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College Football in 1991

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I've been trying for a while to figure out some sort reoccurring entry for what's become my favorite sport to watch on television in the last several years and that's college football. But I haven't been able to come up with anything to this point so I figured I'd post some memories and some useless facts which is what this blog was created for.

 

As I've said before my "sports life" began in 1986 but it wasn't until 1991 that I took a true interest in college football. Really two things stuck out and that was Desmond Howard and that Stanford had a good team for the first time in a while. Howard was the hyped player that seemed to deliver every week. I will never forget watching that Michigan/Ohio State game when he struck the Heisman pose after a punt return for a touchdown. There was this sense from the announcers and the crowd that right before the punt that he was going to do something big. Him striking that pose in perfect unison with Keith Jackson's "Hello Heisman" call is I think one of the truly cool moments sports history.

 

Now since I had started following sports with a rabid interest Stanford had been lackluster in football, except in 1986 when they played in the Gator Bowl but again I wasn't into college football at the time. The year before they had pulled off a shocking upset of then #1 Notre Dame in South Bend but need nothing of note after that. In '91 they had an early season upset of Colorado but were only 2-3 after five games. Starting quarterback Jason Polumbus was knocked with a shoulder injury and back up Steve Stenstrom took over, leading the Cardinal to six straight victories and just their second bowl bid in 13 years. I still have on tape and watch at least once a year their 38-21 ass kicking of then #6 Cal in the Big Game that year with "Touchdown" Tommy Vardell scoring three td's.

 

Now on to the useless facts. 1991 may have been as reponsible as any year for the creation of the BCS because it ended with a split national champ between two undefeated schools who could not play each other in the bowls, Miami and Washington. Miami was ranked higher in the preseason poll so they ended up higher than Washington at the end of the season although it was near upset against a weak Boston College team (week after Wide Right I) that cost Miami the top spot in the Coaches' Poll.

 

Preseason AP Top 25

1. Florida State

2. Michigan

3. Miami

4. Washington

5. Florida

6. Notre Dame

7. Penn State

8. Georgia Tech

9. Clemson

10. Oklahoma

11. Tennessee

12. Houston

13. Colorado

14. Texas

15. Nebraska

16. USC

17. Auburn

18. Iowa

19. BYU

20. Michigan State

21. Texas A&M

22. Alabama

23. Ohio State

24. UCLA

25. Syracuse

 

Top 25 Regular Season Match-ups

 

Week 1

#7 Penn State 34, #8 Georgia Tech 22

#1 Florida State 44, #19 BYU 28

 

Week 2

#23 UCLA 27, #25 BYU 23

 

Week 3

#2 Miami 40, #10 Houston 10

#3 Michigan 24, #7 Notre Dame 14

#6 Florida 35, #16 Alabama 0

#11 Tennessee 30, #21 UCLA 16

#23 Baylor 16, #12 Colorado 14

 

Week 4

#4 Washington 36, #9 Nebraska 21

#18 Syracuse 38, #5 Florida 21

#6 Tennessee 26, #23 Mississippi State 24

 

Week 5

#1 Florida State 51, #3 Michigan 31

#5 Tennessee 30, #13 Auburn 21

#7 Clemson 9, #19 Georgia Tech 7

#14 Florida 29, #21 Mississippi State 7

#16 Nebraska 18, #24 Arizona State 9

 

Week 6

#1 Florida State 46, #10 Syracuse 14

#7 Michigan 43, #9 Iowa 24

#18 California 27, #24 UCLA 24

#19 N.C. State 28, #21 Georgia Tech 21

 

Week 7

#2 Miami 26, #9 Penn State 20

#10 Florida 35, #4 Tennessee 18

#7 Notre Dame 42, #12 Pittsburgh 7

#20 Illinois 10, #11 Ohio State 7

#22 Georgia 37, #23 Mississippi State 17

 

Week 8

#3 Washington 24, #7 California 17

#14 Alabama 24, #8 Tennessee 19

#22 Colorado 34, #12 Oklahoma 17

#15 Iowa 24, #13 Illinois 21

#19 Texas A&M 34, #16 Baylor 12

#24 Syracuse 31, #20 Pittsburgh 27

 

Week 9

#19 Clemson 29, #12 N.C. State 19

#20 East Carolina 24, #23 Pittsburgh 23

 

Week 10

#9 Nebraska 19, #15 Colorado 19 tie

#11 Iowa 16, #13 Ohio State 9

#21 Baylor 9, #24 Arkansas 5

 

Week 11

#13 Tennessee 35, #5 Notre Dame 34

#6 Florida 45, #23 Georgia 13

#10 Iowa 38, #25 Indiana 21

#24 Virginia 42, #18 N.C. State 10

 

Week 12

#2 Miami 17, #1 Florida State 16

#4 Michigan 20, #25 Illinois 0

#8 Penn State 35, #12 Notre Dame 13

 

Week 13

#4 Michigan 31, #18 Ohio State 3

#21 Stanford 38, #6 California 21

 

Week 14

#5 Florida 14, #3 Florida State 9

#11 Nebraska 19, #19 Oklahoma 14

 

Bowl Games

California: Bowling Green 28, Fresno State 21 (MVP, Mark Szlachcic)

Aloha: Georgia Tech 18, #17 Stanford 17 (MVP, Shawn Jones)

Blockbuster: #8 Alabama 30, #15 Colorado 25 (MVP, David Palmer)

Liberty: Air Force 38, Mississippi State 15 (MVP, Rob Perez)

Independence: #24 Georgia 24, Arkansas 15 (MVP, Andre Hastings)

Gator: #20 Oklahoma 48, Virginia 14 (MVP, Cale Gundy)

Holiday: BYU 13, #7 Iowa 13 tie (MVP, Ty Detmer)

Freedom: #23 Tulsa 28, San Diego Sate 17 (MVP, Ron Jackson)

Copper: Indiana 24, Baylor 0 (MVP, Vaughn Dunbar)

Sun: #22 UCLA 6, Illinois 3 (MVP, Arnold Ale)

Citrus: #14 California 37, #13 Clemson 13 (MVP, Mike Pawlawski)

Peach: #12 East Carolina 37, #21 N.C. State 34 (MVP, Jeff Blake)

Cotton: #5 Florida State 10, #9 Texas A&M 2 (MVP, Sean Jackson)

Orange: #1 Miami 22, #11 Nebraska 0 (MVP, Larry Jones)

Fiesta: #6 Penn State 42, #10 Tennessee 17 (MVP, O.J. McDuffie)

Hall of Fame: #16 Syracuse 24, #25 Ohio State 17 (MVP, Marvin Graves)

Rose: #2 Washington 34, #4 Michigan 14 (MVP, Steve Emtman)

Sugar: #18 Notre Dame 39, #3 Florida 28 (MVP, Jerome Bettis)

 

Final AP Top 25

1. Miami

2. Washington

3. Penn State

4. Florida State

5. Alabama

6. Michigan

7. Florida

8. California

9. East Carolina

10. Iowa

11. Syracuse

12. Texas A&M

13. Notre Dame

14. Tennessee

15. Nebraska

16. Oklahoma

17. Georgia

18. Clemson

19. UCLA

20. Colorado

21. Tulsa

22. Stanford

23. BYU

24. N.C. State

25. Air Force

 

All-Americans

 

QB

Ty Detmer, BYU

Casey Weldon, Florida State

 

RB

Vaughn Dunbar, Indiana

Trevor Cobb, Rice

Russell White, California

Amp Lee, Florida State

Marshall Faulk, San Diego State

 

WR

Desmond Howard, Michigan

Mario Bailey, Washington

Carl Pickens, Tennessee

 

TE

Kelly Blackwell, TCU

Derek Brown, Notre Dame

Mark Chmura, Boston College

 

OL

Greg Skrepenak, Michigan

Bob Whitfield, Stanford

Jeb Flesch, Clemson

Jerry Ostroski, Tulsa

Mirko Jurkovic, Notre Dame

Jay Leeuwenburg, Colorado

Eugene Chung, Virginia Tech

Leon Searcy, Miami

Troy Auzenne, California

Ray Roberts, Virginia

Tim Simpson, Illinois

 

DL

Steve Emtman, Washington

Santana Dotson, Baylor

Brad Culpepper, Florida

Leroy Smith, Iowa

Joel Steed, Colorado

Shane Dronett, Texas

Rob Bodine, Clemson

Robert Stewart, Alabama

 

LB

Robert Jones, East Carolina

Marvin Jones, Florida State

Levon Kirkland, Colorado

Marco Coleman, Georgia Tech

David Hoffman, Washington

Steve Tovar, Ohio State

Joe Bowden, Oklahoma

Darrin Smith, Miami

Erick Anderson, Michigan

 

DB

Terrell Buckely, Florida State

Dale Carter, Tennessee

Kevin Smith, Texas A&M

Darryl Williams, Miami

Darren Perry, Penn State

Troy Vincent, Wisconsin

 

K

Carlos Huerta, Miami

Jason Hanson, Washington State

 

P

Mark Bounds, Texas Tech

 

KR

Qadry Ismail, Syrcause

 

PR

Kevin Williams, Miami

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I remember watching that year's Peach Bowl. It was a great game.

 

Ugh, now seeing almost all these guys are retired, I'm old.

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