Jim Young enjoyed a breakthrough season in 1978, his second year as the Purdue football coach. The Boilermakers posted their best season in a decade, contended for the Big Ten title, won a bowl game and finished ranked in the Top 20. 1979 Purdue football made incremental progress—they stayed in the hunt for the Rose […]
The honeymoon was over for Earle Bruce in Columbus. After taking Ohio State to an undefeated season in his first year in 1979, Bruce had lost the Rose Bowl that year and then failed to make any major bowl game—much less the coveted Rose—in the ensuing three years. The 1983 Ohio State football season needed […]
Michigan was the gold standard of Big Ten football in the 1980s. They had won the conference title in 1980 and 1982, along with several more major bowl trips in the late 1970s. The 1983 Michigan football team didn’t get back to Pasadena, but they were a Top 10 team and snagged the seventh major […]
The 1980 Ohio State football team came into the season riding high. They had narrowly missed sharing the national title in 1979, the first year under coach Earle Bruce. The Buckeyes entered 1980 as the preseason #1 team in the country. READ ABOUT THE LOU HOLTZ ERA AT NOTRE DAME Junior quarterback Art Schlichter posted […]
Today, Lee Corso is nationally recognized for his work as an ESPN college football analyst. He’s right behind colleague Kirk Herbstreit as the face of college football. When he coached the 1979 Indiana football team, Corso was just a witty—if mostly unknown head coach—trying to get a program over the hump. READ ABOUT THE LOU […]
The 1979 Michigan football team came into the season on a good roll. The Wolverines had gone to four straight major bowls, the last three as the Big Ten champion in the Rose Bowl. All four times ended in losses, but Bo Schembecler’s Michigan program was one of the nation’s best. READ ABOUT THE LOU […]
The 1993 Penn State football season started a new era. After a long stretch as an independent—a stretch that included recent national titles in 1982 and 1986, and a #3 finish as recently as 1991—the Nittany Lions were joining the Big Ten. They were also looking to atone for what had been a disappointing 1992 […]
John Cooper walked the sidelines in Columbus for 13 seasons. His teams were generally pretty good, contended for Big Ten titles and occasionally more than that. His teams also came up short in the season’s biggest moments and usually left the fan base with a sour taste in their mouths at the end. The 1993 […]
The 1993 Auburn football season was supposed to be a year of transition. After a decade of success under Pat Dye that included SEC championships in 1983, 1987 and 1989, Dye had mediocre years in 1991-92 and the program went on probation. Auburn tapped Terry Bowden, the son of Florida State legend Bobby Bowden, as […]
The state of Florida is known for its football today, but that wasn’t always the case. When Steve Spurrier came to the Sunshine State’s flagship program in Gainesville, the Gators had never formally won an SEC championship. They did finish first in 1984, but probation nullified the title. In Spurrier’s first year of 1990, Florida […]
Florida State was the program perpetually knocking on the door in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Between 1987 and 1992, the Seminoles finished in the national top 5 and won a major bowl game each and every year. The downside? They never finished #1. The bigger downside? Their in-state rival Miami was even better […]
The 1993 Miami Hurricanes were a solid football team by any reasonable measure. Any measure that is, except the one the program had established in the preceding decade. A Cinderella national title in 1983 was followed by titles in 1987, 1989 and 1991. The ‘Canes narrowly missed more two more titles in 1986 and 1988. […]