American Football Database
Register
Advertisement

The 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State crowned national champions, but not without controversy.

Under the Bowl Coalition, undefeated Big 8 champ and #2 ranked Nebraska hosted ACC champ and #1 ranked Florida State in the Orange Bowl. In theory this should have produced a clear champion, however then #2 Notre Dame had beaten then #1 Florida State 31-24 during the regular season, in a game known by many as the "Game of the Century". This much hyped clash between #1 and #2 was the site of the first ever "live" broadcast of the ESPN College GameDay show and did not fail to live up to expectations as Irish defensive back Shawn Wooden batted down a Charlie Ward pass in the end zone with three seconds left to play. Though Notre Dame's title chances ended when they lost to #17 Boston College. Further controversy surrounded the inclusion of one-loss Florida State in the national title game over undefeated West Virginia, who was ranked #2 (ahead of Florida State) by the final regular season coaches' poll. Further complicating the issue was that Auburn finished the regular season undefeated, but was on probation and ineligible for postseason play.

Despite beating Florida State in the regular season and finishing the year with the same record as the Seminoles, Notre Dame finished #2 in both major polls.

Florida State's Charlie Ward threw for 3,032 yards, completed 70 percent of his passes and became the first player to win the Heisman Trophy and the national championship in the same season since Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett in 1976.

Penn State also played their first year as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Another Big West member and Cal State school dropped football, this time Cal State Fullerton. The league picked up four other teams; Southwest Louisiana (later Louisiana-Lafayette) and Arkansas State which had just made the jump to Division IA, and former independents Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech.

The Alamo Bowl played its inaugural game.

The Sunshine Classic was no longer sponsored by Blockbuster Entertainment, and was now known as the Carquest Bowl.

Prior to this season, the distance between the hashmarks was narrowed from 53 feet, 4 inches (the same as high school football) to 40 feet (the standard used by the National Football League through the 1971 season). This cut down on severe angles for kickers who attempted short field goals, although angles would still be far greater than those encountered by kickers in the NFL, where the hashmarks are the same width as the goalposts, 18 feet, 6 inches.

Final Conference Standings[]

1993 ACC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
#1 Florida State   8 0         12 1  
#19 North Carolina   6 2         10 3  
#23 Clemson   5 3         9 3  
Virginia   5 3         7 5  
NC State   4 4         7 5  
Georgia Tech   3 5         5 6  
Duke   2 6         3 8  
Maryland   2 6         2 9  
Wake Forest   1 7         2 9  
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Big 8 football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#3 Nebraska 7 0 0     11 1 0
#16 Colorado 5 1 1     8 3 1
#20 Kansas State 4 2 1     9 2 1
#17 Oklahoma 4 3 0     9 3 0
Kansas 3 4 0     5 7 0
Missouri 2 5 0     3 7 1
Iowa State 2 5 0     3 8 0
Oklahoma State 0 7 0     3 8 0
*† – Bowl Coalition representative as champion
‡ – Bowl Coalition at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Big East football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#7 West Virginia 7 0 0     11 1 0
#15 Miami 6 1 0     9 3 0
#13 Boston College 5 2 0     9 3 0
#22 Virginia Tech 4 3 0     9 3 0
Syracuse 3 4 0     6 4 1
Pittsburgh 2 5 0     3 8 0
Rutgers 1 6 0     4 7 0
Temple 0 7 0     1 10 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Big Ten football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#6/5 Wisconsin § 6 1 1     10 1 1
#11/10 Ohio State § 6 1 1     10 1 1
#8/7 Penn State 6 2 0     10 2 0
Indiana 5 3 0     8 4 0
#21/19 Michigan 5 3 0     8 4 0
Illinois 5 3 0     5 6 0
Michigan State 4 4 0     6 6 0
Iowa 3 5 0     6 6 0
Minnesota 3 5 0     4 7 0
Northwestern 0 8 0     2 9 0
Purdue 0 8 0     1 10 0
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll
1993 Big West Conference football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Southwestern Louisiana § 5 1 0     8 3 0
Utah State § 5 1 0     7 5 0
Nevada 5 2 0     7 4 0
New Mexico State 4 3 0     5 6 0
Northern Illinois 3 3 0     4 7 0
Pacific 2 4 0     3 8 0
UNLV 2 4 0     3 8 0
Louisiana Tech 2 4 0     2 9 0
San Jose State 2 4 0     2 9 0
Arkansas State 1 5 0     2 8 1
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Mid-American Conference football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Ball State 7 0 1     8 3 1
Western Michigan 6 1 1     7 3 1
Bowling Green 5 1 2     6 3 2
Central Michigan 5 4 0     5 6 0
Akron 4 4 0     5 6 0
Ohio 4 5 0     4 7 0
Eastern Michigan 3 5 0     4 7 0
Toledo 3 5 0     4 7 0
Miami 3 6 0     4 7 0
Kent State 0 9 0     0 11 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Pacific-10 football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#18 UCLA § 6 2 0     8 4 0
#10 Arizona § 6 2 0     10 2 0
USC § 6 2 0     8 5 0
Washington 5 3 0     7 4 0
#25 California 4 4 0     9 4 0
Arizona State 4 4 0     6 5 0
Washington State 3 5 0     5 6 0
Oregon 2 6 0     5 6 0
Stanford 2 6 0     4 7 0
Oregon State 2 6 0     4 7 0
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 SEC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Eastern Division
#5 Florida x 7 1 0     11 2 0
#12 Tennessee 6 1 1     9 2 1
Kentucky 4 4 0     6 6 0
Georgia 2 6 0     5 6 0
South Carolina 2 6 0     4 7 0
Vanderbilt 1 7 0     4 7 0
Western Division
#4 Auburn 8 0 0     11 0 0
#14 Alabama x 5 2 1     9 3 1
Arkansas 3 4 1     5 5 1
LSU 3 5 0     5 6 0
Ole Miss 3 5 0     5 6 0
Mississippi State 2 5 1     3 6 2
Championship: Florida 28, Alabama 13
† – Conference champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
  • Auburn had the best division record, but did not participate in postseason play due to NCAA probation. Alabama later forfeited all 1993 regular season wins and one tie due to NCAA violations.
    Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Southwest Conference football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#9 Texas A&M 7 0 0     10 2 0
Texas 5 2 0     5 5 1
Texas Tech 5 2 0     6 6 0
Rice 3 4 0     6 5 0
Baylor 3 4 0     5 6 0
TCU 2 5 0     4 7 0
SMU 1 5 1     2 7 2
Houston 1 5 1     1 9 1
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 WAC football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Fresno State § 6 2 0     8 4 0
Wyoming § 6 2 0     8 4 0
BYU § 6 2 0     6 6 0
Utah 5 3 0     7 6 0
Colorado State 5 3 0     5 6 0
New Mexico 4 4 0     6 5 0
San Diego State 4 4 0     6 6 0
Hawaii 3 5 0     6 6 0
Air Force 1 7 0     4 8 0
UTEP 0 8 0     1 11 0
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1993 Division I-A independents football records
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
No. 2 Notre Dame         11 1 0
No. 24 Louisville         9 3 0
Cincinnati         8 3 0
Army         6 5 0
Memphis         6 5 0
Tulsa         4 6 1
Navy         4 7 0
Tulane         3 9 0
Southern Miss         2 8 1
East Carolina         2 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll

#1 and #2 Progress[]

Florida State's Seminoles were the unanimous choice for #1 beginning with the October 19 poll and the three after that, receiving all 62 votes. After Notre Dame's 31-24 defeat of Florida State on November 13, Notre Dame got all 62 first place votes in the next poll.

WEEKS #1 #2 Event Date
PRE - 7 Florida State Alabama Tennessee 17, Alabama 17 Oct 16
8 - 11 Florida State Notre Dame Notre Dame 31, Florida St. 24 Nov 13
12 Notre Dame Florida State Boston College 41, Notre Dame 39 Nov 20
13-15 Florida State Nebraska Florida State 18, Nebraska 16 Jan 1

Bowl Games[]

Final AP Poll[]

  1. Florida State
  2. Notre Dame
  3. Nebraska
  4. Auburn
  5. Florida
  6. Wisconsin
  7. West Virginia
  8. Penn State
  9. Texas A&M
  10. Arizona
  11. Ohio State
  12. Tennessee
  13. Boston College
  14. Alabama
  15. Miami (FL)
  16. Colorado
  17. Oklahoma
  18. UCLA
  19. North Carolina
  20. Kansas State
  21. Michigan
  22. Virginia Tech
  23. Clemson
  24. Louisville
  25. California

Final Coaches Poll[]

  1. Florida St.
  2. Notre Dame
  3. Nebraska
  4. Florida
  5. Wisconsin
  6. West Virginia
  7. Penn St.
  8. Texas A&M
  9. Arizona
  10. Ohio St.
  11. Tennessee
  12. Boston College
  13. Alabama
  14. Oklahoma
  15. Miami (FL)
  16. Colorado
  17. UCLA
  18. Kansas St.
  19. Michigan
  20. Virginia Tech
  21. North Carolina
  22. Clemson
  23. Louisville
  24. California
  25. Southern California

Heisman Trophy Voting[]

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

Winner: Charlie Ward, Florida State, Quarterback (2310 votes)

Other Major Awards[]

References[]


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with American Football Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Advertisement