1998 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first of the Bowl Championship Series, which saw Tennessee win the national championship, one year after star quarterback Peyton Manning left for the NFL. The Volunteers defeated the Florida State Seminoles 23-16 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona to secure the inaugural BCS National Championship.

The BCS combined elements of the old Bowl Coalition and the Bowl Alliance it replaced. The agreement existed between the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowls, the Cotton Bowl Classic diminishing in status since the breakup of the Southwest Conference. Like the Bowl Alliance, a national championship game would rotate between the four bowls, with the top two teams facing each other. These teams were chosen based upon a BCS poll, combining the AP poll, the Coaches poll, and a third computer component. The computer factored in things such as strength of schedule, margin of victory, and quality wins without taking into account time (in other words a loss in October and a loss in November were on equal footing).

However, like the Bowl Coalition, the bowls not hosting the national championship would retain their traditional tie-ins.

The first run of the Bowl Championship Series was not without controversy as Kansas State finished third in the final BCS standings but was not invited to a BCS bowl game. Ohio State (ranked 4th) and two-loss Florida (8th) received the at-large bids instead. Also, Tulane went undefeated but finished 10th in the BCS standings and was not invited to a BCS bowl because of their strength of schedule.

Army broke away from almost one hundred years of tradition as an independent, joining Conference USA

Progress of #1 and #2 (AP and BCS)
Ohio State University was ranked first in the AP poll beginning with the preseason and on until the poll after its October 30 28-24 loss to Michigan State.

Final BCS Rankings

 * 1) Tennessee
 * 2) Florida State
 * 3) Kansas State
 * 4) Ohio State
 * 5) UCLA
 * 6) Texas A&M
 * 7) Arizona
 * 8) Florida
 * 9) Wisconsin
 * 10) Tulane
 * 11) Nebraska
 * 12) Arkansas
 * 1) Arkansas

Bowl Games
(As ranked by AP)

Final AP Poll
Others receiving votes: 26. Colorado 46 points, 27. Marshall 45 pts, 28. Oregon 28 pts,29. Mississippi St. 10 pts,30. Miami-OH 9 pts, 31. West Virginia 6 pts, 32. Idaho 2 pts and TCU 2 pts, 34. Mississippi 1 pt and USC 1 pt.

Heisman Trophy Voting
''The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the

Most Outstanding Player of the year'' Winner: Ricky Williams, Texas, Running Back (2335 points)
 * 2. Michael Bishop, Kansas St. (792 points)
 * 3. Cade McNown, UCLA (696 points)
 * 4. Tim Couch, Kentucky (527 points)
 * 5. Donovan McNabb, Syracuse (232 points)

Other Major Awards

 * Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year) - Ricky Williams, Texas
 * Walter Camp Award (Back) - Ricky Williams, Texas
 * Davey O'Brien Award (Quarterback) - Michael Bishop, Kansas St.
 * Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Senior Quarterback) - Cade McNown, UCLA
 * Doak Walker Award (Running Back) - Ricky Williams, Texas
 * Fred Biletnikoff Award (Wide Receiver) - Troy Edwards, Louisiana Tech
 * Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player) - Champ Bailey, Georgia
 * Chuck Bednarik Award - Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M
 * Dick Butkus Award (Linebacker) - Chris Claiborne, USC
 * Lombardi Award (Lineman or Linebacker) - Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M
 * Outland Trophy (Interior Lineman) - Kris Farris, UCLA
 * Jim Thorpe Award (Defensive Back) - Antoine Winfield, Ohio St.
 * Lou Groza Award (Placekicker) - Sebastian Janikowski, Florida St.
 * Paul "Bear" Bryant Award - Bill Snyder, Kansas St.
 * Football Writers Association of America Coach of the Year Award - Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee