1990 NCAA Division I - A football season The 1990 NCAA Division I - A football season ended with a split championship and the ensuing controversy led to the creation of the Bowl Coalition , a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series . The title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . The Buffaloes ( 11 - 1 - 1 ) took the AP poll while the Yellow Jackets ( 11 - 0 - 1 ) took the UPI poll by one vote over Colorado , 847 to 846 . With the introduction of Arkansas State University Indians ( now Red Wolves ) the number of schools moved from 106 to 107 . Heisman Trophy Voting . " The Heisman is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year " < br > Winner : Ty Detmer , BYU , Jr . QB Recap of the Year . Voters were divided in the first poll of the 1990 college football season . The first rankings reflected the lack of consensus for a number one . 1 . Miami 2 . Notre Dame 3 . Auburn 4 . Florida State 5 . Colorado Each of the top five teams received at least three first - place votes in the initial poll . The season opening game was the Disneyland Classic between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Tennessee Volunteers in Anaheim , California . The game ended in an exciting 31 - 31 tie , keeping both teams alive for the national championship . Although the first game was played on August 26 , 1990 , the first regular season poll was not released until September 4 . Polls in 1990 were released on the Tuesday after the game . Week One : September 1 , 1990 . There was little movement in the polls as most teams either played against non - competitive foes or did not begin the season until September 8 . The only significant drop was Colorado , who fell from # 5 to # 6 the 31 - 31 tie with # 8 Tennessee . Week Two : September 8 , 1990 . The most significant game and slight upset of week two game in Provo , Utah , where the # 16 BYU Cougars , led by 1990 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer , held off the defending champion , # 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes , 28 - 21 . A comeback by # 6 Colorado staved off defeat against unranked Stanford , 17 - 14 . The pollsters remained unimpressed by Colorado , dropping them to # 9 despite the win . The Gene Stallings era began for the # 13 Alabama Crimson Tide with a loss to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles , quarterbacked by Brett Favre . The Steve Spurrier era also began at the University of Florida . In Charlottesville , the # 14 Virginia Cavaliers beat # 9 Clemson in what was viewed as an upset . It was Virginia ' s first win ever over the Tigers , after 29 consecutive losses since their first meeting in 1955 . The top five teams for the week ending September 8 were : Notre Dame , Auburn , Florida State , Michigan , and BYU . Week Three : September 15 , 1990 . The most important game of week three was a top five match - up of # 1 Notre Dame against # 4 Michigan . In an exciting game , the Fighting Irish prevailed , 28 - 24 , to remain # 1 . The other game that would have season long significance was ( # 21 ) Illinois ' upset of ( # 9 ) Colorado , 23 - 22 . The game would figure prominently in the national championship argument in January . Steve Spurrier also won his SEC debut , with his # 24 Florida team besting the Alabama Crimson Tide , 17 - 13 . While # 2 Auburn and # 3 Florida State both won , the Seminole ' s 48 - 6 win over Georgia Southern brought it to # 2 in the polls . At the close of the week , the top five teams were : Notre Dame , Florida State , Auburn , BYU , and USC . Climbing into the top ten was Virginia with a 3 - 0 record . Week Four : September 22 , 1990 . The game to watch was Notre Dame trying to keep its top ranking in the polls . The # 1 Fighting Irish had yet another tough game , as they prevailed against # 24 Michigan State , on the road , 20 - 19 . # 5 USC had a horrible game , as they were blown out by # 21 Washington , 31 - 0 . # 20 ranked Colorado gained another win against # 22 Texas , 29 - 22 , but the win did not improve their ranking . By the next poll , the top five teams were : Notre Dame , Florida State , Auburn , BYU , and Tennessee . Virginia was still going up in the polls , ranking # 7 . Week Five : September 29 , 1990 . There wasn ' t as much poll action as last week , but the surprise was when # 20 Colorado beat # 12 Washington , 20 - 14 . The tie between # 3 Auburn and # 5 Tennessee , 26 - 26 , caused their rankings to go down slightly . Top ranked Notre Dame kept their top ranking for at least one more week after topping Purdue , 37 - 11 . The top five teams on the October 1 poll were : Notre Dame , Florida State , Michigan , Virginia , and Auburn . Week Six : October 6 , 1990 . The most controversial game of the season - and one of the most controversial of all - time - occurred in Columbia , Missouri where # 12 Colorado beat Missouri on a last minute lunge by back - up quarterback Charles Johnson . The problem , however , was that Johnson actually scored on Fifth Down due to an error by the seven officials calling the game . The game would have major ramifications for the national championship at year ' s end , but the subsequent poll did punish Colorado by dropping them two spots to # 14 . This play became especially controversial at the end of the season , as Georgia Tech would have most likely been undisputed champions had this mistake not been made and Missouri had won . The day ' s other stunner came in South Bend where Stanford , with a 1 - 3 record , stunned the unbeaten # 1 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame . Meanwhile , # 9 Miami met # 2 Florida State , with the Hurricanes prevailing , 31 - 22 . The loss dropped the second - ranked Seminoles to # 10 and vaulted the Hurricanes back into the national championship picture . Idle # 6 Tennessee picked up a first - place vote despite two ties in their first five games . The stunning loss of Notre Dame scattered the first - place AP votes among a number of teams . Michigan , Virginia , Miami , Oklahoma , and Tennessee - the top five in the poll of October 9 , 1990 - each received first place votes as did # 8 Nebraska , # 10 Florida , and # 13 Houston Despite two ties on their record , Tennessee moved up to # 5 when # 5 Auburn escaped a major upset at the hands of Louisiana Tech , 16 - 14 . Week Seven : October 13 , 1990 . After sitting on top of the college rankings for only four days , Michigan became the third number one team of the year to get knocked off the top spot , losing 28 - 27 at home in Ann Arbor to arch rival Michigan State . The day ' s other upset of a top five team was # 4 Oklahoma ' s 14 - 13 loss to unranked Texas in the Red River Shootout . # 9 Florida also endured their first loss in the Steve Spurrier era , losing a 45 - 3 rout at the hands of # 5 Tennessee , and # 18 Georgia Tech knocked off # 15 Clemson in a game that was to be of greater import at the end of season . The top five rankings released on October 13 , 1990 : Virginia , Miami , Georgia Tech , Nebraska , Auburn . Week Eight : October 20 , 1990 . The stunning season continued to shock as ten of the 25 ranked teams went down to defeat on an unforgettable Saturday . In a battle of national powers , # 6 Notre Dame knocked off # 2 Miami , 29 - 20 , in South Bend and assured the Hurricanes would not repeat as national champions . The loss dropped Miami to # 8 while raising the Irish to # 3 . Perhaps an even greater upset came in Knoxville , where Alabama ( with a 2 - 3 record ) , stunned # 3 Tennessee , 9 - 6 , just one week after the Volunteers had put 45 points on the Florida Gators . The Vols lined up to kick a potential game winning FG with less than two minutes left only to see Stacy Harrison block the kick . The momentum from the block sent the ball forty yards back downfield and put Alabama in position to win on a last second field goal by All - American Phillip Doyle . The loss was the Vols first in a year and dropped them out of the top ten . # 5 Auburn beat # 7 Florida State in a match - up of top ten teams . Auburn ' s win put them at # 2 in the nation , their highest ranking since they won the national championship in 1957 . # 11 Georgia Tech suffered their first imperfection of the season , but they did not lose the game . Their tiff with North Carolina ended in a 13 - 13 tie that would later haunt the Yellow Jackets . Michigan lost their second game in a row following their ascent to number one . The top five lined up as : Virginia , Auburn , Notre Dame , Nebraska , Illinois Week Nine : October 27 , 1990 . A harrowing escape due to missed extra point attempt resulted in a drop of # 2 Auburn by two spots in the AP poll . Mississippi State ( 3 - 3 ) , showing signs of promise for Coach Rockey Felker , fought the 4 - 0 - 1 Tigers to the very end , scoring a touchdown on the final play . A successful point after try would net the Bulldogs a tie , but a block by Auburn ' s special teams preserved a 17 - 16 win at Scott Field . There was little other movement in the top ten , although BYU fell one spot from # 9 to # 10 despite routing New Mexico . The reason for the Cougars ' fall was Colorado ' s impressive win over formerly # 4 - ranked Oklahoma . The Sooners had lost three games in a row , but Colorado ' s win put them at number nine . Auburn ' s drop enabled both # 3 Notre Dame and # 4 Nebraska to move up one spot each . Otherwise , the top five remained the same . Week Ten : November 3 , 1990 . In perhaps the most exciting game of the 1990 college season , # 16 Georgia Tech made a stunning comeback and outlasted # 1 ranked Virginia , 41 - 38 , at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville . The loss dropped the Cavaliers out of the # 1 spot and made Virginia the fourth different number one to lose in 1990 . But the game shared top billing with the showdown in Lincoln , Nebraska between # 3 Nebraska and # 9 Colorado . Trailing by 12 points with only 12 minutes to play , the Buffaloes scored four touchdowns , all from Eric Bieniemy , to win , 27 - 12 , and all but clinch the Big Eight title for the second straight year . And just when the shock had worn off , # 15 Florida routed # 4 Auburn , 48 - 7 , to send the Tigers tumbling all the way to # 15 . The rankings on the morning of November 6 , 1990 when the AP poll was released : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Washington 3 . Houston 4 . Colorado 5 . Miami 6 . Iowa 7 . Georgia Tech 8 . BYU 9 . Tennessee 10 . Florida Week Eleven : November 10 , 1990 . In keeping with the strange season where the uncommon became commonplace , four of the top nine teams lost and the muddy national title picture got a little clearer when the AP poll was released on November 13 . The # 2 Washington Huskies , poised for a possible shot at the title , lost a stunner at home to UCLA , 25 - 22 , ending a national title dream , although the Huskies still had the inside track to the Rose Bowl . # 3 Houston , with Heisman Trophy candidate David Klingler filling the shoes of departed 1989 Heisman winner , Andre Ware , finally lost , falling to # 14 Texas and ending speculation that the national championship might go to a team on probation . Houston ' s bowl ineligibility assured they would be given no consideration in the final poll for a top ranking . # 6 Iowa stumbled on the road and lost to Minnesota , 31 - 24 , ending the Hawkeyes ' title bid . And despite being given consideration time and again , # 9 Tennessee managed a fourth imperfection on their record - two losses and two ties - when they fell to # 1 Notre Dame , 34 - 29 , in a nationally televised encounter . The losses , however , helped clear the way for some other hopefuls . # 4 Colorado , who only one month earlier had been mired at number twenty , completed a climb all the way back up to # 2 when they routed Oklahoma State , 41 - 22 . As long as the Buffaloes won their final encounter against 5 - 5 Kansas State , they were virtually guaranteed a shot at the national championship . # 15 Auburn , on the other hand , showed how far one could fall the other direction , plummeting from # 2 only two weeks earlier to # 24 due to their loss to a weak ( 4 - 6 ) Georgia team in a 33 - 10 rout . Week 12 : November 17 , 1990 . The championship picture , much clearer just a week earlier , was considerably muddied again when top - ranked Notre Dame became the fifth number one to fall from the top spot as # 18 Penn State edged the # 1 Irish , 24 - 21 . Because bowl invitations were ready to be offered , the upset smothered any chance the Orange Bowl had of determining a consensus national champion . Those problems were exacerbated when former # 8 Virginia lost to Maryland and in the process lost starting quarterback Shawn Moore due to injury . The loss by Notre Dame put # 2 Colorado in the number one spot for the first time since January 1 , 1990 . Rounding out the top five were Miami , Georgia Tech , BYU , and Florida . Week 13 : November 24 , 1990 . Perhaps bowing to public pressure due to their status as the nation ' s only unbeaten Division I - A team , the AP poll moved Georgia Tech up one spot from number three to number two after their 40 - 23 dismantling of the outmanned Bulldogs in their annual showdown . The Yellow Jackets now had the nation ' s longest current unbeaten streak at 15 games . The Bowl Games . Three of the top four teams were contractually obligated to bowl games that left no chance for a # 1 vs . # 2 match - up . Number one Colorado was obligated to represent the Big Eight in the Orange Bowl ; second - ranked Georgia Tech was forced to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Florida Citrus Bowl . Although Miami and Notre Dame , ranked third and fifth respectively , were Independents and thus bound to no bowl , both had claims to make for the national title that necessitated defeating the highest - ranked foe . The Orange Bowl invitation to Notre Dame had already been extended prior to the late season loss by the Irish to Penn State , leaving Miami to face # 4 Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic . Although Miami had two losses , the Hurricanes would repeat as national champions if both Colorado and Georgia Tech lost while Miami won . The Hurricanes did their best , routing the Longhorns 46 - 3 , but the early morning pounding of Nebraska by Georgia Tech closed the door on the Hurricanes chances and opened the question of whether Georgia Tech could possibly win a share if Colorado beat Notre Dame . The wins by Miami and Georgia Tech ensured Notre Dame could not wind up as champion , but the Irish and Buffaloes fought to the finish with Colorado prevailing , 10 - 9 , on a blocked extra point . With only 65 seconds left , it appeared Notre Dame had won when Rocket Ismail ran 91 yards with a punt return for touchdown that was called back on a clipping penalty . Deon Figures intercepted Rick Mirer ' s desperation pass to clinch the national title for Colorado . UPI Rankings Shake - up . When the final votes were counted , Colorado had won their first national champion as voted by the Associated Press . The UPI coaches poll , however , saw a shake - up that resulted in Georgia Tech moving to # 1 by one point . The deciding vote was cast by Colorado Buffaloes rival Nebraska ' s head coach Tom Osborne , the only coach who had played both teams during the 1990 season . Colorado beat Nebraska 27 - 12 while Georgia Tech had beaten them in the Florida Citrus Bowl , 45 - 21 .