If you’re looking for the real villain in the story of college football’s postseason expansion run, let John Feinstein solve the mystery for you.
In those days, teams played an 11-game regular season and then possibly a bowl game, for a maximum of 12 games.
That began to change after an undefeated Georgia Tech team went to the second-tier Citrus Bowl after the 1990 season. Even though Georgia Tech shared the national title with a one-loss Colorado team, ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan was furious because Tech hadn’t been considered for one of the major bowls.
Corrigan ordered his top lieutenant, Tom Mickle, to come up with a solution. Mickle did: Sitting in a Lone Star Steakhouse in Greensboro, N.C., he outlined a plan for something called the College Football Bowl Coalition, which guaranteed — among other things — that the ACC champion would be invited to a major bowl.
We should have known. Effing Tech.
Get The Picture 
To the Scripps Howard “national championship” claiming nerds, I say only this:
https://vsaauctions.com/all-american-joe-garten-1990-colorado-buffaloes-national-championship-secondary-football-ring–lot15609.aspx?hcb=1
LikeLiked by 1 person
I found out the Colorado bookstore had an 800 number (pre-internet days). I ordered a bunch of Colorado 1990 National Champs hats and T shirts and gave them to my friends. I also received a bookstore catalog, which was handy for reordering. It started a small tsunami of orders shipped to Atlanta; one of the nice phone ladies said, as I placed my second or third order “Gosh, we sure are sending lots of stuff to Atlanta all of a sudden.” I got a lot of dirty looks from the handful of pencil neck fans in my area. 🙂
FTPNG, indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of all the teams! I grew up a Georgia fan because both of my parents attended UGA and I was raised right. I elected to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder and began my four years in 1989. I could NOT believe of all the damn teams to split a title with it had to be the North Avenue Trade School!
I was fortunate enough to attend school during the golden years of Colorado Buffs football only to have it tarnished by those pesky Yellow Jackets.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Man, what was Boulder like then? I bet it was great.
LikeLike
It was pretty fantastic. When I decided to go to school there Playboy had just voted it the #1 Party School in the nation. My dad told me I could go, but I had four years to graduate and he was picking my major…lol. I was going to choose the same major he wanted anyway so that didn’t really matter.
I was into skiing and fly fishing so I loved it out there. Thankfully, I got lucky on my timing with the football program while I was there. I do remember thinking the crowds and stadiums paled in comparison to the SEC games I grew up attending though. Also, the fans were clueless about football to me. The setting of Folsom Field is pretty great though at the base of the Flat Irons and the team being so good made the atmosphere fun even though it was only 52,000 people. Not to mention, you could buy beer in the stadium then and you could bring containers that were a gallon or smaller into the stadium as long as they weren’t glass my freshman year. Needless to say, the student section was pretty raucous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It could be worse… #FifthDown
LikeLike
Yes, the 5th down was lucky, but CU wouldn’t have spiked the ball if the down markers had been correct.
LikeLiked by 2 people
of course.
LikeLike
FTPNG
LikeLiked by 2 people
ACC’s real gripe should have been against the Sugar Bowl for inviting Virginia before the season was over (sorry Senator). Looking at the Cotton and Orange matchups from that season, the Sugar was Tech’s only option for a major bowl. Fiesta didn’t carry the same weight then.
LikeLike
Yeah……and if I remember correctly, Colorado got REALLY lucky in the Mizzou game on a terrible call (5th down call). That should have been another loss and should not have even been considered.
But glad it turned out that way.
Thinks Penn State has been focked more than any thru the years.
LikeLike
re: Penn State – karma has a way of balancing things out. “Ped” State got what they deserved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fucking NERDS!
LikeLiked by 2 people
PENCIL-NECK GEEKS!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, and Colorado will always be the 1990 National Champions to me. I don’t care if it took 6 downs.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Miami would have destroyed Tech if they had met in the Orange Bowl.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The two most illegitimate national championships claimed in the last 50 years are Tech’s split in ‘90 and BYU in ‘84. Tech played a down Nebraska team that finished third in the Big 8, and BYU played a pathetic WAC schedule, then just got by a pretty bad 6-5 Michigan team in the third tier Holiday Bowl.
LikeLike
Want to ruin college football?
“YOU CAN DO THAT!”
LikeLiked by 4 people