Editor’s note: As the World Cup continues in the United States for the first time since 1994, The Athletic is looking back at college sports in the 1990s and how much has changed since then. Join us for a couple of weeks of offseason football and basketball nostalgia.
College football was good in the 1870s — which started a few weeks after the first college football game, Nov. 6, 1869, matching Rutgers and Princeton — and in every decade since. But how about those 1990s? It was a time of epic competition, change and personality in the sport.
Here are 90 things we miss about college football in the 1990s:
1. The Steve Spurrier-Bobby Bowden rivalry. Any remembrance of college football in the 1990s should start with Florida’s Spurrier and Florida State’s Bowden — the coach of “Free Shoes University,” as Spurrier once noted amid an NCAA investigation into FSU — and a coaching rivalry that has a case as the best ever.
Most would start that list with Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, whose “10-Year-War” from 1969 to 1978 established Ohio State vs. Michigan as the sport’s premier game. But every Florida-Florida State meeting in the 1990s matched top-10 teams, and three of those teams won national championships (FSU in 1993 and ’99, Florida in ’96). Three of the Ohio State-Michigan games during the “10-Year War” did not match top-10 teams, and neither program won a national title during that time.
Bowden ended up with the upper hand at 7-4-1 in the ’90s, including two Sugar Bowl meetings (and 8-5-1 overall). But the second of those Sugar Bowl encounters was the most resounding win of the decade — No. 3 Florida 52, No. 1 Florida State 20, a little more than a month after it was No. 2 Florida State 24, No. 1 Florida 21 at FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium.
Is Bowden vs. Spurrier the best rivalry ever in college football?
Joe Rexrode
2. Conferences that made sense. Bound by geography and long-standing tradition. Named accurately — though Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany opted for branding over math when the league added independent Penn State on June 4, 1990, and remained the Big Ten (with a new logo that conveyed the number 11).
3. Rivalries that no TV executive and no amount of greed could disrupt. The Apple Cup. The Civil War. Bedlam. Nebraska vs. Oklahoma. In the 1990s, Michigan-Notre Dame, Michigan State-Notre Dame, Pittsburgh-Penn State, Pittsburgh-West Virginia and others that have faded were going strong. And no one could have imagined that Notre Dame-USC might ever be threatened.
4. Keith Jackson saying, “Whoa Nellie!”
5. Poulan Weed Eater deciding to get into the bowl business.
6. Major college football teams that primarily played other major college football teams during the pre-conference portions of their schedules. For example, in 1990 in the Big Ten, almost every nonleague game was against a power-conference team. The exceptions: Illinois vs. Southern Illinois, Purdue vs. Indiana State, Indiana vs. Eastern Michigan, Northwestern vs. Northern Illinois and Wisconsin vs. Ball State and Temple. That’s the list. In 1991, Michigan opened with Boston College, Notre Dame and Florida State.
7. The Fifth Down.
8. Expansion that made sense, such as SEC commissioner Roy Kramer adding Arkansas and South Carolina, with those schools starting SEC play in 1992. Arkansas was leaving a troubled conference and South Carolina was leaving independence.
9. Coaches becoming athletic directors and athletic directors becoming conference commissioners. As opposed to Fortune 500 wannabes and TV executives with no concept of what makes college football great ascending to power and convincing clueless university presidents to make bad, short-sighted decisions.
10. The drop-everything-and-watch-this mandate across America every time a kickoff or punt settled into the arms of Raghib “Rocket” Ismail.
11. Conference championships mattering.
12. New Year’s Day bowl games mattering.
13. Gigantic shoulder pads and those big, bulky, foam knee pads.
14. Ty Detmer unleashing lasers all over the field and all but winning the Heisman Trophy by engineering a win over Miami.
15. Games on Raycom. Games on Jefferson Pilot. Games on radio having so much more importance because every game wasn’t televised.
16. Beano Cook, a college football voice and historian who entertained, infuriated at times and mastered hot takes before hot takes were a thing — poor Ron Powlus never had a chance after Cook predicted he’d win two Heismans at Notre Dame.
17. Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried in the booth. Verne Lundquist, Brent Musburger, Brad Nessler, Mike Patrick and Sean McDonough on the call. Lynn Swann, Jack Arute, Dr. Jerry Punch, Bonnie Bernstein and Holly Rowe on the sidelines.
18. Keith Jackson saying, “Goodbye!” as Desmond Howard streaked down the sideline against Ohio State, then adding, “Hello, Heisman!” as he reached the end zone and struck the Heisman pose.
19. Knowing your team would be playing its games on Saturdays, somewhere in the United States.
20. The relentless, dominant play of Steve Emtman.
21. The novelty of a “conference championship game,” introduced by the SEC — the first edition won by Gene Stallings and Alabama over Steve Spurrier and Florida at Birmingham’s Legion Field, setting up a Sugar Bowl shocker over Miami to win the whole thing.
22. A guy like Marshall Faulk playing his whole college career at San Diego State, before getting to the NFL and showing everyone that, yes, he was every bit that good.
23. The Big East … is going to be a football conference?
24. Charlie Ward at quarterback, even more fun to watch than Charlie Ward at point guard.
25. The latest “Game of the Century,” Florida State at Notre Dame in 1993, ESPN “College GameDay’s” first show from a game site and a Notre Dame win that validated the hype.
26. Fans being required to show up at a stadium and boo if they wanted a player or coach to be aware of their displeasure with the player or coach.
27. The Southwest Conference. Rest in peace, you magnificent, dysfunctional beauty. Real ones know you taught the SEC how to cheat.
28. The SEC soap operas of soap operas, Johnny Majors vs. Phillip Fulmer.
29. Lou Holtz doing his best to convince the assembled press that the upcoming four-touchdown underdog on the schedule really, seriously, truly posed a threat to Notre Dame.
30. “Bill Walsh College Football,” the first EA Sports foray into college football video games.
31. USC vs. UCLA feeling important.
32. Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook from a million miles away at Michigan Stadium.
33. “The Program.”
34. Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions ruling the Big Ten in their second season in the league in 1994, with one of the greatest offenses college football has seen — Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter, Bobby Engram, Kyle Brady and a cool 47 points per game.
35. Warren Sapp blotting out the sun for “The U.”
36. “The Choke at the Doak,” the wildest game of the best rivalry of the decade, Florida blowing a 31-3 lead at Florida State in the fourth quarter and being relegated to a tie.
37. The absolute terror opponents must have grappled with when looking across the field and seeing Tom Osborne’s mid-90s Nebraska teams on the other sideline.
38. The recruitment of Peyton Manning.
39. Four years of watching Peyton Manning play for the Vols.
40. Gary Barnett? Pat Fitzgerald? Northwestern? Winning the Big Ten and playing in the Rose Bowl? How?
41. Eddie George and Terry Glenn in the same Ohio State offense.
42. Giant newspaper special sections in every major college town on Sundays, with color photos and several pages of coverage hitting every angle of the big game.
43. Coaches making salaries that could still be somewhat justified on a college campus and in everyday life.
44. The occasional sound clip from an overzealous SEC fan that made the rounds after first airing on the radio show of some guy named Paul Finebaum.
45. Overtime. Sweet, glorious overtime. No more ties. And a format that blew away the NFL’s version.
46. The mesmerizing early days of “message boards” and “chat rooms.” What could go wrong?
47. Danny Wuerffel operating Steve Spurrier’s Fun ‘n’ Gun at an unprecedented level, winning all the awards and serving notice that an NFL takeover was forthcoming.
48. Tommie Frazier dominating in Nebraska’s option offense, NFL analysts taking virtually no notice and no one caring.
49. Spurrier haters delighting in what Nebraska did to Florida — that would be a final of 62-24 — on Jan. 2, 1996 in the Fiesta Bowl.
50. Keith Jackson declaring it was time for “the granddaddy of them all!” before calling the Rose Bowl.
51. Washington politicians talking about things other than college football.
52. ESPN’s “College GameDay” starting to become more than a preview show, and Lee Corso starting to become more than a former coach who analyzed football on ESPN.
53. The stirring Heisman race of 1997 between Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson.
54. The Woodson one-handed interception on the sideline at Michigan State that really got people thinking this might finally be the year a defensive player won it.
55. The scene earlier that day of Oct. 25, 1997, with “GameDay” in town and Corso’s headgear tradition fully entrenched in its second season — and with full beer cans flying toward the set and alerting producers that this was getting so big, it was time to start talking safety measures.
56. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Corso, the core trio.
57. Randy Moss catching passes from Chad Pennington at Marshall.
58. Andy Katzenmoyer, the classic Ohio State linebacker.
59. Waiting out “SportsCenter” for some highlights of Steve McNair at Alcorn State.
60. Ivan Maisel writing college football. Malcolm Moran writing college football. Gene Wojciechowski writing college football. Steve Wieberg writing college football. Dan Jenkins writing college football. Sally Jenkins writing college football.
61. The final two minutes between Arizona State and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1997 — Jake “The Snake” Plummer appearing to win it for ASU, then Joe Germaine claiming it for OSU instead.
62. Big, colorful game tickets that could go in scrapbooks.
63. Nick Saban as a solid, unspectacular football coach who looked his age.
64. The excitement of finally getting to a point where the top two teams would be matched up in a championship game, bowl obligations and polls be darned.
65. Ricky Williams running all over everyone.
66. Bill Snyder doing things at Kansas State that made little sense to anyone who had followed the history of the game.
67. Keith Jackson talking about “big uglies” and really meaning it when he was calling a Wisconsin game.
68. A sport with no knowledge of Steve Spurrier wannabe Lane Kiffin.
69. College football season tickets without “seat licenses.”
70. Orlando Pace, the rare offensive lineman who was fun to watch.
71. Beer bonging at tailgates. Whatever happened to those big red plastic funnels?
72. Joe Tiller driving them crazy in the Big Ten with his spread offense, especially when Drew Brees started running it.
73. PrepStar Magazine. SuperPrep Magazine. Blue Chips Illustrated. Tom Lemming as the voice of recruiting analysis.
74. 1-900 numbers for recruiting updates.
75. Arguing about Colorado vs. Georgia Tech. And Miami vs. Washington. And Nebraska vs. Penn State. And Nebraska vs. Michigan.
76. The NCAA still taking teams off TV for recruiting infractions and appearing at times to have some ability to deter bad behavior. Some. For a little while.
77. Ohio State playing the role of Charlie Brown lining up for the big kick, no better illustrated than in 1998 when John Cooper had the best team in the country and somehow lost at home to a Nick Saban-coached Michigan State team that would finish 6-6 with no bowl game.
78. Alabama being mid for a while.
79. USC being mid for a while.
80. Oklahoma being mid for a while.
81. Creative scandals such as Miami forging applications for Pell Grants. They don’t make ’em like they used to.
82. Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner and the stumble and fumble at Tennessee.
83. Peerless Price outperforming Peter Warrick. Tee Martin proving there was life after Peyton Manning. Tennessee beating Florida State for the first BCS title.
84. Ron Dayne running all over everyone.
85. LaVar Arrington, a unicorn even at Linebacker U.
86. The early days of Mike Leach discovery, via Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch.
87. The Michael Vick phenomenon, from Virginia Tech fans packing practices to see a freshman to the cusp of a national championship.
88. Bobby Bowden, Peter Warrick and Chris Weinke ending the decade unbeaten and on top.
89. The ball popping free and Keith Jackson bellowing: “Fum-BULLLL!”
90. College football fans arguing about which team was better, which conference was better, which coach was the bigger cheater, but not about what should be in a bill to fix college athletics, or what goofy postseason format would work best, or whether private equity in college athletics is a good idea or not.
