This was the most absurd of what was a season where everything went completely crazy. Week to week, this season was even crazier than the 2007 season that produced a two-loss LSU as national champion ultimately producing a split national title between Colorado and Georgia Tech.
After the Jump, Week by Week through 1990 to explain how on Earth a Colorado team that had that plus a loss and a tie on its resume could possibly earn a share of the national title.
Week 1: Eventual co-national champ Colorado plays Tennessee (both ranked in the preseason top 10) to a 31-31 tie in a neutral site game in Anaheim, California. Remember these two teams as they both play significant roles throughout the season.
Week 2: Top ranked Miami loses to #16 BYU, Colorado luckily escapes unranked Stanford and top 20 Alabama loses to Brett Favre led Southern Miss. BYU jumps all the way into the top five.
Week 3: No College Gameday at game sites at the time or they certainly would have made their way to #1 Notre Dame's win over #4 Michigan. Also, Colorado continues to play poorly and loses 23-22 to eventual co-Big Ten Champ Illinois (the Big Ten Title was split four ways and could have been five if Ohio St. had beaten Indiana instead of tied).
Week 4: The shock losses continued as #5USC was blown out 31-0 by Washington. Meanwhile, Colorado beat a ranked Texas team to stabilize its season.
Week 5: Colorado upsets now #12 Washington (what the heck kind of schedule did the Buffaloes play anyway, Tennessee “won” the SEC (Florida was on probation and ineligible), Washington won the Pac-10, Illinois shared the Big Ten title and Stanford, while the worst of this crew, will figure into the discussion later). Also, Auburn and Tennessee played a top five matchup that ended in a tie, Tennessee's second of the season. The other note is that eventual co-national champ Georgia Tech entered the polls for the first time after a 3-0 start.
Week 6: One of the craziest days in college football history occurred here (there would be a couple more that qualify before the end of the season). Most importantly was the fifth down Colorado-Missouri game. Also, 1-3 Stanford (remember them from earlier) beat #1 Notre Dame in South Bend while #2 Florida St. also lost (at least it was against Miami). By this point things were getting out of hand. Eight teams received at least one first place vote in the AP Poll including new number one team Michigan (carrying its loss to Notre Dame) and Tennessee (with its two ties). Further down the poll, just so everyone knows poll absurdity was the rule back in 1990 just as it is now, USC was ranked in front of Washington despite having been beaten by the Huskies 31-0 earlier in the year and having the same record.
Week 7: Based on what has already transpired, what happened this week? Of course the number one team lost again. This time it was Michigan losing to Michigan St. Also, Oklahoma (who had moved into the top 5 the week before) lost the Red River Shootout to Texas and Tennessee routed top ten Florida 45-3 to give Steve Spurrier his first loss as Florida coach(Spurrier punished Tennessee for a long time after this game). The new number one team was Virginia who had upset Clemson when they were in the top ten early and had been quietly winning its games since (unlike pretty much everyone else).
Week 8: Take your pick of losers on this day. It included pretty much every ranked team (unless they were beating another ranked team) except Virginia. 10 of the top 25 lost and and 11th, Georgia Tech, tied North Carolina. Most shockingly of the bunch was Tennessee losing on a last second field goal to 2-3 Alabama. Also of note was Auburn beating Florida St. to move to number 2 after Notre Dame beat Miami.
Week 9: Finally, a nothing of real interest week. Nobody up top in the polls lost though Colorado smoked Oklahoma and returned to the top ten for the first time since the early loss to Illinois.
Week 10: Three season defining showdowns happened here, all with the underdogs winning them all. Georgia Tech upset top ranked Virginia in the best game of the season 41-38, Colorado upset #3 Nebraska in Lincoln and Florida destroyed #4 Auburn 48-7 (though the Tigers had been living on the edge for quite awhile at that point with a two point win over Louisiana Tech, a win on a blocked extra point against Mississippi St. and the tie against Tennessee on their record. When the dust settled, Notre Dame had returned to the top spot followed by Washington, probation saddled Houston and Colorado.
Week 11: Another week, another week of carnage. Four more top ten teams lost including #2 Washington to a bad UCLA team and #3 Houston to Texas. Also, Tennessee had climbed back to #9 and had one last chance to get back in the race, but lost to Notre Dame (the rare time that a favored top team did what it was supposed to in this season).
Week 12: And of course as soon as Notre Dame won a showdown and looked good to run away with everything, they lost to Penn St. With all the insanity, Colorado moved to number one.
Week 13: Rivalry week produced a zero surprise week. Georgia Tech beat Georgia to jump Miami for the number two spot and nothing else really happened.
Bowl Season: It just wouldn't be college football without more controversy. In the Citrus Bowl, Georgia Tech beat Nebraska to finish the only unbeaten season in college football that season (of course the Yellow Jackets had the tie with unheralded North Carolina on the resume). In the Orange Bowl, Colorado beat Notre Dame on a phantom clipping call that called back Rocket Ismail's game winning punt return touchdown. The final score was 10-9 with a blocked extra point the difference.
Colorado won the AP Poll, but when the coaches poll came out, Georgia Tech reigned supreme by a single point and rumors (the coaches poll final ballots were never released) that Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, the only one to play both teams, cast the ballot that put Georgia Tech over the top over conference mate Colorado.
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