‘Break up’ title 35 years in the past? Don’t inform Colorado and Georgia Tech that

CHAD BROWN AND his Colorado teammates have gold rings. On every of them is a giant quantity “1” crammed with diamonds meant to commemorate their 1990 nationwide title and the 12 months they spent as the very best staff within the nation.

Across the nation, Ken Swilling and his Georgia Tech teammates have their very own gold rings, additionally with diamonds filling a giant “1,” additionally meant to commemorate their 1990 nationwide title.

Though their rings are almost similar, members of these Colorado and Georgia Tech groups refuse to acknowledge that their seasons have a shared end result. Players nonetheless will not use the phrases “split” or “shared” with regards to the 1990 season. Colorado factors to its superior energy of schedule as the explanation it’s the rightful champ after going 11-1-1 and ending No. 1 within the AP ballot. Georgia Tech factors to its unbeaten season as proof that it’s the rightful champ after going 11-0-1 and ending No. 1 within the coaches’ ballot by one vote. Thirty-five years later, trash discuss dies onerous for 2 faculties that performed within the pre-BCS period and had no method to settle issues on the sphere.

“Oh no. I would never say it was a split national championship,” Swilling mentioned. “They can call us split, co- whatever they want to call it, but as far as Georgia Tech is concerned, we won the national championship in 1990. Heck, it took them five downs against Missouri to get the split anyway.”

“We were the best team in the nation. I have no doubts about that,” Brown says. “So people’s opinion about the Fifth-Down Game and people’s opinion about who should have won a national championship, it lands so poorly on me I don’t think about it. When someone says, ‘You won a national championship at Colorado?’ I say, ‘Yes, I did.’ ‘You don’t say you won a split national championship?’ No. Never once have I ever said I won a split national championship.”

Perhaps outdated scores can be settled when 1990 co- … er … nationwide champs Colorado and Georgia Tech kick off the season in Boulder (8 p.m., ESPN), within the first assembly between the colleges.

On second thought, possibly not.

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IN 1989, COLORADO went undefeated within the common season and confronted Notre Dame within the Orange Bowl with the nationwide title on the road. It misplaced 21-6, however their failure fueled their offseason exercises.

That, plus the reminiscence of teammate Sal Aunese, who died of abdomen most cancers in 1989, drove Colorado because it headed into the 1990 season. But the primary three video games of the marketing campaign didn’t go the way in which the Buffs had anticipated. Colorado was a shocking 1-1-1 headed right into a recreation at Texas, having tied the season opener in opposition to No. 8 Tennessee and misplaced in Week 3 at No. 21 Illinois. No margin of error remained. Coach Bill McCartney had the staff meet at a lodge the place it normally stayed earlier than dwelling video games. Players thought they’d board buses for the airport.

Instead, McCartney referred to as a gathering. He proceeded to put into all the staff, calling gamers out by identify for not enjoying as much as their potential.

“Coach Mac usually did not make things personal,” Brown mentioned. “This time, it was personal. He worked his way around the room, and I was the last one he got to. He turned to me and he said, ‘Chad, you’ve hurt me the most.’ He questioned my football character. For a guy who always prided himself on the way he played, that hurt.”

Brown dove into his playbook on the flight, and earlier than leaving for the sport, stared at himself within the mirror. He mentioned to himself, “No one will ever question my football character again.”

Colorado trailed Texas 22-14 early within the fourth quarter, when working again Eric Bieniemy went into the defensive huddle and informed his teammates, “Get us the ball back. We’re going to score. We’re going to win this game.”

Sure sufficient, Bieniemy scored a 4-yard landing with greater than 10 minutes left to play, then ran it in from 2 yards out with 5:47 left for the successful landing. Brown completed with 20 tackles. Colorado gamers and coaches level to that recreation — and the speech McCartney gave his staff — because the turning level within the season.

“Everybody likes to talk about the Texas turnaround, saying that I came out there and saved the game,” Bieniemy mentioned. “No, it wasn’t anything special because there were times throughout the course of the year they had to uplift me as well.'”

Colorado dropped from its preseason place at No. 5 to No. 20, however by October, the Buffs have been again to No. 12 within the AP ballot. They’d nonetheless want some assist to get again into the nationwide championship race.

Players in all probability would not have guessed they’d want that assist in Week 6 in opposition to unranked Missouri.

Before we focus on the notorious Fifth-Down Game, this is what the Colorado gamers need you to know: Missouri tried to sabotage them from the beginning. In 1990, Missouri performed on AstroTurf full of sand. Colorado gamers mentioned the varsity ought to have watered down the sphere earlier than use.

That didn’t occur, in order play started, Colorado saved slipping and sliding everywhere in the turf, slowing down its choice recreation. (The Tigers, alternatively, have been aware of the floor and knew which cleats to put on to attenuate slipping.) Missouri led 31-27 with two minutes left within the fourth quarter. Then Colorado, behind backup quarterback Charles Johnson and Bieniemy, began driving. On first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 28 seconds left, Johnson spiked the ball.

On second down, Bieniemy ran for a acquire of two all the way down to the 1-yard line. Colorado referred to as timeout. The individual working the down marker by no means modified the down. Colorado middle Jay Leeuwenburg observed and informed McCartney, who insisted it was nonetheless second down. Meanwhile, a fan sitting behind the Colorado bench had a coronary heart assault and was moved all the way down to area degree for medical consideration, inflicting additional distraction.

Colorado ran three extra performs — and scored on its fifth down — as Johnson crossed over the aim line. The Missouri crowd chanted “fifth down,” and when the sport ended, began throwing bottles and different objects onto the sphere. Starting quarterback Darian Hagan, who missed the sport with an damage, mentioned he took off his rib cage brace to protect quarterbacks coach Gary Barnett from getting hit.

“A lot of people say that we cheated and we should have given the game back and all this stuff,” Hagan mentioned. “My response to that is, ‘Why did we cheat and what were Missouri’s coaches doing? Why didn’t they know what down it was? Everybody was out of it. The referees didn’t know. So they can blame a lot of people, but at the same time, we got a national championship out of it.

“It was human error. It wasn’t like we have been attempting to attempt to pull a quick one on anybody.”

Bieniemy said he legitimately had no idea that Colorado had used five downs until he saw highlights on ESPN. But he had to hear about the game constantly later in his career, when he became an assistant coach and worked 10 years for the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reid, who was the offensive line coach at Missouri in that game.

“Do you suppose I heard about it for 10 years?” Bieniemy says with a laugh. “I’ll say this, it was an excellent recreation. It’s a type of video games that’ll be talked about for eons. But we’re not gonna give it again.”

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ONE THOUSAND, FOUR hundred miles away in Atlanta, No. 18 Georgia Tech prepared to face No. 15 Clemson the week after the Fifth-Down Game. The Jackets began the year unranked, but players felt confident headed into the season after finishing 1989 with wins in seven of their final eight games.

Their defense began the season on a tear, giving up just 31 total points in the first four games. Once again, their defense came up big against Clemson, making a goal-line stand after the Tigers drove down to the 1-yard line. On eight trips inside Georgia Tech territory, Clemson scored just one touchdown. Still, the Tigers had a shot to win, down 21-19.

Chris Gardocki lined up for a 60-yard field goal attempt with a minute left.

“I used to be 10 ft away from him on the sideline, and I used to be telling everyone, ‘We’re performed,'” Georgia Tech kicker Scott Sisson said.

But Gardocki missed, and Georgia Tech was off to its best start since 1966. That start got even better on the first weekend in November when the Yellow Jackets headed up to Charlottesville to play No. 1 Virginia.

Vandals had gotten into Scott Stadium the night before the game and burned a section of the turf, leaving questions about whether the game could be played. Georgia Tech quarterback Shawn Jones also said that same night, the fire alarm was pulled at 2 or 3 a.m. at the team hotel, forcing players to get up and evacuate.

“The ambiance was like a championship playoff recreation,” Jones said.

But the game did not start out that way. Virginia led 28-14 at halftime, having flummoxed the staunch Georgia Tech defense.

“Some of our offensive gamers, they have been asking us, ‘Hey, man, can y’all cease them? Just sluggish them down as a result of we’re coming,” Swilling said. “And the look on our faces was like, ‘Man, I do not know. This could be a protracted day.’ It simply so occurred that issues started to show offensively.”

Georgia Tech tied the game after two Virginia turnovers, and then it was back-and-forth until the end. Georgia Tech got the ball with 2:30 to go and the score tied at 38. Jones remembers feeling calm as the offense took the field.

He drove Georgia Tech 56 yards in five plays, setting Sisson up for a 37-yard field goal attempt with 7 seconds left. Sisson was affectionately called “Never Missin’ Sisson” by his teammates. Pressure never seemed to get to him. But as he was warming up on the sideline, he overheard punter Scott Aldridge asking the linemen, “How many diamonds do we would like in our championship rings?”

“I saved listening to that, and I assumed, ‘I haven’t got a selection. I’ve acquired to make this kick,” Sisson says with a laugh. “These guys are designing the ring. So, like, no stress, proper?”

Sisson nailed the kick. The unbeaten season lived on for another weekend.

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COLORADO ENTERED THE Orange Bowl No. 1 in both polls at 10-1-1. It was facing Notre Dame in a rematch. Georgia Tech entered the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, ranked No. 2 at 10-0-1 and facing Nebraska, which Colorado had beaten earlier in the season.

The Buffaloes thought a win over the Irish would seal their championship season in both polls. Georgia Tech, however, felt a win over Nebraska could possibly leap them ahead.

“I did not actually suppose that Colorado was higher than we have been,” Jones said. “So once we went into the sport, I assumed, ‘If we deal with our enterprise, we needs to be No. 1.’ We did not know the way it was going to prove. We simply believed it will.”

Georgia Tech handled Nebraska 45-21 to finish a remarkable season without a loss. The team returned to its hotel in Orlando to watch Colorado in the Orange Bowl later that night.

The Buffaloes told themselves they could not lose to the Irish again. Adversity hit early, when Hagan went down with a knee injury. Johnson entered the game and strained his hamstring, but played through it. The game turned into a defensive showcase. Colorado clung to a 10-9 lead with 1:05 remaining.

The Buffaloes were forced to punt. Notre Dame had Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail, the best returner in the nation, waiting deep. Swilling, watching with teammates, turned to them and said, ‘Watch this. Rocket is about ready to take it to the house.'”

Sure sufficient, Ismail took the punt and turned proper, hit a crease and raced in for the landing. Georgia Tech gamers described their lodge vibrating and shaking in celebration.

“The crazy thing about that was, I remember Coach Mac telling our punter to kick it out of bounds,” Hagan says. “It was a bad snap, and he got rushed, so he just kicked it right down the middle. And everybody just looked at each other like, ‘Oh, no.’ When he scored everybody was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Here we go again.'”

But the wave of feelings tilted in one other course, for all three groups.

There was a flag down on the sphere.

“We knew it was against them,” Hagan mentioned. “We went from frustrated and hurt to elated all in a matter of two seconds.”

Notre Dame security Greg Davis was referred to as for clipping. The landing got here off the board. Colorado ended up holding on to win, capping what it believed could be a No. 1 end in each polls.

“It was surreal,” Johnson mentioned. “It was the end of a journey that started two years before, and the way it played out was a metaphor for life. There was never a linear path to our championship. There were all kinds of fits and starts, disappointments, high points. As a collective, we got it done. And the party was on.”

The ultimate polls didn’t come out that night time. Early the subsequent morning, the telephone rang in Sisson’s lodge room in Orlando. His roommate shoved the telephone into his hand.

It was a radio station Sisson had by no means heard of. First query: Do you suppose that you simply deserve the nationwide championship? What Sisson did not know when he answered, groggy and half asleep, was there was additionally a Colorado participant on the road.

“I tried to take the middle of the road,” Sisson mentioned. “I said, ‘I don’t know what else we could do. We were undefeated.’ I had no idea that they were setting me up. I don’t remember who it was, I don’t even think I got his name, but the Colorado player says, ‘Oh, we deserve it, and he started ripping into us, like our strength of schedule. I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I am not awake. I am not up for this conversation right now.'”

The groups didn’t learn the way the ultimate polls had them ranked till they returned to their respective campuses. Colorado was the AP champion, with 39 first-place votes in comparison with 20 for Georgia Tech. But in a surprising reversal, Georgia Tech completed No. 1 within the UPI coaches’ ballot — by one level. For the primary time in UPI coaches’ ballot historical past, the No. 1 staff getting into its ultimate recreation didn’t end No. 1 after a bowl victory.

Colorado gamers at all times suspected Nebraska coach Tom Osborne had modified his vote to Georgia Tech. Osborne admitted for the primary time this week that he did actually do this, telling USA Today he modified his vote for 2 causes: the Fifth-Down Game, and the truth that Georgia Tech beat Nebraska extra handily than Colorado.

“That was extremely disappointing, that our rival and our fellow conference member did that,” Johnson mentioned. “We went into Lincoln under extremely hostile conditions to win that football game that propelled us to the national championship. I thought for someone who was, by all accounts, an extremely classy man, that was one of the most classless things I’ve experienced.”

Without a unanimous champion, the query over who was higher that season rages on. Neither staff visited the White House, however Swilling mentioned he and his teammates secretly wished they might have settled the controversy with a recreation within the Rose Garden.

After his faculty profession, Bieniemy was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 1991. The following 12 months, the Chargers employed Georgia Tech coach Bobby Ross.

“I used to argue with him all the time,” Bieniemy says. “I’m going to say this out loud. I would say, ‘We would have kicked y’all’s ass.'”

Now 35 years later, the 2 groups lastly get their long-anticipated assembly. And it’s all due to Colorado athletic director Rick George, who was the assistant athletic director for soccer operations at Colorado in 1990. About a decade in the past, George made a name to somebody he knew at Georgia Tech and mentioned merely: “We should play a game.”

The collection was introduced in 2016, and George particularly selected 2025 as the primary recreation within the home-and-home, understanding it was the 35-year anniversary of their championship(s).

“I just thought it would be fun and good for both schools, and it would be a good game that people would have a lot of interest in,” George says. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase what we both accomplished in that year.”

Memories of their shared … uh … championship season are by no means removed from the minds of the gamers and coaches who skilled it. After all, that was the final nationwide championship every college has gained.

But with renewed curiosity in Colorado and coach Deion Sanders, and rising expectations round Georgia Tech in Year 3 underneath Brent Key, their recreation Friday has became must-see TV. Their shared historical past is only a cherry on high.

“This is an opportunity for us to have a lot of get back, a lot of talk, a lot of pride and passion, winning that game,” Hagan mentioned. “Over the years, they’ve said what they’ve said. We’ve said what we’ve said. Now someone’s going to be able to win the game.”