American college football season
The
1994 NCAA Division I-A football season
, play of
college football
in the United States at the
NCAA Division I-A level
, began in August 1994 and ended on January 2, 1995.
Nebraska
, who finished the season undefeated, ended the year ranked No. 1 in both the
Associated Press
and
Coaches
polls. This was the first national championship of coach
Tom Osborne
's career at Nebraska, having come close the year before, when Nebraska lost to eventual national champion
Florida State
on a missed field goal as time expired.
Although Osborne's team finished the season unbeaten, the national championship picture again was engulfed in controversy. For much of the second half of the season, Nebraska and
Penn State
were regarded as the top two teams in the country. This raised the possibility of a split national championship for the third time since 1990, due in large part to the system in place that had been concocted to
avoid
a split title.
Following the 1991 season, where
Miami
and
Washington
split the national championship in the AP and Coaches' polls, the
Bowl Coalition
was founded. The Coalition consisted of six bowls, with the
Orange
,
Fiesta
,
Cotton
, and
Sugar
bowls were all considered potential hosts for a national championship game. Since three of these bowls already had specific tie-ins with conferences, an agreement was struck where the conferences would agree to release those teams from their contractual obligations in order to achieve a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup. For the first two years of the Coalition, this occurred without incident as the Sugar and Orange Bowls in 1993 and 1994 featured No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups in their respective games.
The problem with this as far as 1994 was concerned was that the
Rose Bowl
, which featured the
Pac-10
and
Big Ten
champions playing each other, was not included in the Coalition and thus a team that finished No. 1 or No. 2 in the polls from those two conferences could not be considered by the Coalition to be its national champion. Nebraska, as a member of the
Big Eight Conference
, was part of the coalition while Penn State was not. As Nebraska went on to win the conference title, it earned an automatic bid to the Orange Bowl to face off against No. 3 Miami, who won the
Big East
title and was No. 2 in the Coalition pool. Thus Miami, who as recently as two years earlier was in the Coalition championship game, had a chance to stake a claim as the national champion with a win (as they would have been awarded the Coaches' Trophy) and all but ensure a split title with Penn State provided they defeated No. 13 Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
On January 1, 1995, Nebraska defeated Miami in the Orange Bowl 24?17 and clinched the championship. The next day Penn State defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl by a count of 38?20 and secured the No. 2 spot in the polls.
In the offseason that followed, the Bowl Coalition was disbanded and in its place came the
Bowl Alliance
, which attempted to serve the same purpose by rotating a national championship game between the Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls. Like the Bowl Coalition before it, the Bowl Alliance did not include the Rose Bowl and two of the three national championship games did not feature a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, with the 1997 season seeing another split national championship.
Conference and program changes
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Southwest Conference announces dissolution
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In February 1994, before the season began, an announcement was made regarding the future of the
Southwest Conference
. In 1991, the SWC became an all-Texas conference as
Arkansas
left the SWC to join the
Southeastern Conference
. As 1994 began
Texas
was rumored to be considering joining the Pac-10 with Big Eight member Colorado (rumors that would resurface over a decade later, which eventually resulted in Colorado joining the Pac-10 with
Utah
to form the Pac-12), while
Texas A&M
was reported to be looking at joining the SEC (which they would eventually do in 2012). On February 25, 1994, it was announced that Texas,
Texas Tech
, Texas A&M, and
Baylor
would be joining with all eight of the teams in the Big Eight to form the
Big 12 Conference
, in 1996. Following this decision, another decision was made regarding the future of remaining SWC members
SMU
,
Houston
,
TCU
, and
Rice
; SMU, TCU, and Rice would join the
Western Athletic Conference
while Houston joined
Conference USA
. (Of the schools that joined the Big 12, as noted, the only one that did not stay in the conference was Texas A&M. TCU, SMU, and Rice all eventually became part of Conference USA as well, with TCU being the first to join while the other three schools joined as part of the 2005 conference realignment. TCU left for the
Mountain West Conference
in 2005 and eventually joined their former SWC brethren in the Big 12, while SMU and Houston became part of the
American Athletic Conference
in 2013 with the former Big East football schools that were still in the conference. Rice still plays in C-USA.)
Heisman Trophy
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The 1994
Heisman Trophy
presentation ceremony was held on December 10, 1994, at the
Downtown Athletic Club
in New York City.
Voting
McNair's nomination as a finalist was a rare feat, as Alcorn State was a member of
Division I-AA
and I-AA awarded the
Walter Payton Award
to its most outstanding player (which McNair won).
Notable games
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- The Miracle at Michigan
: in a September 24 matchup between No. 4
Michigan
and No. 7
Colorado
, the visiting Buffaloes trailed the host Wolverines 26?14 with 2:16 remaining in the game. Colorado scored two touchdowns in the final minutes, the last being a 64?yard pass from
Kordell Stewart
to
Michael Westbrook
on the last play of the game.
- Choke at Doak
: In the annual matchup between
Florida
and
Florida State
, the visiting Gators led the defending national champion Seminoles 31?3 entering the fourth quarter. Florida State rallied to score four touchdowns in the final period, but ran out of time to potentially score the winning points on their last possession and the game ended in a 31?31 tie.
- Penn State-Indiana: Despite beating No. 21 Ohio State 63?14 in Happy Valley on October 29, Penn State surprisingly dropped to No. 2 in the subsequent AP poll after No. 3 Nebraska defeated No. 2 Colorado 24?7. The Nittany Lions remained No. 1 in the CNN/USA Today Coaches poll by a small margin. Penn State traveled to Indiana for their next game and took a comfortable 35?14 lead in the fourth quarter. Penn State coach
Joe Paterno
elected to pull his starters with the lead, which allowed Indiana to score two touchdowns late in the game including a deflected Hail Mary and two-point conversion with no time on the clock. Penn State won 35?29, but fell further behind Nebraska in the AP poll and dropped to No. 2 in the CNN/USA Today coaches poll as well. The Indiana game is often cited erroneously as the single point at which Nebraska passed Penn State, but the reality is that the Nittany Lions fell to No. 2 in the AP poll a week prior to that game.
[3]
[4]
Other notes
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After being played for the first two years at
Legion Field
in
Birmingham, Alabama
, the
SEC Championship Game
moved to its now-permanent home in
Atlanta
- first at the
Georgia Dome
, then at
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
. Meanwhile, in
Jacksonville
, the demolition and reconstruction of
Gator Bowl Stadium
that coincided with the
Jacksonville Jaguars
' entry into the NFL for 1995 forced the
Gator Bowl
to move to
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
in
Gainesville
for its 1994 season edition. The game returned to Jacksonville in the newly built
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
the following year. Also,
John Hancock Insurance
's deal for naming rights to the
Sun Bowl
expired and the game reverted to its former name.
Although Nebraska, Penn State and Alabama were still ranked in the Top 10, many of college football's legendary
[
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]
teams finished the regular season with their lowest rankings in years. Ohio State finished the season ranked 14th in the AP poll while Michigan was No. 20 and USC No. 21. Notre Dame, which started the season ranked fourth, finished the season unranked as did preseason No. 16 Oklahoma.
Rule changes
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Due to several fighting incidents that occurred during the
1993 season
(including one between the
Miami Hurricanes
and the
Colorado Buffaloes
that resulted in 12 ejections), the following changes were made:
- Players involved in fighting on the field will draw a 15-yard penalty and an automatic ejection. If the ejection occurs in the first half, the player(s) will be disqualified for the remainder of the game. If the ejection occurs in the second half (or in overtime as of the
1996 season
), the player(s) will be disqualified for the remainder of that game
plus
the first half of his team's next regularly scheduled game.
- Players leaving the bench to participate in fights will be ejected for the remainder of the game
plus
his team's entire next regularly scheduled game.
- Repeat offenders will be ejected and suspended for the remainder of the season.
- The officials' jurisdiction over games will begin 60 minutes before kickoff. Any pre-game fights or taunting will be penalized the same as if the fight/taunting occurred during the game, with any yardage penalties enforced on the opening kickoff. The officials' jurisdiction was extended to 90 minutes before kickoff starting with the
2020 season
.
- The prohibition against the use of two-post goalposts is deleted, reversing a 1985 rule.
LSU
was allowed by the NCAA to place goals with two posts in
Tiger Stadium
late in the 1993 season in conjunction with its football centennial.
Florida State
and
Washington State
quickly followed suit.
- The use of officials from different conferences ("split crews") was outlawed, except for game contracts signed before January 1, 1994. The NCAA extended the ban to all games before the 1998 season.
Regular Season
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August?September
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The top five of the preseason AP Poll were No. 1
Florida
, No. 2
Notre Dame
, No. 3
Florida State
, No. 4
Nebraska
, and No. 5
Michigan
. There was something of a lack of consensus at the top as each of the top four teams received at least ten first-place votes, with fourth-place Nebraska getting the
most
such votes.
August 28:
No. 4 Nebraska shut out No. 24
West Virginia
31-0 in the
Kickoff Classic
. The other top teams had not begun their schedules, and the Cornhuskers moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Michigan.
September 3:
No. 1 Florida overwhelmed New Mexico State 70-21. No. 2 Nebraska was idle. No. 3 Notre Dame won 42-15 at Northwestern, and No. 4 Florida State beat Virginia 41-17. No. 5 Michigan defeated Boston College 34-26, but No. 6
Miami
shut out Georgia Southern 56-0 and moved ahead of the Wolverines in the next poll. The voters also made a change at the top: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Miami.
September 8?10:
No. 1 Nebraska won 42-16 at
Texas Tech
while No. 2 Florida blew out Kentucky 73-7, leading the two teams to switch places again. After coming back to take the lead with less than a minute to play, No. 3 Notre Dame lost 26-24 to No. 6 Michigan on a field goal with two seconds left. No. 4 Florida State won 52-20 at Maryland, and No. 5 Miami defeated Arizona State 47-10. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Miami.
September 17:
No. 1 Florida visited No. 15
Tennessee
and shut the Volunteers out 31-0, No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 13
UCLA
49-21, and No. 3 Florida State won 56-14 at Wake Forest. No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Miami were idle. No. 6
Penn State
beat Iowa 61-21 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Penn State.
September 24:
No. 1 Florida was idle. No. 2 Nebraska defeated Pacific 70-21, but the Cornhuskers’ star quarterback
Tommie Frazier
was sidelined for the rest of the regular season with blood clots in his calf. No. 3 Florida State beat No. 13
North Carolina
31-18. In the “
Miracle at Michigan
,” No. 7
Colorado
won 27-26 over No. 4 Michigan thanks to
Kordell Stewart’s
64-yard Hail Mary for a touchdown as time expired. No. 5 Penn State was a 55-27 winner over Rutgers. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Colorado.
October
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October 1:
No. 1 Florida won 38-14 at Mississippi. With
Brook Berringer
taking over the quarterback duties from Frazier, No. 2 Nebraska got off to a slow start against Wyoming but came back for a 42-32 victory. No. 3 Florida State was idle. No. 4 Penn State visited Temple for a 48-21 win. No. 5 Colorado pulled off a buzzer-beating play for the second week in a row, this time beating No. 16
Texas
34-31 on a field goal as time expired. The top five remained the same in the next poll.
October 8:
No. 1 Florida defeated LSU 42-18, and No. 2 Nebraska opened Big 8 play with a 32-3 win over Oklahoma State. No. 3 Florida State visited No. 13 Miami with an unlucky result, as the Seminoles committed five turnovers on the way to a 34-20 loss. No. 4 Penn State was idle. No. 5 Colorado beat Missouri 38-23, and No. 7 Michigan won 40-20 over Michigan State. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Colorado, and No. 5 Michigan.
October 15:
No. 1 Florida was upset 36-33 by No. 6
Auburn
, who capitalized on a late interception to score the game-winning touchdown with 30 seconds left; it was the Gators’ first home loss to a conference opponent in coach
Steve Spurrier’s
five years with the team. No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 16
Kansas State
17-6, No. 3 Penn State won a back-and-forth 31-24 matchup with No. 5 Michigan, and No. 4 Colorado beat No. 22
Oklahoma
45-7. The AP voters reshuffled the top teams in the next poll: No. 1 Penn State, No. 2 Colorado, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Florida.
October 22:
No. 1 Penn State, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Florida were all idle. No. 2 Colorado defeated No. 19 Kansas State 35-21, and No. 3 Nebraska won 42-7 at Missouri. The top five remained the same in the next poll.
October 29:
No. 1 Penn State blew out No. 21
Ohio State
63-14, but the AP voters were more impressed by the performance of No. 3 Nebraska, who took control of the Big 8 race with a 24-7 defeat of No. 2 Colorado. No. 4 Auburn beat Arkansas 31-14, No. 5 Florida defeated Georgia 52-14, and No. 6 Miami won 24-3 over No. 13
Virginia Tech
. The top five in the next AP Poll were No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Miami. Penn State remained at No. 1 in the Coaches Poll.
November?December
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November 5:
No. 1 Nebraska defeated Kansas 45-17. No. 2 Penn State held a 35-14 lead over Indiana midway through the fourth quarter, but the Hoosiers mounted a comeback and cut the final margin to 35-29. No. 3 Auburn beat East Carolina 38-21, No. 4 Florida defeated Southern Mississippi 55-17, and No. 5 Miami won 27-6 at No. 10
Syracuse
. The top five remained the same in the AP Poll, and Nebraska took over first place in the Coaches Poll as well.
November 12:
No. 1 Nebraska won 28-12 at Iowa State to clinch the Big 8 title and an
Orange Bowl
berth. No. 2 Penn State had another close call in their game at Illinois. This time the Nittany Lions were the ones who faced a big deficit, trailing 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, but they mounted a comeback for a 35-31 victory which earned them the Big Ten championship and a spot in the
Rose Bowl
. No. 3 Auburn brought a 20-game winning streak into their game against Georgia, but the Tigers missed a last-second field goal and had to settle for a 23-23 tie. No. 4 Florida beat South Carolina 48-17 to clinch the SEC Western Division title. No. 5 Miami defeated Pittsburgh 17-12, while No. 6
Alabama
won 29-25 at No. 20
Mississippi State
. The top five in the next poll were No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Miami.
November 19:
No. 1 Nebraska was idle. No. 2 Penn State defeated Northwestern 45-17, and No. 3 Florida won 24-7 at Vanderbilt. No. 4 Alabama and No. 6 Auburn squared off in a battle for the SEC Eastern Division championship. Alabama was already assured of a spot in the SEC Championship Game because Auburn was barred from postseason play due to NCAA violations, and the Crimson Tide won the division title outright with a 21-14 triumph. No. 5 Miami beat Temple 38-14. The top five in the next poll were No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Miami.
November 25?26:
No. 1 Nebraska won a defensive struggle against Oklahoma, 13-3, while No. 2 Penn State prevailed in a 59-31 shootout against Michigan State. No. 3 Alabama had finished their regular-season schedule. In the “
Choke at Doak
,” No. 4 Florida entered the fourth quarter with a 31-3 lead over No. 7 Florida State, but the Seminoles scored 28 unanswered points (tying an NCAA record for the biggest fourth-quarter comeback of all time) to salvage a 31-31 tie. No. 5 Miami beat No. 25
Boston College
23-7. No. 6 Colorado had finished their schedule, but the Buffaloes still moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Miami, and No. 5 Colorado.
December 3:
The third annual SEC Championship Game
featured the same teams as the first two, with undefeated No. 3 Alabama facing off against No. 6 Florida. The Crimson Tide had won in
1992
and the Gators prevailed in
1993
, and the rubber match was a very close game. Alabama held a 23-17 lead in the fourth quarter, but
Danny Wuerffel
threw a touchdown pass to put Florida back up by a point, and the Gators closed out the game with an interception on Alabama’s final drive. The final AP poll of the regular season featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Colorado, and No. 5 Florida.
Alabama’s loss in the SEC title game left Nebraska and Penn State as the only undefeated and untied teams in the nation. However, since they were the Big Ten champions, the Nittany Lions were required to play in the Rose Bowl against the Pac-10 winner, No. 12
Oregon
. Therefore, Nebraska’s opponent in the Orange Bowl would be third-ranked Miami. The other major bowls included a rematch between Florida and No. 7 Florida State in the
Sugar Bowl
and Colorado against Notre Dame in the
Fiesta Bowl
. No. 8
Texas A&M
finished with a 10-0-1 record and easily won the SWC title, but the Aggies were on probation and ineligible for postseason play. Texas Tech, who finished in a five-way tie for second place and sported a less-impressive 6-5 record, replaced A&M in the
Cotton Bowl
against No. 21
USC
.
Conference standings
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Bowl Coalition No. 1 and No. 2
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The Bowl Coalition did not include the Big 10 and Pacific-10 conferences, whose champions played in the Rose Bowl. Penn State, which was ranked No. 1 in the Oct 18 and Oct 25 polls, and No. 2 for the remainder of the season, finished the regular season 11?0?0 and played in the Rose Bowl as the champion of the Big Ten.
Bowl games
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- Orange Bowl
: No. 1
Nebraska
24, No. 3
Miami
17
- Rose Bowl
: No. 2
Penn State
38, No. 12
Oregon
20
- Sugar Bowl
: No. 7
Florida State
23, No. 5
Florida
17
- Cotton Bowl Classic
: No. 21
USC
55,
Texas Tech
14
- Fiesta Bowl
: No. 4
Colorado
41,
Notre Dame
24
- Peach Bowl
: No. 23
NC State
28, No. 16
Mississippi State
24
- Florida Citrus Bowl
: No. 6
Alabama
24, No. 13
Ohio State
17
- Hall of Fame Bowl
:
Wisconsin
34, No. 25
Duke
20
- Carquest Bowl
:
South Carolina
24,
West Virginia
21
- Sun Bowl
:
Texas
35, No. 18
North Carolina
31
- Gator Bowl
:
Tennessee
45, No. 17
Virginia Tech
23
- Copper Bowl
: No. 22
BYU
31,
Oklahoma
6
- Alamo Bowl
: No. 24
Washington State
10,
Baylor
3
- Holiday Bowl
: No. 20
Michigan
24, No. 10
Colorado State
14
- Freedom Bowl
: No. 14
Utah
16, No. 15
Arizona
13
- Liberty Bowl
:
Illinois
30,
East Carolina
0
- Aloha Bowl
:
Boston College
12, No. 11
Kansas State
7
- Independence Bowl
: No. 18
Virginia
20,
TCU
10
- Las Vegas Bowl
:
UNLV
52,
Central Michigan
24
Final AP Poll
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- Nebraska
- Penn State
- Colorado
- Florida State
- Alabama
- Miami (FL)
- Florida
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Utah
- Oregon
- Michigan
- USC
- Ohio State
- Virginia
- Colorado State
- N.C. State
- BYU
- Kansas State
- Arizona
- Washington State
- Tennessee
- Boston College
- Mississippi State
- Texas
Final Coaches Poll
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- Nebraska
- Penn State
- Colorado
- Alabama
- Florida State
- Miami (FL)
- Florida
- Utah
- Ohio St.
- Brigham Young
- Oregon
- Michigan
- Virginia
- Colorado State
- Southern California
- Kansas State
- North Carolina State
- Tennessee
- Washington State
- Arizona
- North Carolina
- Boston College
- Texas
- Virginia Tech
- Mississippi State
Heisman Trophy voting
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The
Heisman Memorial Trophy Award
is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year
Winner:
Rashaan Salaam
,
Colorado
, JR. RB (1400 votes)
Other major awards
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- Maxwell Award
(College Player of the Year) ?
Kerry Collins
,
Penn State
- Walter Camp Award
(Back) ?
Rashaan Salaam
,
Colorado
- Davey O'Brien Award
(Quarterback) ?
Kerry Collins
,
Penn State
- Doak Walker Award
(Running Back) ?
Rashaan Salaam
,
Colorado
- Dick Butkus Award
(Linebacker) ?
Dana Howard
,
Illinois
- Lombardi Award
(Lineman or Linebacker) ?
Warren Sapp
,
Miami
- Outland Trophy
(Interior Lineman) ?
Zach Wiegert
, OT,
Nebraska
- Jim Thorpe Award
(Defensive Back) ?
Chris Hudson
,
Colorado
- AFCA
Coach of the Year ?
Tom Osborne
, Nebraska
- FWAA
Coach of the Year ? Joe Paterno, Penn State
- Paul "Bear" Bryant Award
?
Rich Brooks
,
Oregon
References
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