that the success of the AFL was due to its avoidance
of any competition with the NFL, including a spring
and summer football season and a much smaller
field with fewer players.
College Football Although there were only a few
major rule changes in college football in the 1990’s,
they had major implications for the game. First,
there continued to be a focus on increasing the diffi-
culty of the kicker position that began in 1989, when
kicking tees were eliminated for field goal attempts
and extra points. In 1991, the width between field
goal posts was decreased from over 23 feet to about
18.5 feet, and kickoffs that went out of bounds were
now placed 30 yards from the kickoff point.
Perhaps the most significant rule change oc-
curred in 1996, when new overtime rules were em-
ployed. Until this time, games with an even score at
the end of regulation were considered tie games.
The new overtime rule eliminated tie games in col-
lege football and, unlike the NFL game, gave both
teams a chance to have the ball on offense before the
game was determined. Specifically, under the new
rule both teams were given an offensive series begin-
ning at the opposing team’s 25-yard line. If the teams
were still tied after one series, the process would con-
tinue until one of the teams had more points.
The rules were not the only facet of college foot-
ball that underwent change in the 1990’s, as the sys-
tem in place to determine a national champion was
reconsidered. Throughout the history of college
football, the crowning of the national champion was
commonly surrounded by controversy. The contro-
versy increased greatly in the 1970’s and 1980’s,
when conferences came to the forefront of college
football and many believed that teams from weaker
conferences with weak schedules were being re-
warded. This came to a head in 1984, when Brigham
Young University (BYU) was awarded a national
championship after going undefeated in what was
considered a weak conference and then defeating a
five-loss Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. More-
over, dual championships were becoming common
in college football, particularly because the two top-
rated teams were generally not able to play one an-
other because of contractual obligations between
conferences and bowl games.
The controversy surrounding national champi-
onships eventually led to the creation of a special na-
tional championship game that would attempt to
trump conference-bowl contracts. Beginning in
1992, five major conferences and independent No-
tre Dame joined together to form the Bowl Coali-
tion, which used the final standings of the Associ-
ated Press to produce a national championship
game between the two top-rated teams. However,
the Bowl Coalition still did not avert tie-ins between
Pac-10 and Big Ten champions to the Rose Bowl and
encountered several other difficulties, leading to its
demise in 1995.
The Bowl Alliance replaced the Bowl Coalition in
1995 but had fewer conferences participating and
still did not include the Big Ten and Pac-10 champi-
ons. This led to the creation of the Bowl Champion-
ship Series (BCS) in 1998, which included all of the
major conferences and four major bowl games: the
Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Fiesta
Bowl. Each year, one of these bowl games would host
the national championship game, with the location
rotating every year.
On the field, college football was dominated by
the state of Florida and the University of Nebraska in
the 1990’s. Three different universities from the
state of Florida won national championships, while
the University of Nebraska won three champion-
ships. So dominant was the state of Florida in college
football that Florida State University finished in the
top five teams every year of the decade and a Florida
team played for the national championship in seven
of the ten years.
Impact The 1990’s were a time of drastic change in
college football. Besides the changes to the rules
and bowl alliances, a stronger connection developed
between college football and big business. Several
sporting goods companies began advertising con-
tracts with universities, some including advertise-
ments on teams’ uniforms. Bowl games also became
tied to businesses, as bowl games were named for the
sponsoring businesses. At the same time, the Na-
tional Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) be-
gan to pay closer attention to the violations of rules
by universities, particularly the relationship between
players, boosters, and agents.
Further Reading
Fleder, Rob.Sports Illustrated: The Football Book. New
York: Sports Illustrated, 2005. Describes the im-
portant players, teams, and changes that have oc-
curred throughout the history of professional
football.342 Football The Nineties in America