1990 National Championship

#1
tvolsfan

tvolsfan

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#1
I know this is a random question, but I recently saw that Georgia Tech and Colorado each won a share of the national title in 1990. I knew Colorado had won a share, but I didn't know who the other team was. Colorado finished 11-1-1 while Tech finished 11-0-1, and Colorado also had the game where they got 5 downs at the end.

So my question is, how the hell did Colorado receive a share? I'm not trying to stir up a debate or anything, I'm just looking for a straight answer if anyone knows. (ie. one played a much tougher schedule, GT had lucky wins, etc.) Thanks for the help.
 
#2
#2
Colorado started out rated pretty high, and GT didn't, I think.

All I know is that Colorado was lucky as hell to win that thing, between the 5th down, and the Rocket Ismail punt return being called back.....

Yep, I was right. Colorado started out the year 5th in the nation, Georgia Tech didn't appear in the AP poll until October 2nd.
 
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#3
#3
GA Tech played a significantly tougher schedule that year. They tied Tennessee, beat Texas, Washington, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Notre Dame who were all 8/9/10 win teams, and Texas and Washington won their respective conferences.
 
#4
#4
milohimself said:
Colorado played a significantly tougher schedule that year. They tied Tennessee, beat Texas, Washington, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Notre Dame who were all 8/9/10 win teams, and Texas and Washington won their respective conferences.
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:p
 
#5
#5
All right, so was this championship generally accepted at the time, or was there a lot of criticism?
 
#6
#6
Georgia Tech was aided that year as well. They shot up 9 spots after beating #1 Virginia.
 
#9
#9
tvolsfan said:
All right, so was this championship generally accepted at the time, or was there a lot of criticism?
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Generally, it was a pretty quiet year in terms of controversy. At least as quiet as a split national title could be.

I mean to say, there wasn't as much debate with that as there was with Michigan and Nebraska in '97, or LSU and USC in '03.
 
#10
#10
nickknx865 said:
Georgia Tech was aided that year as well. They shot up 9 spots after beating #1 Virginia.
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Virginia was a fraud at that point... They were undefeated prior to that game, but against Kansas, Clemson, Navy, Duke, W&M, NC State and Wake Forest.
 
#11
#11
milohimself said:
My bad.

Clemson and Nebraska were the only teams GA Tech played that were worth a damn IIRC.
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South Carolina was in the top #25 at the time, and GT beat #1 Virginia on the road as well. Not arguing that Colorado's schedule wasn't tougher, but just saying.
 
#12
#12
When the initial BCS idea came out in 98 then went back to see how it would have affected prior seasons and Ga Tech would not have even played for the title that year. They probably didn't even deserve their share of it truthfully.
 
#13
#13
tigervol9802 said:
When the initial BCS idea came out in 98 then went back to see how it would have affected prior seasons and Ga Tech would not have even played for the title that year. They probably didn't even deserve their share of it truthfully.
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Seriously? This year, it definitely doesn't seem like a a tougher schedule will trump an unbeaten mid major, let a lone an unbeaten major conference team.

Although the system has changed since 1998.
 
#14
#14
Until fairly recently there was a significant bias against southern teams not named Alabama in national polls. Even though it is not the case anymore, I think its after effect is the "Team SEC" thing that annoys the rest of the country.
 
#15
#15
I lived in Atlanta at the time. The fans were just ecstatic to get a share. At the time people did not get really angry about "shared" the way some other fan bases did.

Alabama fans do not mind sharing championships as long as they get called champion by someone, somewhere, they will add it to the total number.
 
#16
#16
tvolsfan said:
Seriously? This year, it definitely doesn't seem like a a tougher schedule will trump an unbeaten mid major, let a lone an unbeaten major conference team.

Although the system has changed since 1998.
Click to expand...

I kid you not. I didn't believe it either when I first heard it. In 98 it was 1/3 polls, 1/3 computer, and 1/3 SOS. I believe the computers and SOS were what hurt them.
 
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