How to get the most enjoyment from the 2025 college football season - ESPN

The 1990 college football season kicked off with chaos off the field and a sense of familiarity on it. Miami and Notre Dame had gone a combined 22-1 against the rest of the nation in 1989, and the Hurricanes' 27-10 win over the Irish on Nov. 25 had basically decided the national title. In 1990, they predictably began the season ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively; Florida State, the only team to beat either in 1989, began the year ranked fourth, and the others in the preseason top 10 had all finished the previous season 12th or better. Though each year produces its own upstarts, the sport's balance of power seemed crystal clear heading into the 1990s.

Off the field, everything was as blurry as could be. With Penn State's impending move to the Big Ten, the first major run of conference realignment was underway, and people were envisioning a world that might feature as few as three superconferences. Sports Illustrated's Austin Murphy wrote about a possible Super SEC (with Florida State, Miami, South Carolina and the SWC's Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M) and a Pac-14 with Colorado, BYU, San Diego State and Utah. It began to seem as if anything were possible regarding the future of the sport.

Those vibes unexpectedly made their way onto the field. The season started with a wild 31-31 tie between No. 5 Colorado and No. 8 Tennessee — the Vols scored 21 points in the final eight minutes to erase a two-score deficit — and the temperature never went down. Miami lost to BYU in Week 2, Colorado suffered a second blemish the next week, and the upsets came so hot-and-heavy that Virginia found itself No. 1 for the first time by mid-October. By the end of the year, 18 teams had appeared in the AP top five, the most ever. Colorado ended up