1994 NCAA Division I-A football season

1994 NCAA Division I-A season
Number of teams	107
Preseason AP #1	Florida Gators
Post-season
Bowl games	19
Heisman Trophy	Rashaan Salaam, Colorado RB
Bowl Coalition Championship
1995 Orange Bowl
Site	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
Winner	Nebraska Cornhuskers
Division I-A football seasons
← 1993 1995 →

1994 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4 Florida State $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	1
#17 NC State	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
#15 Virginia	5	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Duke	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
North Carolina	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Clemson	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Maryland	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wake Forest	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Georgia Tech	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Big East football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#6 Miami (FL) $	7	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Virginia Tech	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Syracuse	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
West Virginia	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	6	–	0
#23 Boston College	3	–	3	–	1			7	–	4	–	1
Rutgers	2	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Pittsburgh	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Temple	0	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Big 8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0			13	–	0	–	0
#3 Colorado  %	6	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#19 Kansas State	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Oklahoma	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kansas	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Missouri	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	1
Oklahoma State	0	–	6	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Iowa State	0	–	6	–	1			0	–	10	–	1
$ – Conference champion ‡ – Bowl Coalition at-large representative Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Penn State $	8	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
#14 Ohio State	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
Wisconsin	5	–	2	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
#12 Michigan	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Illinois	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Purdue	3	–	3	–	2			5	–	4	–	2
Iowa	3	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Indiana	3	–	5	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Northwestern	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Minnesota	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Michigan State	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Michigan State forfeited 5 wins, 4 conference wins Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Big West Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Nevada $		6	–	1					9	–	2
UNLV		5	–	1					7	–	5
Southwestern Louisiana		5	–	1					6	–	5
Pacific		4	–	2					6	–	5
Northern Illinois		3	–	3					4	–	7
San Jose State		3	–	3					3	–	8
Utah State		2	–	4					3	–	8
New Mexico State		2	–	5					3	–	8
Louisiana Tech		1	–	5					3	–	8
Arkansas State		0	–	6					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Mid-American Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Central Michigan $	8	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Bowling Green	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Western Michigan	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Miami	5	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	1
Ball State	5	–	3	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Toledo	4	–	3	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Eastern Michigan	5	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kent State	2	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Akron	1	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Ohio	0	–	9	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Pacific-10 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#11 Oregon $	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
#13 USC	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
#20 Arizona	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
#21 Washington State	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Washington	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
UCLA	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
California	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Stanford	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	1
Arizona State	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1994 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Eastern Division
#7 Florida x$	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	1
#22 Tennessee	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
South Carolina	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Georgia	3	–	4	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Vanderbilt	2	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Western Division
#5 Alabama x	8	–	0	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
#9 Auburn	6	–	1	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
#24 Mississippi State	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
LSU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Arkansas	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Championship: Florida 24, Alabama 23
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1994 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#8 Texas A&M*	6	–	0	–	1			10	–	0	–	1
#25 Texas +	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Baylor +	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
TCU +	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Texas Tech +	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Rice +	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Houston	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
SMU	0	–	6	–	1			1	–	9	–	1
+ – Conference co-champions *Texas A&M ineligible for championship and post-season due to NCAA sanctions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season was the main college football season sanctioned by the NCAA. The season began in August 1994 and ended on January 2, 1995. Nebraska, who finished the season undefeated, ended the year ranked #1 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. This was the first national championship of coach Tom Osborne's career at Nebraska, despite coming close in two prior attempts; in 1983, his team lost to Miami after Osborne, with his team trailing 31-30 late in the game, elected to try for the lead instead of the tie and failed. In the previous season, Osborne's team lost to eventual national champion Florida State on a missed field goal as time expired.

Although Osborne's team finished the season unbeaten, the national championship picture again was engulfed in controversy. For much of the second half of the season, Nebraska and Penn State were regarded as the top two teams in the country. This raised the possibility of a split national championship for the third time since 1990, due in large part to the system in place that had been concocted to avoid a split title.

Following the 1991 season, where Miami and Washington split the national championship in the AP and Coaches' polls, the Bowl Coalition was founded. The Coalition consisted of six bowls, with the Orange, Fiesta, Cotton, and Sugar bowls were all considered potential hosts for a national championship game. Since three of these bowls already had specific tie-ins with conferences, an agreement was struck where the conferences would agree to release those teams from their contractual obligations in order to achieve a #1 vs #2 matchup. For the first two years of the Coalition, this did occur without incident as the Sugar and Orange Bowls in 1993 and 1994 featured #1 vs. #2 matchups in their respective games.

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