CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1989 season

Miami finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Dennis Erickson, after it beat Alabama 33–⁠25 in the Sugar Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Notre Dame 24, No. 2 Michigan 19 (Sep 16, 1989). 50 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Andre Ware, QB, Houston, who also won the Davey O’Brien.

The Heisman vote: Andre Ware 1,073 points, Anthony Thompson 1,003
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Andre Ware QB, Houston1,07324213283
Anthony Thompson RB, Indiana1,003185170108
Major Harris QB, West Virginia709115115134
Tony Rice QB, Notre Dame52372101105
Darian Hagan QB, Colorado292524252
Dee Dowis QB, Air Force145153138
Emmitt Smith RB, Florida140132943
Percy Snow LB, Michigan State7071519
Ty Detmer QB, BYU4931314
Blair Thomas RB, Penn State4841212
Raghib Ismail WR, Notre Dame4831117

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1MiamiIndependent
2Notre DameIndependent
3Florida StateIndependent
4ColoradoBig Eight
5TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
6AuburnSoutheastern Conference
7MichiganBig Ten
8USCPac-10
9AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
10IllinoisBig Ten
11NebraskaBig Eight
12ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
13ArkansasSouthwest Conference
14HoustonSouthwest Conference
15Penn StateIndependent
16Michigan StateBig Ten
17PittsburghIndependent
18VirginiaAtlantic Coast Conference
19Texas TechSouthwest Conference
20Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
21West VirginiaIndependent
22BYUWestern Athletic Conference
23WashingtonPac-10
24Ohio StateBig Ten
25ArizonaPac-10

Biggest upsets

Sep 2, 1989Southern Miss 30, 6Florida State 26
Sep 9, 1989Tennessee 24, 6UCLA 6
Sep 16, 1989Arizona 6, 6Oklahoma 3
Sep 2, 1989Texas A&M 28, 7LSU 16
Sep 30, 1989Duke 21, 7Clemson 17
Oct 21, 1989Texas 24, 7Arkansas 20
Oct 14, 1989Texas A&M 17, 8Houston 13
Sep 4, 198922Illinois 14, 5USC 13
Oct 7, 1989Virginia Tech 12, 9West Virginia 10
Sep 9, 1989Virginia 14, 12Penn State 6
Oct 21, 1989Clemson 30, 12NC State 10
Sep 23, 198923Arizona 20, 11Washington 17

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1989, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalIllinois: Wk 1 No. 22, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 20, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 No. 18, Wk 7 No. 16, Wk 8 No. 13, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 11, Wk 16 No. 11, Final No. 1010 IllinoisAlabama: Wk 1 No. 16, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 7, Wk 16 No. 7, Final No. 99 AlabamaUSC: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 12, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 12, Wk 16 No. 12, Final No. 88 USCMichigan: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 77 MichiganAuburn: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 16, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 9, Wk 16 No. 9, Final No. 66 AuburnTennessee: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 17, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 8, Wk 16 No. 8, Final No. 55 TennesseeColorado: Wk 1 No. 14, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 44 ColoradoFlorida State: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 16, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 25, Wk 6 No. 22, Wk 7 No. 19, Wk 8 No. 14, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 5, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 33 Florida StateNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 22 Notre DameMiami: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 11 Miami
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Tennesseeunranked → No. 5
  2. IllinoisNo. 22 → No. 10
  3. ColoradoNo. 14 → No. 4
  4. Michigan Stateunranked → No. 16
  5. Virginiaunranked → No. 18

Fell

  1. LSUNo. 7 → unranked
  2. UCLANo. 9 → unranked
  3. SyracuseNo. 13 → unranked
  4. OklahomaNo. 15 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsAndre Ware (Houston)4,699 yds
Passing touchdownsAndre Ware (Houston)46 TD
Passer ratingTy Detmer (BYU)175.6
Rushing yardsAnthony Thompson (Indiana)1,793 yds
Rushing touchdownsAnthony Thompson (Indiana)24 TD
Yards per carryChuck Weatherspoon (Houston)9.6
ReceptionsManny Hazard (Houston)142 catches
Receiving yardsManny Hazard (Houston)1,689 yds
Yards per catchRandy Jackson (Rutgers)28.5
Receiving touchdownsManny Hazard (Houston)22 TD
PointsAnthony Thompson (Indiana)154 pts
Points per gameAnthony Thompson (Indiana)14.20
Total offenseAndre Ware (Houston)4,661 yds
Total offense per gameAndre Ware (Houston)423.7
Punt return averageLarry Hargrove (Ohio)18.2
Kickoff return averageTony Smith (Southern Miss)32.5

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Duke and Virginia (shared)
Big Eight
Colorado
Big Ten
Michigan
Big West
Fresno State
Mid-American Conference
Ball State
Pac-10
USC
Southeastern Conference
Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee (shared)
Southwest Conference
Arkansas
Western Athletic Conference
BYU

Division I-AA

Big Sky
Idaho
Colonial Conference
Holy Cross
Ivy League
Princeton and Yale (shared)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Delaware State
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Missouri State
Ohio Valley Conference
Middle Tennessee
Southern Conference
Furman
Southland Conference
Stephen F. Austin
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling
Yankee Conference
Maine, UConn and Villanova (shared)

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
Stonehill
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State
Heartland Collegiate Conference
Butler
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Alabama A&M
Western Football Conference
Portland State

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

25 playersAll 10 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1989 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1989 All-America teams page.

The 1989 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 9, 1989Fresno State 27, Ball State 6California Bowl
Dec 16, 1989Oregon 27, Tulsa 24Independence Bowl
Dec 25, 198922Michigan State 33, 25Hawai’i 13Aloha Bowl
Dec 28, 1989Ole Miss 42, Air Force 29Liberty Bowl
Dec 28, 198924Texas Tech 49, 20Duke 21All-American Bowl
Dec 29, 198918Penn State 50, 19BYU 39Holiday Bowl
Dec 30, 198914Clemson 27, 17West Virginia 7Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 198923Pittsburgh 31, 16Texas A&M 28John Hancock Bowl
Dec 30, 1989Syracuse 19, Georgia 18Peach Bowl
Dec 30, 1989Washington 34, Florida 7Freedom Bowl
Dec 31, 1989Arizona 17, NC State 10Copper Bowl
Jan 1, 19909Auburn 31, 21Ohio State 14Hall of Fame Bowl
Jan 1, 19905Florida State 41, 6Nebraska 17Fiesta Bowl
Jan 1, 199011Illinois 31, 15Virginia 21Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 19902Miami 33, 7Alabama 25Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19904Notre Dame 21, 1Colorado 6Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 199012USC 17, 3Michigan 10Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19908Tennessee 31, 10Arkansas 27Cotton Bowl