The 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States at the NCAA Division I-A level, began in August 1994 and ended on January 2, 1995. Nebraska, who finished the season undefeated, ended the year ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. This was the first national championship of coach Tom Osborne's career at Nebraska, having come close the year before, when Nebraska lost to eventual national champion Florida State on a missed field goal as time expired.
Although Osborne's team finished the season unbeaten, the national championship picture again was engulfed in controversy. For much of the second half of the season, Nebraska and Penn State were regarded as the top two teams in the country. This raised the possibility of a split national championship for the third time since 1990, due in large part to the system in place that had been concocted to avoid a split title.
Following the 1991 season, where Miami and Washington split the national championship in the AP and Coaches' polls, the Bowl Coalition was founded. The Coalition consisted of six bowls, with the Orange, Fiesta, Cotton, and Sugar bowls were all considered potential hosts for a national championship game. Since three of these bowls already had specific tie-ins with conferences, an agreement was struck where the conferences would agree to release those teams from their contractual obligations in order to achieve a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup. For the first two years of the Coalition, this occurred without incident as the Sugar and Orange Bowls in 1993 and 1994 featured No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups in their respective games.
The problem with this as far as 1994 was concerned was that the Rose Bowl, which featured the Pac-10 and Big Ten champions playing each other, was not included in the Coalition and thus a team that finished No. 1 or No. 2 in the polls from those two conferences could not be considered by the Coalition to be its national champion. Nebraska, as a member of the Big Eight Conference, was part of the coalition while Penn State was not. As Nebraska went on to win the conference title, it earned an automatic bid to the Orange Bowl to face off against No. 3 Miami, who won the Big East title and was No. 2 in the Coalition pool. Thus Miami, who as recently as two years earlier was in the Coalition championship game, had a chance to stake a claim as the national champion with a win (as they would have been awarded the Coaches' Trophy) and all but ensure a split title with Penn State provided they defeated No. 13 Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
On January 1, 1995, Nebraska defeated Miami in the Orange Bowl 24–17 and clinched the championship. The next day Penn State defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl by a count of 38–20 and secured the No. 2 spot in the polls.
In the offseason that followed, the Bowl Coalition was disbanded and in its place came the Bowl Alliance, which attempted to serve the same purpose by rotating a national championship game between the Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls. Like the Bowl Coalition before it, the Bowl Alliance did not include the Rose Bowl and two of the three national championship games did not feature a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, with the 1997 season seeing another split national championship.
Conference and program changes The number of teams in Division I-A grew to 107 as Northeast Louisiana University (now Louisiana Monroe) left Division I-AA's Southland Conference and became an independent. Prior to the season, Memphis State University changed its name to the University of Memphis. From 1994 onward, they compete in all athletics as the Memphis Tigers. School 1993 Conference 1994 Conference Northeast Louisiana Indians Southland (I-AA) I-A Independent
Southwest Conference announces dissolution In February 1994, before the season began, an announcement was made regarding the future of the Southwest Conference. In 1991, the SWC became an all-Texas conference as Arkansas left the SWC to join the Southeastern Conference. As 1994 began Texas was rumored to be considering joining the Pac-10 with Big Eight member Colorado (rumors that would resurface over a decade later, which eventually resulted in Colorado joining the Pac-10 with Utah to form the Pac-12), while Texas A&M was reported to be looking at joining the SEC (which they would eventually do in 2012). On February 25, 1994, it was announced that Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Baylor would be joining with all eight of the teams in the Big Eight to form the Big 12 Conference, in 1996. Following this decision, another decision was made regarding the future of remaining SWC members SMU, Houston, TCU, and Rice; SMU, TCU, and Rice would join the Western Athletic Conference while Houston joined Conference USA. (TCU, SMU, and Rice all eventually became part of Conference USA as well, with TCU being the first to join while the other three schools joined as part of the 2005 conference realignment. TCU left for the Mountain West Conference in 2005 and eventually joined their former SWC brethren in the Big 12, while SMU and Houston became part of the American Athletic Conference in 2013 with the former Big East football schools that were still in the conference. Rice joined the AAC in 2023. Houston would eventually accept an invite to the Big 12, joining the conference for the 2023 season, and SMU would join the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024.)
Notable games The Miracle at Michigan: in a September 24 matchup between No. 4 Michigan and No. 7 Colorado, the visiting Buffaloes trailed the host Wolverines 26–14 with 2:16 remaining in the game. Colorado scored two touchdowns in the final minutes, the last being a 64–yard pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook on the last play of the game. Choke at Doak: In the annual matchup between Florida and Florida State, the visiting Gators led the defending national champion Seminoles 31–3 entering the fourth quarter. Florida State rallied to score four touchdowns in the final period, but ran out of time to potentially score the winning points on their last possession and the game ended in a 31–31 tie. Penn State-Indiana: Despite beating No. 21 Ohio State 63–14 in Happy Valley on October 29, Penn State surprisingly dropped to No. 2 in the subsequent AP poll after No. 3 Nebraska defeated No. 2 Colorado 24–7. The Nittany Lions remained No. 1 in the CNN/USA Today Coaches poll by a small margin. Penn State traveled to Indiana for their next game and took a comfortable 35–14 lead in the fourth quarter. Penn State coach Joe Paterno elected to pull his starters with the lead, which allowed Indiana to score two touchdowns late in the game including a deflected Hail Mary and two-point conversion with no time on the clock. Penn State won 35–29, but fell further behind Nebraska in the AP poll and dropped to No. 2 in the CNN/USA Today coaches poll as well. The Indiana game is often cited erroneously as the single point at which Nebraska passed Penn State, but the reality is that the Nittany Lions fell to No. 2 in the AP poll a week prior to that game.
Other notes After being played for the first two years at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, the SEC Championship Game moved to its now-permanent home in Atlanta - first at the Georgia Dome, then at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, the demolition and reconstruction of Gator Bowl Stadium that coincided with the Jacksonville Jaguars' entry into the NFL for 1995 forced the Gator Bowl to move to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville for its 1994 season edition. The game returned to Jacksonville in the newly built Jacksonville Municipal Stadium the following year. Also, John Hancock Insurance's deal for naming rights to the Sun Bowl expired and the game reverted to its former name.
Although Nebraska, Penn State and Alabama were still ranked in the Top 10, many of college football's legendary teams finished the regular season with their lowest rankings in years. Ohio State finished the season ranked 14th in the AP poll while Michigan was No. 20 and USC No. 21. Notre Dame, which started the season ranked fourth, finished the season unranked as did preseason No. 16 Oklahoma.
Rule changes Due to several fighting incidents that occurred during the 1993 season (including one between the Miami Hurricanes and the Colorado Buffaloes that resulted in 12 ejections), the following changes were made: Players involved in fighting on the field will draw a 15-yard penalty and an automatic ejection. If the ejection occurs in the first half, the player(s) will be disqualified for the remainder of the game. If the ejection occurs in the second half (or in overtime as of the 1996 season), the player(s) will be disqualified for the remainder of that game plus the first half of his team's next regularly scheduled game. Players leaving the bench to participate in fights will be ejected for the remainder of the game plus his team's entire next regularly scheduled game. Repeat offenders will be ejected and suspended for the remainder of the season. The officials' jurisdiction over games will begin 60 minutes before kickoff. Any pre-game fights or taunting will be penalized the same as if the fight/taunting occurred during the game, with any yardage penalties enforced on the opening kickoff. The officials' jurisdiction was extended to 90 minutes before kickoff starting with the 2020 season. The prohibition against the use of two-post goalposts is deleted, reversing a 1985 rule. LSU was allowed by the NCAA to place goals with two posts in Tiger Stadium late in the 1993 season in conjunction with its football centennial. Florida State and Washington State quickly followed suit. The use of officials from different conferences ("split crews") was outlawed, except for game contracts signed before January 1, 1994. The NCAA extended the ban to all games before the 1998 season.
Regular season
August–September The top five of the preseason AP Poll were No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Michigan. There was something of a lack of consensus at the top as each of the top four teams received at least ten first-place votes, with fourth-place Nebraska getting the most such votes.
August 28: No. 4 Nebraska shut out No. 24 West Virginia 31–0 in the Kickoff Classic. The other top teams had not begun their schedules, and the Cornhuskers moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Michigan.
September 3: No. 1 Florida overwhelmed New Mexico State 70–21. No. 2 Nebraska was idle. No. 3 Notre Dame won 42–15 at Northwestern, and No. 4 Florida State beat Virginia 41–17. No. 5 Michigan defeated Boston College 34–26, but No. 6 Miami shut out Georgia Southern 56–0 and moved ahead of the Wolverines in the next poll. The voters also made a change at the top: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Miami.
September 8–10: No. 1 Nebraska won 42–16 at Texas Tech while No. 2 Florida blew out Kentucky 73–7, leading the two teams to switch places again. After coming back to take the lead with less than a minute to play, No. 3 Notre Dame lost 26–24 to No. 6 Michigan on a field goal with two seconds left. No. 4 Florida State won 52–20 at Maryland, and No. 5 Miami defeated Arizona State 47–10. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Miami.
September 17: No. 1 Florida visited No. 15 Tennessee and shut the Volunteers out 31–0, No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 13 UCLA 49–21, and No. 3 Florida State won 56–14 at Wake Forest. No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Miami were idle. No. 6 Penn State beat Iowa 61–21 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Penn State.