CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1991 season

Miami finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 12–⁠0 under Dennis Erickson, after it beat Nebraska 22–⁠0 in the Orange Bowl. Washington also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Miami 17, No. 1 Florida State 16 (Nov 16, 1991). Two Division I-A teams finished unbeaten. 40 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Desmond Howard, WR/PR, Michigan, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Desmond Howard 2,077 points, Casey Weldon 503
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Desmond Howard WR, Michigan2,0776406821
Casey Weldon QB, Florida State5031917596
Ty Detmer QB, BYU44519129130
Steve Emtman DT, Washington3572910070
Shane Matthews QB, Florida246117269
Vaughn Dunbar RB, Indiana17365153
Jeff Blake QB, East Carolina11472935
Terrell Buckley CB, Florida State10212451
Marshall Faulk RB, San Diego State5201032
Bucky Richardson QB, Texas A&M43 *699

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. * The votes shown don’t add up to the points shown; the source has a typo in one of them.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1MiamiBig East
2WashingtonPac-10
3Penn StateIndependent
4Florida StateIndependent
5AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
6MichiganBig Ten
7FloridaSoutheastern Conference
8CaliforniaPac-10
9East CarolinaIndependent
10IowaBig Ten
11SyracuseBig East
12Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
13Notre DameIndependent
14TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
15NebraskaBig Eight
16OklahomaBig Eight
17GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
18ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
19UCLAPac-10
20ColoradoBig Eight
21TulsaIndependent
22StanfordPac-10
23BYUWestern Athletic Conference
24NC StateAtlantic Coast Conference
25Air ForceWestern Athletic Conference

Biggest upsets

Sep 14, 1991USC 21, 5Penn State 10
Oct 5, 1991Georgia 27, 6Clemson 12
Oct 12, 1991Texas 10, 6Oklahoma 7
Oct 12, 1991Rice 20, 8Baylor 17
Nov 23, 199121Stanford 38, 6California 21
Jan 1, 199218Notre Dame 39, 3Florida 28
Sep 7, 1991Mississippi State 13, 13Texas 6
Sep 21, 199118Syracuse 38, 5Florida 21
Sep 14, 199123Baylor 16, 12Colorado 14
Sep 21, 1991Tulsa 35, 15Texas A&M 34
Oct 12, 1991East Carolina 23, 15Syracuse 20
Sep 2, 1991Memphis 24, 16USC 10

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 1991, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalIowa: Wk 1 No. 18, Wk 2 No. 15, Wk 3 No. 14, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 17, Wk 8 No. 15, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 11, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 7, Wk 15 No. 7, Final No. 1010 IowaEast Carolina: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 23, Wk 9 No. 20, Wk 10 No. 17, Wk 11 No. 16, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 13, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 12, Final No. 99 East CarolinaCalifornia: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 24, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 No. 18, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 14, Wk 15 No. 14, Final No. 88 CaliforniaFlorida: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 3, Final No. 77 FloridaMichigan: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 4, Final No. 66 MichiganAlabama: Wk 1 No. 22, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 22, Wk 6 No. 20, Wk 7 No. 19, Wk 8 No. 14, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 8, Final No. 55 AlabamaFlorida State: Wk 1 No. 1, 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. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 5, Final No. 44 Florida StatePenn State: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 6, Final No. 33 Penn StateWashington: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Final No. 22 WashingtonMiami: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 2, 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. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, 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. Californiaunranked → No. 8
  2. AlabamaNo. 22 → No. 5
  3. East Carolinaunranked → No. 9
  4. SyracuseNo. 25 → No. 11
  5. Texas A&MNo. 21 → No. 12

Fell

  1. Georgia TechNo. 8 → unranked
  2. HoustonNo. 12 → unranked
  3. TexasNo. 14 → unranked
  4. USCNo. 16 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsTy Detmer (BYU)4,031 yds
Passing touchdownsTroy Kopp (Pacific)37 TD
Passer ratingElvis Grbac (Michigan)169.0
Rushing yardsVaughn Dunbar (Indiana)1,805 yds
Rushing touchdownsMarshall Faulk (San Diego State)21 TD
Yards per carryCalvin Jones (Nebraska)8.3
ReceptionsFred Gilbert (Houston)106 catches
Receiving yardsAaron Turner (Pacific)1,604 yds
Yards per catchMelvin Bonner (Baylor)24.6
Receiving touchdownsDesmond Howard (Michigan)19 TD
PointsMarshall Faulk (San Diego State)140 pts
Points per gameMarshall Faulk (San Diego State)15.56
Total offenseTy Detmer (BYU)4,001 yds
Total offense per gameTy Detmer (BYU)333.4
Punt return averageBo Campbell (Virginia Tech)18.2
Kickoff return averageFred Montgomery (New Mexico State)29.4

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
Clemson
Big East
Miami
Big Eight
Colorado and Nebraska (shared)
Big Ten
Michigan
Big West
Fresno State and San José State (shared)
Mid-American Conference
Bowling Green
Pac-10
Washington
Southeastern Conference
Florida
Southwest Conference
Texas A&M
Western Athletic Conference
BYU

Division I-AA

Big Sky
Nevada
Ivy League
Dartmouth
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Delaware State and North Carolina A&T (shared)
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Northern Iowa
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Patriot League
Holy Cross
Southern Conference
App State
Southland Conference
McNeese
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alabama State
Yankee Conference
Delaware and Villanova (shared)

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
Stonehill
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State
Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference
Butler
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
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 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1991 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1991 All-America teams page.

The 1991 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champions’ staffs

Every title staff

Miami 11 on the staff list

Support staff (1)

Strength and conditioning

  • Brad Roll strength and conditioning coordinator

Washington 13 on the staff list

Support staff (3)

Strength and conditioning

  • Rick Huegli UW strength and conditioning coach
  • Bill Gillespie assistant coach strength and conditioning coach

Operations and recruiting

  • Dick Baird recruiting coordinator

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 14, 1991Bowling Green 28, Fresno State 21California Bowl
Dec 25, 1991Georgia Tech 18, 17Stanford 17Aloha Bowl
Dec 28, 19918Alabama 30, 15Colorado 25Blockbuster Bowl
Dec 29, 1991Air Force 38, Mississippi State 15Liberty Bowl
Dec 29, 199124Georgia 24, Arkansas 15Independence Bowl
Dec 29, 199120Oklahoma 48, 19Virginia 14Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 19917Iowa 13, BYU 13Holiday Bowl
Dec 30, 199123Tulsa 28, San Diego State 17Freedom Bowl
Dec 31, 1991Indiana 24, Baylor 0Copper Bowl
Dec 31, 199122UCLA 6, Illinois 3John Hancock Bowl
Jan 1, 199214California 37, 13Clemson 13Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 199212East Carolina 37, 21NC State 34Peach Bowl
Jan 1, 19925Florida State 10, 9Texas A&M 2Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19921Miami 22, 11Nebraska 0Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 199218Notre Dame 39, 3Florida 28Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19926Penn State 42, 10Tennessee 17Fiesta Bowl
Jan 1, 199216Syracuse 24, 25Ohio State 17Hall of Fame Bowl
Jan 1, 19922Washington 34, 4Michigan 14Rose Bowl