This is the fifth in a series of installments that have been running throughout December looking back on great New Year's Days of years gone by. Today it's New Year's morning, even if it is an NFL day today (Let me interject quickly to say--Go 'Skins!!!).But today's a good day to wrap up our historical series as we look ahead to tomorrow's collegiate action. 1993 was the last true New Year's Day the college game had--the last time every major bowl game was played that day and a national champion crowned. On a personal level, my social circle always used to congregate at my parents' house for my mom's chili and to sweat off our hangovers. In '93 we were all just starting to depart college, so this would be the last get-together. It marked the end of an age.
Tomorrow afternoon Barry Alvarez coaches his last game for Wisconsin. 1993 was when he burst on to the national scene. The Badgers climbed slowly, winning their first six games before a loss at Minnesota seemed to mark them as just a very improved program that would go to a minor bowl. Ohio State was the toast of the Big Ten, winning a big non-conference game against Washington and entering mid-November with a perfect record. The Badgers beat Michigan in Madison and set up a battle with the Buckeyes in Camp Randall. The game ended in a 14-14 tie. Ohio State still had a one-game lead, but the Badgers owned the tiebreaker because of the "ineptitude factor"(see Steve Rhoads' explanation of tiebreaker rules). But Buckeye coach John Cooper always had problems with Michigan, and the Wolverines salvaged their season by destroying Ohio State 28-3 in Ann Arbor. Two weeks later Wisconsin traveled to Japan to play their game against Michigan State. A 41-20 win meant UW's first Rose Bowl bid since 1963 was clinched on the far side of the Pacific. They were paired up with UCLA, who overcame an 0-2 non-conference start to win the Pac-10.
Notre Dame enjoyed an outstanding season in '93, coming off a Top 5 finish the year before. Lou Holtz's team was not expected to do great things with the graduation of star quarterback Rick Mirer. But Holtz's best teams were with quarterbacks who could run the option and lightly regarded senior Kevin McDougal could do just that. The Irish beat Michigan on the road to open the year. They began to eye up top-ranked Florida State who was coming to town on November 13. Notre Dame turned in an outstanding performance, beating the Seminoles 31-24 and moving to the top of the polls. One week later, the Irish season took a stunning turn. Their fellow Catholics from Boston College arrived, and kicked a last-second field goal to pull off a 41-39 win. Notre Dame was Cotton Bowl bound to play Texas A&M for the second consecutive year.
With both Notre Dame and FSU now having a loss, Nebraska and lightly-regarded West Virginia were the only unbeaten teams left. The Cornhuskers locked up a weak Big Eight and an Orange Bowl bid. They were #1 in the coaches poll, and #2 with the writers at season's end. But no one gave them a chance against the Seminoles, who got the nod as their opponent.
West Virginia ended Miami's run at the king of the Big East by beating the Hurricanes 20-14 in Morgantown. But the Mountaineers could get no respect and they stayed ranked behind Florida State. As a result they headed to the Sugar Bowl to play SEC champ Florida. They could aspire to a perfect season, but the best they could hope for was a share of the national title if Nebraska lost. As for Miami, after having played the last two New Year's for #1, this time they were 9-2 and Fiesta Bowl-bound. They were scheduled to face Pac-10 runner-up Arizona.
Florida State was the fair-haired boys of the media this season and was actually ranked #1 in the writer's poll. Yes, they were ranked ahead of two major unbeaten teams and another team they'd lost to. The media's coverage of Bobby Bowden as he pursued his first national title was about as objective as the New York Times coverage of George W. Bush.
In the early hours of New Year's some secondary bowl games were going on. Penn State was in its first season in the Big Ten and they played Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. The Lions easily beat the Vols and their #7 ranking was the prelude to a perfect season in 1994.
The rest of the games were worthy of this day's historical status as the last true New Year's. Notre Dame and Texas A&M were locked up at 21, until a big punt return by ND's Mike Miller set up the winning field goal with five minutes left. Arizona left the nation in shock by not only beating Miami, but shutting them out, 29-0. Wisconsin brought so many fans to Pasadena, that the Bruins' home field was dubbed "Camp Randall West." They did not leave disappointed, as quarterback Darrell Bevell made a memorable scramble for a touchdown and UCLA's last drive ran out of time just inside the UW red zone. A 21-16 win was the first of three Rose Bowl triumphs for Alvarez. 
In prime time, Florida spared the country the prospect of seeing West Virginia left out in the cold. The Gators pounded the Mountaineers early and often, on their way to a 41-7 win. The Orange Bowl was another classic as both Tom Osborne and Bowden commanded the nation's sympathy in pursuit of their first crown. A late field goal by Nebraska appeared to give them control at 16-15 with under two minutes left. Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward rushed the 'Noles back into position with considerable help from two very questionable 15-yard penalties issues against the Huskers. FSU kicked a short field goal to make it 18-16 and they looked to have it locked up. Nebraska came charging back, and a last completion to get them in field goal range appeared to have run out the time. Gatorade was dumped on Bowden. But the officials ruled there was still one second on the clock. So with the FSU coach already drenched, the Cornhuskers lined up a field goal of 40+ yards to try and win it. It was badly shanked.
Lou Holtz correctly argued that his team deserved the #1 ranking. No teams were unbeaten, save 11-0 Auburn who was on probation and had not even played the SEC championship game, much less a bowl. Notre Dame and Florida State were the only one-loss teams who had won bowl games. Given that the Irish lost a vote to Miami in 1989 in these same circumstances due to a head-to-head loss, Holtz had historical precedent on his side in arguing his case this year. But the sympathy steamroller for Bowden was too strong and his team won the vote in both polls. This most historic of New Year's was regrettably marred by a shameless display of inconsistency on the part of the voters and some us still think of the '93 Notre Dame squad as an uncrowned champion. Bowden would wait until 1999 to win an unstained title. In 1993, the championship chair was left vacant.
The New Year's era was over. In 1994 the same basic bowl alignment remained, but a scheduling fluke deprived viewers of a complete day of college football. That season, the NFL owned January 1 and scheduled two first-round playoff games (our Bears readers no doubt have fond memories of their waxing of Minnesota that took place that afteroon). For some reason, the Orange Bowl kept its game on New Year's night while the rest of the bowls moved to January 2. And since the '94 Orange saw top-ranked Nebraska beat Miami, the crown was decided by the time everyone took the field for a bowl day. In 1995 four of the major conferences (all but the Big Ten/Pac-10) had established the Bowl Alliance, the forerunner of the BCS. It ensured the top two teams out of these four leagues would play, and the bowl game designated for the national title was moved off of New Year's.
A new era had begun, but the way New Year's used to be will always be a special part of college football's history. May the game's powers-that-be look at bringing it back.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno's search for the national title had been like the search for the Holy Grail. The Nittany Lion master coached unbeaten teams three times--in 1968-69 and 1973 and capped it off with a bowl win. But the caliber of football played in the East in those days did not lend itself to the kind of schedule that could get Paterno's team any respect. 
Down south there were some rumblings about the Sugar Bowl's standing as an undisputed national title game. Southern Methodist went 10-0-1 and won the Southwest Conference. The Mustangs boasted a fearsome 1-2 punch at running back in Eric Dickerson and Craig James. They were dubbed the "Pony Express', and they were #2 in the land. But SMU's schedule was fatally weak, and in the season finale coach Bobby Collins opted to play for a 17-17 tie against Arkansas rather then go for the win and perfect season. A loss would have cost his team a long-sought Cotton Bowl berth, and Collins was unwilling to risk that. SMU's opponent in Dallas would be Penn State's chief rival, Pitt. The Panthers had been #1 earlier in the year and were led by quarterback Dan Marino. The Pitt quarterback had a rough senior season that would result in his falling all the way to 27th in the NFL draft the following spring, and his team had been handed losses by both the Nittany Lions and Notre Dame, preventing them from playing for a national title. 
Paterno was finally a national champion. Ironically, college basketball of this year saw another respected legend also get his first ring. North Carolina's Dean Smith won the Final Four back in March--and in more irony, it had taken place in the very Superdome where Paterno was now carried off the field. Given SMU's record and Paterno's long advocacy of a national playoff, he was asked what his thoughts were on that subject right now--"Next year let's have a playoff, he said. "This year, let's vote." 
Michigan head coach Bo Schembecler helped define football in this conference, and his rivalry with Woody Hayes dominated the Big Ten from 1969-1978. After Hayes retired, Schembecler continued to run the conference's flagship program, earning Rose Bowl bids in 1982 and '86, and getting his only two wins in Pasadena in 1980 and '88. This season's Wolverine team was expected to compete for a national title. That goal slipped away in the opener, when they surrendered two kickoff returns for touchdowns to Notre Dame's Rocket Ismail and lost at home, but UM went on to win its next ten games. A hard-fought win over Illinois in Champaign gave Bo the chance to end his career with back-to-back Rose Bowl wins. His 10-1 Wolverines were matched with traditional power USC, out of the Pac-10. 
The Rose Bowl was a tense affair. It was tied 10-10 late in the game, when a controversial 15-yard penalty against Schembecler helped the Trojans to the winning score in a 17-10 triumph. For the combative Michigan coach, a confrontation with officials and a Rose Bowl loss was an almost sadly appropriate exit to a magnificent career. 
That night, Colorado showed they were in over their head. Notre Dame simply had to much for the Buffs and Lou Holtz's team won 21-6. The Irish coach campaigned for the #1 vote, declaring his team had played the toughest schedule and beaten the top-ranked team in a bowl game. But when Miami survived Alabama in a not-as-close-as-it-sounds 33-25 win, the 'Canes head-to-head win over the Irish was what counted most in the eyes of the voters. 
This is the second in a series of December installments featuring great 
Miami was hungry in primetime. The Hurricanes had lost a potential shot at a national title in 1985 when they were blown out in the Sugar Bowl. In '86 their loss to Penn State in a 1 vs. 2 game in the Fiesta is one of the sport's monumental bowl-game upsets. Playing on their homefield this time, the Hurricanes had to make the third time the charm. And they did. Miami jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, and went to the locker room tied at 7. They seized command in the second half, stretching the lead to 20-7. All season long, the Oklahoma wishbone attack devastated opponents, but Miami's defensive speed was too much for them tonight. The Sooners briefly got back in the game late, on a "fumblerooskie" play, when the quarterback set the ball down on the ground and an offensive lineman scooped it up and ran for a touchdown. But such gimmickry was all OU had left. Barry Switzer was denied, in what would prove to be his last chance at a national championship. Jimmy Johnson had his first. Both men would later coach the Cowboys to a Super Bowl title in the NFL. But tonight belonged to Johnson and Miami. 
The Wolverines won the final battle between Woody and Bo Schembecler, taking a 14-3 win that locked up the Rose Bowl bid. Michigan shared the conference title with Michigan State that year, and had the Buckeyes sprung the upset, the underdogs from East Lansing would have gone to Pasadena. As it was, Bo had a date with Southern Cal and star running back Charles White, as Michigan looked to finally win their coach's first Rose Bowl. 
The Sugar Bowl was played in the early time slot that year (it moved to prime time in 1981), and Alabama and Penn State waged a defensive war. With the Tide leading 14-7, Penn State had first-and-goal on the one-yard line. Four straight times, 'Bama came up with the stop, and the only unbeaten team had fallen. 
Notre Dame fell behind early against Houston 34-12, and quarterback Joe Montana was battling sickness. No doubt many fans turned their TV sets over the battle in the Bayou that was going down at the same time. Montana returned and led the Irish to a stunning 35-34 comeback, hitting the winning touchdown pass in the final seconds. Throughout an NFL career in which the Hall of Famer built his reputation on his clutch abilities, the magic of this moment was never lost underneath the pile of his accomplishments. 
January 1 used to be a feast day of college football. Every conference champion was on display. The national champion was crowned by that night, or at least the arguing had started before the ballots came in the next day. Diehard fans everywhere probably have memories of trying to keep multiple TV sets going, or dragging themselves out of a hangover-drive stupor to get the Cotton Bowl telecast on. Though I am quite certain this latter fact does not apply to ND fans, given Janary 1 is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, honoring the "Grand Lady" for whom the school is named. By nightfall the Orange Bowl was on display, with its legendary halftime show. New Year's Day and college football worked its way into the fabric of the American culture itself. 
