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. […]
No one saw a serious run at a national title coming, but Nebraska still got respect for the running games it produced and for its defense. Trev Alberts, prior to a career in which he would be the worst ESPN analyst this side of Rick Sutcliffe, won the Butkus Award
After their undefeated regular season and Lambert Trophy year of 1988, Don Nehlen’s West Virginia program had slipped back to mediocrity. The 1990-92 seasons produced a record of 15-16-2. There was no sign that the 1993 West Virginia football season would be a special one. But that’s exactly how it turned out, as the Mountaineers […]
The 1993 Notre Dame football team was coming off a Top 5 finish in 1992, where the Irish finished 9-1-1 in the regular season and then blasted Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Under the leadership of head coach Lou Holtz, Notre Dame had been to a major bowl game every year since 1987, won the national title in 1988 and finished #2 in 1989. Even though expectations weren’t high for 1993, that’s all relative and “low expectations” still meant a Top 10 preseason ranking.