‘Not to slam the others,’ but Colorado insists it was consensus champ over Tech in ‘90
One week after playing in a loud, lively, cowbell-clanging stadium in Starkville, Miss., Georgia expects to find another charged environment in Boulder, Colo.
In conjunction with the Georgia-Colorado game at Folsom Field on Saturday, the Buffaloes will celebrate the 20th anniversary of, as Colorado puts it, “the 1990 consensus national championship team.”
After the 1990 season, Colorado finished No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and Georgia Tech No. 1 in the United Press International poll. Both schools can rightfully claim national championships for that year.
But Colorado insists it was the “consensus” champion, explaining its position at length in a media release previewing this week’s game against, ironically, Tech’s arch-rival:
Now apparently, our use of the word “consensus” upsets a few folks around the country. It’s not to slam the others, but rather to strengthen CU’s case for that season since many point to the Fifth Down game or the clip on Raghib Ismail’s punt return in the Orange Bowl and say our title is tainted. But fact is fact; at the time nine (*) basic postseason polls were recognized as determining a unanimous or consensus national champion; Colorado topped six of those: *Associated Press, *FWAA (Football Writers Association of America), *National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame (MacArthur Trophy), *USA Today-CNN, *Sporting News and *Football News; Georgia Tech won the *United Press International poll (by 1 point) and Miami, Fla., the *Sagarin and *New York Times computer ratings. In the NCAA Record book listing for 1990, it shows 19 different groups that declared a national champion; 11 voted outright for Colorado and three each for Georgia Tech and Miami; one (National Championship Foundation) split it between CU and Tech, and another (FACT, a computer ranking) voted for four, including Washington.
Got all that?
Anyway, Colorado expects to have at least 73 players from its 1990 team in attendance for two days of 20th-anniversary festivities Friday and Saturday. Bill McCartney, the Buffaloes’ head coach in ‘90, and five of his assistants will be on hand. The ‘90 team will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game, which is expected to draw a sellout crowd.
“It looks like they’re going to be revved up,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Plus they had an open date [last week] to get all fired up about it, too.”
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222 comments Add your comment
Delbert D.
September 30th, 2010
6:46 pm
Clarification – 2 big errors: Adding “fraud” to your statement , and leaving out “maybe” in several places. There are no Division 1a “National Champions” recognized by the NCAA for football, because there is no playoff system. The polls have their ways of choosing. Who perpetuated the alleged fraud? The coaches that decided (by 1 vote) that Georgia Tech was ranked #1 ahead of Colorado? Were the sportswriters and sportscasters equally fraudulent in voting for the AP poll?
The BCS system (which the NCAA does not recognize) is no more useful than the former Bowl Coalition (which the NCAA dies not recognize), or the polling by various entities (that the NCAA does not recognize) prior to it. These argument will happen every year until there is a true playoffs among conference champions.
seriously
September 30th, 2010
6:49 pm
I M PRETTY SURE TECH GOT THE CRYSTAL BALL , YEAH ITS IN THE TROPHY CASE
Delbert D.
September 30th, 2010
7:01 pm
In 1991, again there was no concensus. Miami was picked by the AP(and as slew of others), and Washington was picked by the coaches – USA Today/CNN that year – and a slew of others. AP #1 Miami beat #11 Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl, and AP #2 Washington beat #4 Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
Clarification
September 30th, 2010
7:23 pm
George,
Yes, the 5th down was the last play of the game, but I don’t see how that is relevant. My point is that, had the officials kept proper track of the downs, Colorado would have run a different set of plays, and most certainly wouldn’t have SPIKED IT on 4th down(which they thought was 3rd, because of errant officiating). There’s no telling what would have happened on 4th down if the down markers had been correct.
Again, Colorado won within the structure presented to them by the officials. I have no problem with them claiming the win in that game.
True, no one can say definitively that CU, or any of the other powerhouses that year, would have beaten GTU, however one CAN make the argument, as I and others have, that GTU played a poor schedule that year in comparison, and that its success was a flash in the pan, which I demonstrated by showing GTU’s lack of a national ranking in any other year outside of 1990.
I find it hilarious that you tell me to “check the record books,” when it’s obvious that you have in no way done this yourself. From 1989 to 1996, CU was ranked in the final top 5 FOUR TIMES, the final top 10 FIVE TIMES, and the final top 20 EVERY YEAR. Their record during this 8 year period was 88-18-5, with SIX 10+ win seasons(back when 10 win seasons still meant something). That is sustained, and yes, ELITE, success over an 8 year stretch.
How many final rankings did Tech achieve over that period? ONE. And of course they were immediately exposed the first game of 1991 by Penn State. Face it, the 1990 GT team was good, but their undefeated season was the result of tremendous luck and a favorable schedule. CU deserved that title after playing four eventual conference champions and a top 5 ND team in the bowl, and I have no doubt in my mind they would have whipped GTU. It’s no coincidence that CU won most of the selectors and GTU’s claim, despite being unbeaten, was based on a 1 point win in the coaches poll.
George
September 30th, 2010
7:28 pm
Clarification – you restated the same, biased opinions again – not FACTS. And, just for clarification there is no GTU; there never has been, but facts are not your strong suit are they? Get your facts straight then post something intelligent next time. Otherwise you just look stupid.
DOO DOO LEE
September 30th, 2010
7:31 pm
if I were you Tim Tucker, I would be more concerned about what I looked like on video cam…S C A R Y….nothing like the pic posted, not trying to be ugly, but why can you not spend some time working out along with the majority of the uga male fan base…layoff the barbque before it is too late…Colorado didn’t even go undefeated that year not to mention the 5 downs given to beat Notre Dame so who cares what they think
George
September 30th, 2010
7:47 pm
Clarification – Colorado football is best known for its infamous FIFTH DOWN; the most notorious gaff by officials in college football history (although Cornell shares that shame also). For Colorado to celebrate that mistake this year speaks volumes about Colorado football. Everyone knows that the real reason that Colorado celebrates 1990, despite the fraudulent win against Missouri, is that it is the ONLY MNC Colorado has ever won. Too bad the MNC was a fraud. ONE, yes ONE National Championship since 1890; yeah, that’s a lot of tradition! I suppose you consider ONE MNC every 120 years as having established an elite football program. What a joke.
Delbert D.
September 30th, 2010
7:47 pm
Just win ‘em all and let the polls settle it. The USA Today/CNN/ESPN coaches poll is bound by contract to select the winner of the BCS final game as #1. The AP can select whoever gets the most points in their voting system.
Delbert D.
September 30th, 2010
7:59 pm
In 2006 Florida was voted (or selected, by numerical/computer systems) #1 in all polls except the Harris poll, who selected Ohio St.
In 2007, LSU was selected #1 by all except Harris (Ohio St.) and Dunkle (USC).
The Harris Interactive poll was made a member of the BCS in 2009. The Dunkle system is a power index system which began in 1929.
Camden Mark
September 30th, 2010
8:52 pm
Coming from an old Dawg. That 90 Tech team would have beat the beefalo poop out of that 90 CU team.
That “D” with Colman,Battle,Rudolph and Co would have killed those guys
Sensei John Kreese
September 30th, 2010
9:59 pm
After reading through several of the comments about the 1990 GA Tech team on this fine UGA blog, at NO time, in the future, is ANY Tech fan permitted to give ANY fan of another team grief about “living in the past”.
JAH
September 30th, 2010
10:43 pm
Not saying GT isn’t good or doesn’t deserve the NC, but I can see why the Buffs got the AP votes (a group of sports writers mostly from the east coast and with a bias towards that). Buffs played a hell of a schedule that year and I think you will be hard pressed to find another NC team that played 7 ranked opponents in a 13 game schedule, that’s greater than 50% of their games. Anyway, this why the Buffs nabbed so many poll. An additional note, if Tom Osborne had voted for the Buffs that year, they would have the Coaches Poll as well. I guess that’s due to the severe butt kicking GT gave his team compared to ours, not due to any dislike for the CU program as many would believe.
PF Opponent PA
21 North Carolina St. 13
44 Tennessee-Chattanooga 9
27 South Carolina 6
31 Maryland 3
21 (#9/#9) Clemson (SC) 19
13 North Carolina 13
48 Duke (NC) 31
41 (#23/#15) Virginia 38
6 (NR/#25) Virginia Tech 3
42 Wake Forest (NC) 7
40 Georgia 23
45 (#24/#17) Nebraska 21
379 Season Totals 186
PF Opponent PA
31 (#8/#7) Tennessee 31
21 Stanford (CA) 17
22 (#25/#24) Illinois 23
29 (#12/#11) Texas 22
20 (#5/#5) Washington 14
33 Missouri 31
28 Iowa St. 12
41 Kansas 10
32 (#17/NR) Oklahoma 23
27 (#24/#17) Nebraska 12
41 Oklahoma St. 22
64 Kansas St. 3
10 (#6/#6) Notre Dame 9
399 Season Totals 229
poolman63
October 1st, 2010
7:51 am
Let’s just put it this way, 1990 Colorado and 2007 LSU are the worst National Champions ever. While teams like 2004 Auburn get nothing? That’s BS or BcS.
gtforever
October 1st, 2010
8:47 am
Just take care of business. Beat them like a drum. Show them what Georgia football looks like! In this one instance…… GO DAWGS!
?????
October 1st, 2010
9:28 am
What is this “GTU” that this person keeps referring to? Perhaps some “clarification” on this would be in order.
kwc
October 1st, 2010
11:07 am
Funny thing is ,if colorado doesnt win that game we wouldnt be talking about fifth down,we would be talking about missouri rigging the field that day.
Jon
October 1st, 2010
1:42 pm
Huh. There are people that still care about the Buffaloes? Sure doesn’t show like it at Folsm Field.
81Dog
October 2nd, 2010
1:38 pm
all you GTU apologists who righteously demand that Colorado should have forfeited the 5th down game, please tell me: how many of you are willing to forfeit the 1990 basketball regional final you won when Kenny Anderson was awarded a 3 at the buzzer for a shot that was taken with his foot on the line, and after time expired? Or the Jasper Sanks non-fumble game?
yeah, that’s what I thought. And quit talking about how you beat “then #1 Virginia!” They were horrible. They played a creampuff schedule, and the wheels came completely off the bus after you nipped them by what, a point? Any of you nerds who think you had the best team in America that year should wake up and smell the Zima. Be glad you won the Coaches Poll as (I suppose) a rebuke to Bill McCartney.
and for the nerd who keeps asking “who is this GTU,” why just ask former self proclaimed GTU great Stephon Marbury, one of the greatest players to ever spend almost two whole quarters there. That’s what he called it. Who am I to argue with him?
Ed
October 2nd, 2010
5:48 pm
Pretty big talk for a team that should have been 10-2-1 (Missouri beat them, period) and could have been 9-3-1 (still not sure what was called on Ismail’s punt return). Until LSU in ‘07 they were the least deserving national champion in recent memory. They should wake up every morning and pinch themselves that they got a piece of the national title. Colorado was kind of a media darling in those days.
Ed
October 2nd, 2010
5:56 pm
1990 Colorado and 2007 LSU are all the evidence you need that the national championship in college football is a joke. It was something made up by the media to give independents of the day like Notre Dame and Army something to play for besides a won-loss record.
And I make no exceptions for Georgia’s 1980 national championship. It was a glorious and magical year, but Pitt probably had the most dominant team that year. We had a ton of luck and won the Sugar Bowl despite something like 135 yards of offense and 1-13 passing. And our 1942 “championship” was awarded something like 50 years after the fact. How is that possible?
KPz
October 3rd, 2010
3:29 am
I was at the game, the Missouri strong safety and I had a class together. CU didn’t even score on the 5th down. Gospel.
Bob
October 3rd, 2010
10:49 am
I was at spring break in South Padre with a bunch of CU players in 1990. One openly admitted that alums gave them envelopes of money a couple times a month. How else could they have gone from nothing to Natl. Champs in a few short years? True story, Buffs.