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The Tom Bowl is a fan-supported college football bowl game scheduled to be played annually at Frank A. Schafer Field in Beal City, Michigan. The game is not sanctioned by the NCAA. It annually invites the #1 and #2 teams in the nation to play in a college football championship game. Although the group formally invites college teams every year to play in the bowl, no school has ever accepted an invitation. However, some athletic directors and conference presidents/commissioners have sent response letters, declining while sarcastically telling the group that it was an honor to be invited. Responses have been received from Jim Delany, Jack Swarbrick, and Pat Richter, among others.
The Tom Bowl started in 1989 by a group of fans with invitations extended to the University of Colorado and the University of Miami. Colorado declined the invitation and alternate teams of Middle Tennessee State and Eastern Michigan were invited. From 1990 to 2006, the Tom Bowl annually invited the top two teams unless those teams played each other in another bowl game. In those years the Tom Bowl has elected to have alternative games such as a battle between the #3 and #4 teams to determine the "true #2" or as in 2002, the Big Ten Championship when Iowa and Ohio State didn't play during the regular season.
Following the 2005 season, the Tom Bowl broke with tradition and used a BCS-like formula to invite three teams: USC, Texas, and Penn State to play in Tom Bowl XVII. Predictably, none of the teams showed up (though the Pac-10 replied, apparently accepting the invitation but pledging not to show up on behalf of USC) and only twelve spectators did. The game was declared a 0-0-0 tie.
In 2007, the Tom Bowl devised a new format where the top three teams were invited to play in a round-robin tournament style game with each team playing each other for a half. The Tom Bowl has used this formula ever since, although in 2009 invites were extended to six different teams including Emory University, which boasts of being undefeated since 1836 because they do not have a football team. The Tom Bowl returned to the three team format in 2010.
Tom Bowl Game-by-Game Results
1989 Middle Tennessee St. 0; Eastern Michigan 0*
1990 University of Colorado?; Notre Dame?
1991 University of Washington 0; University of Miami 0
1992 Florida St. 0; University of Miami 0
1993 Florida St. 0; West Virginia 0
1994 University of Nebraska 0; Penn St. 0
1995 University of Nebraska 0; Northwestern 0
1996 Arizona State University 0; Florida St. 0
1997 University of Nebraska 0; University of Michigan 0
1998 Kansas State University 0; Ohio State University 0+
1999 University of Nebraska 0; University of Wisconsin 0&
2000 University of Oklahoma 0; University of Miami 0
2001 University of Miami 0; University of Colorado 0
2002 University of Iowa 0; Ohio State 0@
2003 University of Southern California 0; Louisiana State University 0
2004 University of Southern California 0; University of Oklahoma 0; Auburn University 0%
2005 University of Southern California 0; University of Texas 0; Penn State University 0
2006 University of Michigan 0; Ohio State University 0
2007 University of Hawaii 0; University of Kansas 0; Ohio State University 0
2008 University of Florida 0; University of Oklahoma 0; University of Texas 0^
2009 University of Alabama 0; University of Texas 0; University of Cincinnati 0; Texas Christian University 0; Boise State University 0; Emory 0
2010 University of Oregon 0; Auburn University 0; Texas Christian University 0
2011 Louisiana State 0; Oklahoma State 0; University of Oregon 0
2012 Notre Dame 0; Alabama 0; Stanford 0
2013 Florida St. 0; Auburn 0; Michigan State 0
2014 Florida St. 0; Oregon 0; Alabama 0
2015 Alabama 0; Clemson 0; Michigan State 0
2016 Alabama 0; Clemson 0; Washington 0
2017 Oklahoma 0; Clemson 0; Georgia 0
* 1989 contest featured alternates after Colorado declined an invitation to face Miami-FL. + 1998 contest featured #3 OSU vs #4 Kansas State due to Fiesta Bowl (#1 Tenn. vs #2 FSU) & 1999 contest featured #3 Nebraska vs #4 Wisconsin due to Sugar Bowl (#1 FSU vs #2 Virginia Tech) @ 2002 contest featured the Big 10 championship due to #1 Miami vs #2 OSU. (Iowa and OSU did not play each other during regular season.) % 2004 Three way contest between three undefeated teams ^ 2007 Undefeated (Hawaii) vs. Once-Defeated (Kansas and Ohio State)
The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Buffaloes (11–1–1) took the AP poll while the Yellow Jackets (11–0–1) took the UPI Coaches poll by one vote over Colorado, 847 to 846. During the season Colorado had a particularly controversial victory over Missouri in what would later be known as the "Fifth Down Game". It was the only time in UPI Coaches poll history that a coach changed his vote against the pre-bowl #1 after that #1 team won their bowl game.
The 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Miami winning its third National Championship during the 1980s, cementing its claim as the decade's top team, winning more titles than any other program.
The 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State crowned national champions, in both the AP and Coaches poll.
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.
The 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Alliance.
The 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Florida Gators being crowned National Champions after defeating rival Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, which was the season's designated Bowl Alliance national championship game. Florida had faced Florida State earlier in the year, when they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, and lost 24–21. However, unranked Texas's upset of No. 3 Nebraska in the first ever Big 12 Championship Game set up the rematch of in-state rivals in New Orleans. In the Sugar Bowl, Florida's Heisman Trophy-winning senior quarterback Danny Wuerffel and head coach Steve Spurrier led the Gators to a 52–20 victory and their first national championship.
The 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Oklahoma Sooners beating the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles to claim the Sooners' seventh national championship and their thirty-seventh conference championship, the first of each since the departure of head coach Barry Switzer.
The 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Notre Dame winning the national championship. The Fighting Irish won the title via a 34–21 defeat of previously unbeaten West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona. With 4 of the final Top 5 teams being independents, 1988 became a focus for fans and critics who wondered how the traditional conferences would deal with the indies.
The 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Miami winning its second national championship of the 1980s in an Orange Bowl game featuring a rare No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup between the top ranked Oklahoma Sooners and the Hurricanes.
The 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Penn State winning the national championship. Coached by Joe Paterno, they defeated Miami (Fl) 14–10 in the Fiesta Bowl. This Fiesta Bowl was the first in the game's history to decide the national championship, launching it into the top tier of bowls.
The 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Oklahoma Sooners, led by head coach Barry Switzer, win the national championship.
The 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season was topsy-turvy from start to finish. It ended with the BYU Cougars being bestowed their first and only national championship by beating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl. While the Cougars finished with a perfect 13–0 record and were the consensus National Champions, some commentators maintain this title was undeserved citing their weak schedule and argue that the championship should have gone to the 11–1 Washington Huskies. Despite this the Cougars were voted No. 1 in the final AP and UPI polls. The Huskies declined an invitation to play BYU in the Holiday Bowl; they decided instead to play Oklahoma in the more prestigious 1985 Orange Bowl. All subsequent national champions have come from what are now known as the Power Five conferences + Notre Dame.
The 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami, led by Bernie Kosar, winning their first national championship over perennial power and top ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
Saturday Night Football is an American weekly presentation of prime time broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football games that are produced by ESPN, and televised on ABC. Games are presented each Saturday evening starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time/6:30 p.m. Central Time during the college football regular season, which has been the case since 2017. The ESPN on ABC Saturday Night Football coverage began in 2006, as both ESPN and ABC are owned by The Walt Disney Company. It is ESPN's biggest game of the week, and in most cases, the city and/or campus of that night's game is where that day's ESPN College GameDay had originated.
The 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Clemson Tigers, unbeaten and untied, claiming the national championship after a victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. This was also the first year of the California Bowl, played in Fresno, California; this game fancied itself as a "junior" version of the Rose Bowl as it pitted the Big West Conference champion vs. the Mid-American Conference champion.
The 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first season of Division I-A college football; Division I-A was created in January 1978 when Division I was subdivided into Division I-A and Division I-AA for football only. With the exception of seven teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), Division I teams from the 1977 season played in Division I-A during the 1978 season. The SWAC teams, along with five conferences and five other teams formerly in Division II football, played in Division I-AA.
The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, remained there for the rest of 1971, and convincingly won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game against Alabama.
The 1972 NCAA University Division football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the 50 AP panelists. Eighth-ranked in the preseason, the Trojans were narrowly voted No. 1 in the first AP poll, and stayed out front for the rest of the year.
The 1974 NCAA Division I football season finished with two national champions. The Associated Press (AP) writers' poll ranked the University of Oklahoma, which was on probation and barred by the NCAA from postseason play, No. 1 at season's end. The United Press International (UPI) coaches' poll did not rank teams on probation, by unanimous agreement of the 25 member coaches' board. The UPI trophy went to the USC.
The 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games completing the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 15, 2018, and, aside from the all-star games that follow, ended with the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, which was played on January 7, 2019.
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