWC teams with the Big Eight conference and form what promised to be a new monster conference known as the Big Twelve. It was certain that Texas and the Aggies would be among the four teams as well as the fact that Rice and SMU would not. Universities scrambled to be among the chosen few because those left behind were left to face seven years of Tribulation overseen by the Antichrist. Not really, but it must have seemed that way at the time. Texas politics got involved when Texas Governor (and Baylor graduate) Ann Richards and Lt Governor Bob Bullock (a Baylor and Texas Tech grad) strong-armed Texas and the Aggies into including Baylor and Texas Tech in the new monster conference. Left to die on the vine were Houston, Rice, SMU, and TCU. In August of 1994, the uneasiness of the shotgun marriage broke into print when Nebraska coach Tom Osborne noted that despite basically crawling to the Big Eight and begging the conference to bail them out, the University of Texas was trying to write their own rules and make everyone else play by them, including demands that the league offices be in Dallas as well as the conference championship game. The demise of the SWC meant that the Bowl Coalition contract was null and void, and a new arrangement was needed.



The SWC was on life support and would not fully dissolve until after the 1995 season. However, a longer term solution was necessary. Some changes were made though not enough. The demise of the SWC meant there was now an additional "at large" bid for the power bowls. The Rose Bowl TV contract ran through 1997, so the Big Ten and Pac Ten were excluded but with a caveat: if either conference produced a highly ranked non-champion then that team could receive an "at large" bid. In other words, the Bowl Alliance made it possible (in theory) for a non-conference champion to capture the national championship. The other agreement set up three Bowl Alliance games that rotated and were to be played on three separate days: December 31, January 1, and the title game on January 2. The Bowl Coalition had been a noble but failed attempt at a consensus national champion. It was now dead and gone and replaced by a contraption that would somehow enable non-conference champions to be national champions, an arrangement that all conferences favored in 1995. It also permitted teams from the so-called "mid-majors" (most notably BYU) to play on New Year's Day. As college football moved forward, the only thing that could possibly go wrong was a Big Ten or Pac Ten team eligible for the national title. This very scenario had helped sink the Bowl Coalition after three years. The precise same scenario would blow up the Bowl Alliance in only two.