Championship Confusion.

The 1990s was an exciting decade for college football despite off-field distractions and a complex system that left much to be desired in determining which team was actually the best in the land. Eleven different teams claimed national championships, including three won by the University of Nebraska (1994, 1995, and a shared title in 1997 withMichigan). Division I-A football was the only collegiate sport that had no officially sanctioned champion-ship. Other champions included Alabama (1992), Florida State (1993 and 1999), Florida (1996), and Tennessee (1998). Such title confusion (for example, Colorado and Georgia Tech shared the 1990 title, and Miami and Washington shared it in 1991) led to the eventual establishment of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). In 1998, though still without a playoff system, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) organized an intentional end-of-the-season game between the two top-ranked teams (as determined by a complicated system of poll rankings, computer ratings, and...