1995 NCAA Division I-A football season

Last updated

1995 NCAA Division I-A season
NCAA primary logo 1980.svg
Number of teams108 [1]
Preseason AP No. 1 Florida State [2]
Postseason
Bowl games 18
Heisman Trophy Eddie George (running back, Ohio State)
Bowl Alliance Championship
1996 Fiesta Bowl
Site Sun Devil Stadium,
Tempe, Arizona
Champion(s) Nebraska (AP, Coaches, FWAA)
Division I-A football seasons
  1994
1996  

The 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Alliance.

Contents

Tom Osborne led Nebraska to its second straight national title with a victory over Florida in the Fiesta Bowl.

This matchup was only possible because of the new Bowl Alliance. Under the old system, Nebraska would have been tied to the Orange Bowl and Florida to the Sugar Bowl. The Bowl Alliance created a national championship game which would rotate between the Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls free of conference tie-ins and featuring the No. 1 and No. 2 teams as chosen by the Bowl Alliance Poll. The Pac-10 and Big Ten chose not to participate, keeping their tie-ins with the Rose Bowl.

Nebraska was a football dynasty, playing in its third consecutive national title game, and became the first school to claim back-to-back titles since the 1970s. This was a dominant Nebraska team, averaging 52 points per game and a 39-point average margin of victory, including a 62–24 victory over Florida. This lopsided victory came after Florida was picked by many sportswriters to win the game.

Ohio State almost created a national title controversy, going into its final regular season game against Michigan undefeated and ranked No. 2. Had they finished the season No. 2 the Bowl Alliance would have been unable to pit No. 1 vs. No. 2 as the Big Ten champ was tied to the Rose Bowl. However, Michigan upset Ohio State. Buckeye running back Eddie George still won the Heisman Trophy.

Things were lively in the state of Florida, where the Florida Gators won their third straight SEC championship. Florida State started the season No. 1, but lost an ACC game for the first time ever when Virginia stopped a last-minute drive a few inches from the end zone, knocking them out of the national title race.

However, Northwestern was able to steal the show as the year's Cinderella story. Its only regular season loss came against Miami-OH. Northwestern began the season with an upset of Notre Dame and went on to defeat Michigan and Penn State later in the season. Undefeated in the Big Ten after decades as a doormat, the Wildcats went on to face USC in the Rose Bowl. However, the Wildcats lost to the Trojans in what was a see-saw game until USC pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Miami and Alabama had to sit the post season out, as they were on NCAA probation.

The Southwest Conference played its final game ever, an 1817 Houston win over Rice. Four of its members would join the Big 8 to form the Big 12; the other four were split between the WAC and the newly formed Conference USA.

The Hall of Fame Bowl, originally played in Birmingham, then moved to Tampa, Florida gained corporate sponsorship, and was now known as the Outback Bowl. The Freedom Bowl was discontinued and the Holiday Bowl absorbed its WAC tie-in.

The first ever Division I-A overtime game was played during the 1995 bowl season, the Las Vegas Bowl between Toledo and Nevada. Overtime would be adopted permanently for all games in 1996. Due to the adoption of overtime, the season-ending 3–3 game between Wisconsin and Illinois on November 25 is the last tied game in Division I-A. [3]

Rule changes

Conference and program changes

One team upgraded from Division I-AA prior to the season. As such, the total number of Division I-A schools increased to 108.

School1994 Conference1995 Conference
North Texas Mean Green Southland Conference I-A Independent

Regular season

August–September

Florida State was the top-ranked team in the preseason AP Poll, with defending champion Nebraska at No. 2 followed by No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Florida.

August 31-September 2: No. 1 Florida State opened their season with a 70-26 blowout of Duke. No. 2 Nebraska was just as dominant, winning 64–21 at Oklahoma State. No. 3 Texas A&M defeated LSU 33–17. No. 4 Penn State had not started their schedule. No. 5 Florida beat Houston 45–21. The top five remained the same in the next poll.

September 9: No. 1 Florida State won 45–26 at Clemson, and No. 2 Nebraska visited Michigan State for a 50–10 victory. No. 3 Texas A&M was idle. No. 4 Penn State struggled against Texas Tech, winning 24–23 on a field goal with four seconds left. No. 5 Florida beat Kentucky 42–7 in Lexington. No. 6 Auburn overwhelmed Chattanooga 76-10 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Auburn.

September 16: No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Nebraska continued their dominant performances, respectively defeating North Carolina State 77-17 and Arizona State 77–28. No. 3 Texas A&M also piled on the points, beating Tulsa 52–9, and No. 4 Florida showed similar firepower with a 62–37 win over No. 8 Tennessee. In contrast, No. 5 Auburn found themselves in a defensive struggle at LSU, and the Bayou Bengals prevailed 12–6. No. 6 USC beat Houston 45-10 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 USC.

September 23: No. 1 Florida State defeated Central Florida 46–14, and No. 2 Nebraska beat Pacific 49–7. No. 3 Texas A&M lost 29–21 at No. 7 Colorado even after Buffaloes quarterback Koy Detmer was sidelined with a torn ACL. No. 4 Florida was idle, and No. 5 USC won 31–10 at No. 25 Arizona. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Colorado, and No. 5 USC.

September 30: No. 1 Florida State was idle. After winning all their previous games by 40 points or more, No. 2 Nebraska had “only” a two-touchdown margin of victory in their 35–21 defeat of Washington State. No. 3 Florida beat Mississippi 28–10, No. 4 Colorado won 38–17 at No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 5 USC shut out Arizona State 31–0, and No. 7 Ohio State defeated No. 15 Notre Dame 45–26. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida, and No. 4 Colorado, with USC and Ohio State tied at No. 5.

October

October 7: No. 1 Florida State defeated Miami 41–17. No. 2 Nebraska was idle. No. 3 Florida won 28–10 at No. 21 LSU, but No. 4 Colorado fell 40–24 to No. 24 Kansas. No. 5 Ohio State made a late comeback to beat No. 12 Penn State 28–25, while fellow No. 5 USC was a 26-16 winner at California. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 USC.

October 14: No. 1 Florida State dropped 70 points on an opponent for the third time in six games, winning 72–13 over Wake Forest. No. 2 Nebraska kept up the pace with a 57–0 shutout of Missouri. No. 3 Florida visited No. 7 Auburn and won 49–38. No. 4 Ohio State made another fourth-quarter comeback to ensure a 27–16 win at No. 21 Wisconsin, their fifth ranked opponent in six games. No. 5 USC defeated Washington State 26–14. The top five remained the same in the next poll.

October 21: No. 1 Florida State beat Georgia Tech 42–10, while No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 8 Kansas State 49–25. No. 3 Florida was idle. No. 4 Ohio State shut out Purdue 28–0, but No. 5 USC fell 38–10 at No. 17 Notre Dame. No. 6 Tennessee was idle but moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Tennessee.

October 28: No. 1 Florida State was idle. No. 2 Nebraska won 44–21 at No. 7 Colorado, No. 3 Florida visited Georgia for a 52–17 victory, No. 4 Ohio State beat No. 25 Iowa 56–35, and No. 5 Tennessee defeated South Carolina 56–21. After two straight blowouts of highly rated opponents, Nebraska moved to the top spot in the next poll: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Tennessee.

November–December

November 2–4: No. 1 Nebraska overwhelmed Iowa State 73–14. The biggest upset of the season occurred in Charlottesville, where No. 24 Virginia hosted No. 2 Florida State. The Seminoles had dominated the ACC ever since they joined the league in 1992; in fact, they had not lost a single conference game in their three and a half years of membership. However, the streak came to an end with a 33-28 Cavaliers victory, as Florida State's Warrick Dunn fell just short of a game-winning touchdown as time ran out. No. 3 Florida defeated Northern Illinois 58–20, No. 4 Ohio State won 49–21 at Minnesota, and No. 5 Tennessee shut out Southern Mississippi 42–0. No. 6 Northwestern, a surprise contender for the Big Ten title, beat No. 12 Penn State 21-10 and moved into the top five: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 5 Northwestern.

November 11: No. 1 Nebraska visited No. 10 Kansas and won 41–3 to sew up the Big 8 title. No. 2 Ohio State defeated Illinois by the same 41-3 margin. No. 3 Florida won 63–7 at South Carolina to clinch a spot in the SEC Championship Game. No. 4 Tennessee was idle, and No. 5 Northwestern beat Iowa 31–20. The top five remained the same in the next poll.

November 18: No. 1 Nebraska was idle. No. 2 Ohio State won 42–3 over Indiana, and No. 3 Florida defeated Vanderbilt 38–7. No. 4 Tennessee needed a fourth-quarter comeback to edge Kentucky 34–31, while No. 5 Northwestern had an easier time of it with a 23–8 victory at Purdue. The Wildcats moved ahead of the Volunteers in the next poll: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Northwestern, and No. 5 Tennessee.

November 24–25: No. 1 Nebraska put an exclamation point on their dominant regular season with a 37–0 shutout of rival Oklahoma. An even bigger rivalry game took place the next day, when No. 2 Ohio State visited No. 18 Michigan. For the second time in three years, the Wolverines spoiled the Buckeyes’ shot at an undefeated season, as 313 rushing yards by Tim Biakabutuka and two second-half interceptions by Charles Woodson led to a 31-23 Michigan win. No. 4 Northwestern, who had finished their regular-season schedule, received the Rose Bowl berth which would have gone to Ohio State if the Buckeyes had defeated their nemeses. Meanwhile, No. 3 Florida beat No. 6 Florida State 35-24 and No. 5 Tennessee won 12–7 over Vanderbilt. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 5 Ohio State.

December 2: No. 2 Florida was heavily favored to defeat No. 23 Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game, and the Gators did not disappoint, blowing out the Razorbacks 34–3 to complete an undefeated regular season. The final pre-bowl AP Poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Florida, and No. 3 Northwestern, with Tennessee and Ohio State tied at No. 4.

As the only two undefeated teams in the country, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Florida were the obvious choices for the national championship game, and they would square off in the Fiesta Bowl to decide the title. The Rose Bowl featured its traditional Big Ten/Pac-10 matchup with No. 3 Northwestern and No. 17 USC. Other major bowl pairings included the two teams tied at No. 4 (Tennessee and Ohio State) facing each other in the Citrus Bowl, No. 6 Notre Dame against No. 8 Florida State in the Orange Bowl, No. 7 Colorado meeting No. 12 Oregon in the Cotton Bowl, and No. 9 Texas (champion of the SWC in that conference's last year of existence) versus Big East-winning No. 13 Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.

Conference standings

1995 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
No. 4 Florida State + 71  102 
No. 16 Virginia + 71  94 
Clemson  62  84 
Georgia Tech  53  65 
North Carolina  44  75 
Maryland  44  65 
NC State  26  38 
Duke  17  38 
Wake Forest  08  110 
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Big East Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
No. 10 Virginia Tech + 61  102 
No. 20 Miami (FL) + 61  83 
No. 19 Syracuse  52  93 
West Virginia  43  56 
Boston College  43  48 
Rutgers  25  47 
Temple  16  110 
Pittsburgh  07  29 
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Big Eight Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 1 Nebraska $7001200
No. 5 Colorado 5201020
No. 7 Kansas State 5201020
No. 9 Kansas 5201020
Oklahoma 250551
Oklahoma State 250480
Missouri 160380
Iowa State 160380
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 8 Northwestern $8001020
No. 6 Ohio State 7101120
No. 13 Penn State 530930
No. 17 Michigan 530940
Michigan State 431651
No. 25 Iowa 440840
Illinois 341551
Wisconsin 341452
Purdue 251461
Minnesota 170380
Indiana 080290
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Big West Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Nevada $700930
Southwestern Louisiana 420650
Utah State 430470
Arkansas State 330650
Northern Illinois 330380
New Mexico State 340470
San Jose State 340380
Louisiana Tech 240560
Pacific (CA) 240380
UNLV 150290
  • $ Conference champion
1995 Mid-American Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 24 Toledo $7011101
Miami (OH) 611821
Ball State 620740
Western Michigan 620740
Eastern Michigan 530650
Bowling Green 350560
Central Michigan 260470
Akron 260290
Ohio 161281
Kent State 071191
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 12 USC ^ +611921
Washington +611741
No. 18 Oregon 620930
Stanford 530741
UCLA 440750
Arizona 440650
Arizona State 440650
California 260380
Washington State 260380
Oregon State 0801100
  • + Conference co-champions
  • ^ – Rose Bowl representative per tie-breaking rules based on overall record, due to Washington-USC tie
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Eastern Division
No. 2 Florida x$8001210
No. 3 Tennessee 7101110
Georgia 350660
South Carolina 251461
Kentucky 260470
Vanderbilt 170290
Western Division
Arkansas x620850
No. 21 Alabama 530830
No. 22 Auburn 530840
LSU 431741
Ole Miss 350650
Mississippi State 170380
Championship: Florida 34, Arkansas 3
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 14 Texas $7001021
No. 15 Texas A&M 520930
No. 23 Texas Tech 520930
Baylor 520740
TCU 340650
Houston 250290
Rice 160281
SMU 0701100
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1995 Western Athletic Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
Colorado State + 62  84 
BYU + 62  74 
Utah + 62  74 
Air Force + 62  85 
San Diego State  53  84 
Wyoming  44  65 
Fresno State  26  57 
New Mexico  26  47 
Hawaii  26  48 
UTEP  17  210 
  • + Conference co-champions
1995 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 11 Notre Dame   930
East Carolina   930
Louisville   740
Cincinnati   650
Southern Miss   650
Army   551
Navy   560
Tulsa   470
Memphis   380
Northeast Louisiana   290
North Texas   290
Tulane   290
Rankings from AP Poll

I-AA team wins over I-A teams

Italics denotes I-AA teams.

DateVisiting teamHome teamSiteResultAttendanceRef.
August 31No. 6 (I-AA)  Appalachian State Wake Forest Groves StadiumWinston-Salem, North Carolina  24–22  21,831 [4]
September 9No. 5 (I-AA)  Boise State Utah State Romney StadiumLogan, Utah  38–14  20,909 [4]
October 7No. 6 (I-AA)  Troy State Northeast Louisiana Malone StadiumMonroe, Louisiana  20–10  19,267 [4]
October 14 UAB North Texas Fouts FieldDenton, Texas  19–14  16,671 [4]
October 21No. 19 (I-AA)  Northwestern State Northeast Louisiana Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana (rivalry) 42–39  16,682 [4]
October 28 UCF Northeast Louisiana Malone Stadium • Monroe, Louisiana 34–14  16,808 [4]
November 4 Youngstown State Akron Rubber BowlAkron, Ohio (Steel Tire) 24–10   [4]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

No. 1 and No. 2 progress

WEEKSNo. 1No. 2EventDate
PRE-9 Florida State Nebraska Nebraska 44, Colorado 21Oct 28
10NebraskaFlorida State Virginia 33, Florida St. 28Nov 2
11-13Nebraska Ohio State+ Michigan 31, Ohio State 23Nov 25
14-15Nebraska Florida Nebraska 62, Florida 24Jan 1

+Ohio State, a Big Ten school, was not part of the Bowl Alliance. Florida was No. 3 during weeks 11 through 13.

Bowl games

Final AP Poll

  1. Nebraska
  2. Florida
  3. Tennessee
  4. Florida State
  5. Colorado
  6. Ohio State
  7. Kansas State
  8. Northwestern
  9. Kansas
  10. Virginia Tech
  11. Notre Dame
  12. USC
  13. Penn State
  14. Texas
  15. Texas A&M
  16. Virginia
  17. Michigan
  18. Oregon
  19. Syracuse
  20. Miami-FL
  21. Alabama
  22. Auburn
  23. Texas Tech
  24. Toledo
  25. Iowa

Final Coaches Poll

  1. Nebraska
  2. Tennessee
  3. Florida
  4. Colorado
  5. Florida St.
  6. Kansas St.
  7. Northwestern
  8. Ohio St.
  9. Virginia Tech
  10. Kansas
  11. Southern California
  12. Penn St.
  13. Notre Dame
  14. Texas
  15. Texas A&M
  16. Syracuse
  17. Virginia
  18. Oregon
  19. Michigan
  20. Texas Tech
  21. Auburn
  22. Iowa
  23. East Carolina
  24. Toledo
  25. LSU

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

PlayerSchoolPosition1st2nd3rdTotal
Eddie George Ohio State RB2682481601,460
Tommie Frazier Nebraska QB2181921581,196
Danny Wuerffel Florida QB185128128987
Darnell Autry Northwestern RB8778118535
Troy Davis Iowa State RB4180119402
Peyton Manning Tennessee QB102137109
Keyshawn Johnson USC WR9101259
Tim Biakabutuka Michigan RB111631
Warrick Dunn Florida State RB231729
Bobby Hoying Ohio StateQB091028

Other major awards

Attendances

Average home attendance top 3:

RankTeamAverage
1 Michigan Wolverines 103,767
2 Tennessee Volunteers 94,694
3 Penn State Nittany Lions 93,591

Source: [5]

References

  1. "1995 NCAA Division IA Football Power Ratings". www.jhowell.net.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Sometimes history isn't always pretty as the CFB's last tie shows". ESPN.com. November 10, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "FCS wins vs. FBS teams: All-time victories, upsets, wins vs. ranked teams". NCAA.com. September 7, 2025. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  5. https://s3.amazonaws.com/fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attend.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]