Badger football was in the toilet when Barry Alvarez arrived as head coach in 1990. Wisconsin had won nine games in the preceding four years. Alvarez’s first year wasn’t any better, a 1-10 disaster. But the Badgers had shown progress in 1991, getting to 5-6. The 1992 Wisconsin football team also finished 5-6, but did […]
For five years, the Michigan Wolverines dominated the Big Ten. They won outright conference titles in 1988, 1989 and 1991 The 1992 Michigan football team made it four crowns in five years and capped it off with a Rose Bowl win. Running the football is what this program has been historically built on and the […]
Bobby Bowden had the Florida State football program established as a national power by 1992. The Seminoles had won major bowl games in each of the previous five years and finished in the Top 5 nationally each time. But they were coming off a particularly heartbreaking end to the 1991 season. A year that looked […]
It was business as usual for the 1992 Nebraska football team. Since Tom Osborne had taken over as head coach in 1974, the program had reached 13 major bowl games and were a consistent national contender. They also hadn’t won a national championship. Both patterns continued in ‘92. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS Start reading today. A […]
The Alabama football program had been on relatively hard times since the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant retired after the 1982 season (he passed away months later). Ray Perkins and Bill Curry took their turns at replacing him. Perkins never made it to a major bowl game in four years. Curry tried for three more seasons that included a tri-SEC title in 1989 and Sugar Bowl appearance, but his lack of a tie to the Bryant era made him less than popular, to put it mildly. The next man up was Gene Stallings, who was a part of the Bryant Family.
Notre Dame has produced some great running backs in its heralded football history over the years, going all the way back to the days of George Gipp and before him The Four Horsemen. The modern history isn’t quite that dramatic, but what the 1992 Notre Dame football team put out in the backfield was awfully good. The tandem of Reggie Brooks and Jerome Bettis led the way on a season that came out of a midseason valley and finished strong.
The Alabama Crimson Tide had not won a national championship in the post-Bear Bryant era, and while they opened the 1992 college football season ranked #9, there were not tremendous expectations—at least outside Tuscaloosa—that this would be the year that changed.
Miami was the preseason #1 team in the country and had split the championship vote the previous year with Washington. The Hurricanes had won four national championships over the previous nine years and come within one play of two more.
Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series of sports history articles commemorating under-the-radar teams and moments in a given year. This article about the 1992 Miami Hurricanes recalls a memorable run of miracle finishes as the team made a drive at a repeat national title that ultimately came up just short.