1992 NCAA Division I-A football season

1992 NCAA Division I-A season
Number of teams 107[1]
Preseason AP #1 Miami Hurricanes[2]
Post-season
Bowl games 18
Heisman Trophy Gino Torretta, Miami, QB
Championship bowl game
1993 Sugar Bowl
Site Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Winner Alabama Crimson Tide
Division I-A football seasons
← 1991
1993 →

The 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Coalition and concluded with Alabama's first national championship in thirteen years—their first since the departure of Bear Bryant. One of Bryant's former players, Gene Stallings, was the head coach, and he used a style similar to Bryant's, a smashmouth running game combined with a tough defense.

The members of the Bowl Coalition were the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic, and Fiesta Bowl. Under the agreement the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Cotton Bowl Classic hosted the Southeastern Conference, Big 8, and Southwest Conference champions, respectively, and then a pool of at large teams was formed between the Atlantic Coast Conference champ, the Big East champ, Notre Dame, and two conference runner ups from the Big 8, SWC, ACC, Big East and Pac-10. The highest ranked host team would play the highest ranked at-large team. If the two highest ranked teams were both at-large teams, the championship game would be hosted by the Fiesta Bowl.

So for this year, (host) SEC champ Alabama played (at-large) Big East Champ Miami-FL, the Orange Bowl featured (host) Big-8 champ Nebraska and (at-large) ACC champ Florida St., the Cotton Bowl Classic featured (host) SWC champ Texas A&M and (at-large) independent Notre Dame, and the Fiesta Bowl featured (at-large) Big East runner up Syracuse and (at-large) Big 8 runner up Colorado.

The 1992 season also saw the expansion of the SEC and the first conference championship game to be played in the country. Before the 1992 season, the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks joined the SEC, which expanded the conference to twelve teams. The conference then split into two divisions, and the winner of each division would face off in the SEC Championship Game in Birmingham's historic Legion Field (later moved to Atlanta's Georgia Dome, in 1994). In the first year of the new system, Alabama won the SEC West, Florida won the SEC East, and the Tide won the match-up 28-21 on an Antonio Langham interception return for a touchdown in the closing minutes.

In the Sugar Bowl, to decide the national champion, Miami came in a heavy favorite with even heavier swagger. The Tide defense, however, with its eleven man fronts and zone blitzes, heavily confused Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta and Alabama won in a defensive rout, 34-13.

In other circles, the Big West Conference lost two members; Fresno State left for the WAC and Long Beach State stopped sponsoring football, but they also gained a member in Nevada, which made the jump from Division I-AA. Possibly in a show of how weak the conference was, Nevada went 5-1 in conference, winning the Big West championship and representing the conference in the 1992 Las Vegas Bowl (formerly the California Bowl held in Fresno, California).

Rule changes

Conference standings

1992 ACC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#2 Florida State † 8 – 0 – 0     11 – 1 – 0
#17 NC State 6 – 2 – 0     9 – 3 – 1
#19 North Carolina 5 – 3 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
#25 Wake Forest 4 – 4 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Virginia 4 – 4 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
Georgia Tech 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Clemson 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Maryland 2 – 6 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
Duke 0 – 8 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Big East football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#3 Miami (FL) 4 – 0 – 0     11 – 1 – 0
#6 Syracuse 6 – 1 – 0     10 – 2 – 0
Rutgers 4 – 2 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
#21 Boston College 2 – 1 – 1     8 – 3 – 1
West Virginia 2 – 3 – 1     5 – 4 – 2
Pittsburgh 1 – 3 – 0     3 – 9 – 0
Virginia Tech 1 – 4 – 0     2 – 8 – 1
Temple 0 – 6 – 0     1 – 10 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Big 8 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#14 Nebraska † 6 – 1 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
#13 Colorado ‡ 5 – 1 – 1     9 – 2 – 1
#22 Kansas 4 – 3 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Oklahoma 3 – 2 – 2     5 – 4 – 2
Oklahoma State 2 – 4 – 1     3 – 7 – 1
Kansas State 2 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Iowa State 2 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Missouri 2 – 5 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
*† – Bowl Coalition representative as champion
‡ – Bowl Coalition at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#5 Michigan † 6 – 0 – 2     9 – 0 – 3
#18 Ohio State 5 – 2 – 1     8 – 3 – 1
Michigan State 5 – 3 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Illinois 4 – 3 – 1     6 – 5 – 1
Iowa 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 7 – 0
Indiana 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Wisconsin 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Purdue 3 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Northwestern 3 – 5 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
Minnesota 2 – 6 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Big West Conference football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Nevada † 5 – 1 – 0     7 – 5 – 0
San Jose State 4 – 2 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
Utah State 4 – 2 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
New Mexico State 3 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
UNLV 3 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
Pacific 2 – 4 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
Cal State Fullerton 0 – 6 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Mid-American Conference football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Bowling Green † 8 – 0 – 0     10 – 2 – 0
Western Michigan 6 – 3 – 0     7 – 3 – 1
Toledo 5 – 3 – 0     8 – 3 – 0
Akron 5 – 3 – 0     7 – 3 – 1
Miami 5 – 3 – 0     6 – 4 – 1
Ball State 5 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Central Michigan 4 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Kent State 2 – 7 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
Eastern Michigan 1 – 7 – 0     1 – 10 – 0
Ohio 1 – 7 – 0     1 – 10 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Pacific-10 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#11 Washington § 6 – 2 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
#9 Stanford § 6 – 2 – 0     10 – 3 – 0
#15 Washington State 5 – 3 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
USC 5 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 1
Arizona 4 – 3 – 1     6 – 5 – 1
Arizona State 4 – 4 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
Oregon 4 – 4 – 0     6 – 6 – 0
UCLA 3 – 5 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
California 2 – 6 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Oregon State 0 – 7 – 1     1 – 9 – 1
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 SEC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Eastern Division
#10 Florida xy 6 – 2 – 0     9 – 4 – 0
#8 Georgia x 6 – 2 – 0     10 – 2 – 0
#12 Tennessee 5 – 3 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
South Carolina 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Kentucky 2 – 6 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Vanderbilt 2 – 6 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Western Division
#1 Alabama x† 8 – 0 – 0     13 – 0 – 0
#16 Ole Miss 5 – 3 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
#23 Mississippi State 4 – 4 – 0     7 – 5 – 0
Arkansas 3 – 4 – 1     3 – 7 – 1
Auburn 2 – 5 – 1     5 – 5 – 1
LSU 1 – 7 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
Championship: Alabama 28, Florida 21
† – Conference champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#7 Texas A&M † 7 – 0 – 0     12 – 1 – 0
Baylor 4 – 3 – 0     7 – 5 – 0
Rice 4 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
Texas 4 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
Texas Tech 4 – 3 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
SMU 2 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Houston 2 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
TCU 1 – 6 – 0     2 – 8 – 1
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 WAC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#20 Hawaii § 6 – 2 – 0     11 – 2 – 0
#24 Fresno State § 6 – 2 – 0     9 – 4 – 0
BYU § 6 – 2 – 0     8 – 5 – 0
San Diego State 5 – 3 – 0     5 – 5 – 1
Air Force 4 – 4 – 0     7 – 5 – 0
Utah 4 – 4 – 0     6 – 6 – 0
Colorado State 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 7 – 0
Wyoming 3 – 5 – 0     5 – 7 – 0
New Mexico 2 – 6 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
UTEP 1 – 7 – 0     1 – 10 – 0
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1992 Division I-A independents football records
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#4 Notre Dame   –       10 – 1 – 1
Southern Miss   –       7 – 4 – 0
Penn State   –       7 – 5 – 0
Memphis   –       6 – 5 – 0
Army   –       5 – 6 – 0
East Carolina   –       5 – 6 – 0
Louisiana Tech   –       5 – 6 – 0
Louisville   –       5 – 6 – 0
Northern Illinois   –       5 – 6 – 0
Tulsa   –       4 – 7 – 0
Cincinnati   –       3 – 8 – 0
Arkansas State   –       2 – 9 – 0
Southwestern Louisiana   –       2 – 9 – 0
Tulane   –       2 – 9 – 0
Navy   –       1 – 10 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll

#1 and #2 progress

Until the November 10, 1992 poll, #1 and #2 shifted between Miami and Seattle, as the Miami Hurricanes and the Washington Huskies were only points apart at the top. In the preseason poll, Miami had 40 of the 62 first place votes cast, and Washington 12. After both teams went 5-0, they each got first place votes from 31 electors, split 31½ each, and on October 13, the Huskies were ahead by a single point 1,517½ to 1,516½. The following week, there was a tie for first place for the first time in the history of the AP poll, with Miami and Washington each collecting 1,517 points (Miami had more first place votes, 31 to 30, as another writer went with 7-0-0 Alabama). The next week, Miami was ahead 1,517 to 1,516, and the week after, Washington was on top again. On November 7, the Huskies lost at Arizona, 16-3 to fall to 8-1-0. In the remaining polls, Miami was the clear cut favorite for #1, with 61 of the 62 votes, and Alabama was everyone's favorite #2. Both finished the regular season unbeaten. Since Miami was an "at-large" school, and Alabama was the highest ranked of the "host schools" (qualifying for the Sugar Bowl as the Southeastern Conference champion), the #1 vs. #2 matchup would take place in New Orleans.

Bowl games

Bowl Game Winning Team Losing Team Date
Peach Bowl #19 North Carolina 21 Mississippi State 17 1/2/93
Sugar Bowl (National Championship Game) #2 Alabama 34 #1 Miami 13 1/1/93
Orange Bowl #3 Florida State 27 #11 Nebraska 14 1/1/93
Cotton Bowl Classic #5 Notre Dame 28 #4 Texas A&M 3 1/1/93
Fiesta Bowl #6 Syracuse 26 #10 Colorado 22 1/1/93
Rose Bowl #7 Michigan 38 #9 Washington 31 1/1/93
Florida Citrus Bowl #8 Georgia 21 #15 Ohio State 14 1/1/93
Blockbuster Bowl #13 Stanford 24 #21 Penn State 3 1/1/93
Hall of Fame Bowl #17 Tennessee 38 #16 Boston College 23 1/1/93
Gator Bowl #14 Florida 27 #12 NC State 10 12/31/92
Liberty Bowl #20 Ole Miss 13 Air Force 0 12/31/92
Independence Bowl Wake Forest 39 Oregon 35 12/31/92
John Hancock Bowl Baylor 20 #22 Arizona 15 12/31/92
Holiday Bowl Hawaii 27 Illinois 17 12/30/92
Copper Bowl #18 Washington St. 31 Utah 28 12/29/92
Freedom Bowl Fresno State 24 #23 USC 7 12/28/92
Aloha Bowl Kansas 23 #25 BYU 20 12/25/92
Las Vegas Bowl Bowling Green 35 Nevada 34 12/18/92

Final rankings

Final AP Poll

  1. Alabama
  2. Florida State
  3. Miami (FL)
  4. Notre Dame
  5. Michigan
  6. Syracuse
  7. Texas A&M
  8. Georgia
  9. Stanford
  10. Florida
  11. Washington
  12. Tennessee
  13. Colorado
  14. Nebraska
  15. Washington State
  16. Mississippi
  17. N.C. State
  18. Ohio State
  19. North Carolina
  20. Hawaii
  21. Boston College
  22. Kansas
  23. Mississippi State
  24. Fresno State
  25. Wake Forest

Final Coaches Poll

  1. Alabama
  2. Florida State
  3. Miami (FL)
  4. Notre Dame
  5. Michigan
  6. Texas A&M
  7. Syracuse
  8. Georgia
  9. Stanford
  10. Washington
  11. Florida
  12. Tennessee
  13. Colorado
  14. Nebraska
  15. N.C. State
  16. Mississippi
  17. Washington State
  18. North Carolina
  19. Ohio State
  20. Hawaii
  21. Boston College
  22. Fresno State
  23. Kansas
  24. Penn State
  25. Wake Forest

Awards and honors

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year.

Winner: Gino Torretta, Miami-FL, Sr. QB (1400 votes)

Other major awards

Coaching changes

In-season

School Outgoing coach Date Reason Replacement
Arkansas Jack Crowe September 6 resigned [3] Joe Kines (interim)
Eastern Michigan Jim Harkema September 29 resigned [4] Jan Quarless (interim)
Pittsburgh Paul Hackett November 25 resigned [5] Sal Sunseri (interim)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1992.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=685
  3. ↑ Associated Press (September 7, 1992). "Arkansas Coach Quits After Loss to The Citadel". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ Blade staff and wire reports (September 30, 1992). "Harkema Quits". Toledo Blade. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  5. ↑ Associated Press (November 28, 1992). "Sunseri takes over Panthers for now". Observer–Reporter. Retrieved December 11, 2013.