Toe meets leather
Encyclopedia
Toe Meets Leather refers to the 1990 United States
college football game between Georgia Tech
and the University of Virginia
, won by Georgia Tech 41-38. The game, between #1 Virginia and #16 Georgia Tech, concluded with a 37 yard field goal by Scott Sisson
with 7 seconds remaining. With the win, Georgia Tech would go on to claim the 1990 ACC
championship and a share of the 1990 NCAA Division I-A national football championship.
coined the phrase "Toe meets leather", with which he led off every football game; current Tech radio play-by-play announcer Wes Durham
continues this tradition with his pregame show.
The conference matchup of two undefeated teams in midseason drew great national interest. The game was televised nationally by CBS
with Jim Nantz
handling play-by-play duties. The night before the game, vandals broke into Scott Stadium
and set fire to the Astroturf
surface, burning a large midfield patch. The morning of the game, school officials questioned holding the game that day. Field personnel took spare turf from Virginia's baseball field and, after cutting out the burned sections, stitched it into the field as patches, enabling the game to be played as scheduled.
Georgia to complete its fifth undefeated regular season in school history at 10-0-1. Virginia's season spiraled downhill from the game, going 1-3 to finish 8-4 and ranked #22 (AP) at the season's end. As ACC champion, Georgia Tech received the then-automatic bid to the in Orlando
against Nebraska
. Tech would dominate the Cornhuskers and win the game 45-21.
Georgia Tech finished the 1990 season with a record of 11–0–1 (eleven wins, no losses, and one tie), while the Colorado Buffaloes
' record was 11–1–1, (eleven wins, one loss, and one tie). Georgia Tech tied 13-13 on October 20. Colorado tied Tennessee
31-31 on August 26 and lost to 23-22 on September 15 of that year. On October 6, Colorado controversially defeated Missouri
33-31 on the game's last official play - a "fifth down". Referees in that game lost count of the downs at the end of the game and inadvertently awarded the Buffaloes a fifth down and goal that resulted in the game's deciding touchdown. Due to its result - and its effect on the 1990 national championship voting - the 1990 Fifth Down Game has subsequently been viewed as one of the most controversial game endings in college football history.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) governs American football as played by the teams representing the largest universities in the United States, termed Division I-A (Changed in 2006 to FBS — Football Bowl Subdivision). Although smaller schools participate in formal NCAA tournaments to determine the national college football championships in Divisions I-AA, II, and III, Division I-A lacks such a tournament.
The "mythical national championship
" of Division I-A is determined by polls of coaches and/or sportswriters. In the early 1990s, two such polls were regarded as authoritative: A poll of sportswriters conducted by the Associated Press
(AP) called the AP Poll
, and a poll of college football coaches conducted by the United Press International
(UPI) called the Coaches Poll
. These polls are conducted weekly during the football season, and the final polls (in January, after all bowl game
s) determine the championship.
Because 1990 was a year in which no single college football team was dominant, the Fifth Down controversy played a role in determining the Division I-A national champion for the 1990 season. The Missouri game caused Colorado's ranking to decline to 14th. However, most of the top teams lost in subsequent weeks, while the Buffaloes won their remaining games, including a 27-12 victory in Lincoln over highly-rated Nebraska
and a squeaker over Notre Dame. The Orange Bowl
victory over Notre Dame was considered very controversial as well, due to a clipping call on Notre Dame on a punt
return touchdown late in the game by Raghib Ismail
when Colorado held a 10-9 lead, which would be the final score after Notre Dame was assessed the penalty. A blocked extra point
by Colorado turned out to be the winning margin.
Colorado would be crowned 1990 national champion in the AP
poll of sportswriters. By one vote, Georgia Tech would be crowned 1990 national champion in the UPI
poll of college football coaches, its fourth national title in school history (after 1917, 1928, and 1952). Tom Osborne, then Nebraska head coach (the only school that played both schools that season), cast the deciding vote in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college football game between Georgia Tech
1990 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team
The 1990 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Yellow Jackets offense scored 379 points while the defense allowed 186 points. Led by head coach Bobby Ross, the Yellow Jackets participated in the...
and the University of Virginia
1990 Virginia Cavaliers football team
The 1990 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia in the 1990 college football season. The Cavaliers offense scored 464 points while the defense allowed 227 points. Led by head coach George Welsh, the Cavaliers competed in the ....
, won by Georgia Tech 41-38. The game, between #1 Virginia and #16 Georgia Tech, concluded with a 37 yard field goal by Scott Sisson
Scott Sisson
Scott O'Neal Sisson is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League. He played for the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings . He played collegiately for the Georgia Tech football team and was an All-America selection in 1992...
with 7 seconds remaining. With the win, Georgia Tech would go on to claim the 1990 ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
championship and a share of the 1990 NCAA Division I-A national football championship.
Background
Georgia Tech football and basketball radio play-by-play announcer Al CiraldoAl Ciraldo
Alfred Joseph Ciraldo was an American sportscaster best known for his work as the play-by-play announcer for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball and football teams.-Education:...
coined the phrase "Toe meets leather", with which he led off every football game; current Tech radio play-by-play announcer Wes Durham
Wes Durham
Dallas Wesley "Wes" Durham is an American sportscaster. He has been the radio play-by-play announcer for Georgia Tech football, men's basketball and baseball teams since the start of the 1995-1996 season, and is known as "The Voice of the Yellow Jackets." He is also Georgia Tech's Director of...
continues this tradition with his pregame show.
The conference matchup of two undefeated teams in midseason drew great national interest. The game was televised nationally by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
with Jim Nantz
Jim Nantz
James William Nantz, III is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television.-Early life:...
handling play-by-play duties. The night before the game, vandals broke into Scott Stadium
Scott Stadium
Scott Stadium , located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits on the University of Virginia's Grounds, east of Hereford College and first-year dorms on Alderman Road but west of Brown College and the Lawn...
and set fire to the Astroturf
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
surface, burning a large midfield patch. The morning of the game, school officials questioned holding the game that day. Field personnel took spare turf from Virginia's baseball field and, after cutting out the burned sections, stitched it into the field as patches, enabling the game to be played as scheduled.
Effects
Georgia Tech would win its remaining games with (also with a last second Sisson field goal), Wake Forest, and arch-rivalClean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia. The two Georgia universities are...
Georgia to complete its fifth undefeated regular season in school history at 10-0-1. Virginia's season spiraled downhill from the game, going 1-3 to finish 8-4 and ranked #22 (AP) at the season's end. As ACC champion, Georgia Tech received the then-automatic bid to the in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
against Nebraska
1990 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 1990 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Schedule:...
. Tech would dominate the Cornhuskers and win the game 45-21.
Georgia Tech finished the 1990 season with a record of 11–0–1 (eleven wins, no losses, and one tie), while the Colorado Buffaloes
1990 Colorado Buffaloes football team
The 1990 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Buffaloes offense scored 338 points while the defense allowed 160 points. Led by head coach Bill McCartney, Colorado competed against Notre Dame in the...
' record was 11–1–1, (eleven wins, one loss, and one tie). Georgia Tech tied 13-13 on October 20. Colorado tied Tennessee
1990 Tennessee Volunteers football team
The 1990 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Volunteers offense scored 465 points while the defense allowed 220 points...
31-31 on August 26 and lost to 23-22 on September 15 of that year. On October 6, Colorado controversially defeated Missouri
1990 Missouri Tigers football team
The 1990 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tigers offense scored 278 points while the defense allowed 360 points...
33-31 on the game's last official play - a "fifth down". Referees in that game lost count of the downs at the end of the game and inadvertently awarded the Buffaloes a fifth down and goal that resulted in the game's deciding touchdown. Due to its result - and its effect on the 1990 national championship voting - the 1990 Fifth Down Game has subsequently been viewed as one of the most controversial game endings in college football history.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) governs American football as played by the teams representing the largest universities in the United States, termed Division I-A (Changed in 2006 to FBS — Football Bowl Subdivision). Although smaller schools participate in formal NCAA tournaments to determine the national college football championships in Divisions I-AA, II, and III, Division I-A lacks such a tournament.
The "mythical national championship
Mythical National Championship
A mythical national championship is a colloquial term used to question the validity of national championship recognition that is not explicitly competitive...
" of Division I-A is determined by polls of coaches and/or sportswriters. In the early 1990s, two such polls were regarded as authoritative: A poll of sportswriters conducted by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(AP) called the AP Poll
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
, and a poll of college football coaches conducted by the United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
(UPI) called the Coaches Poll
Coaches Poll
The USA Today Coaches' Poll is the current name for a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and Division I college basketball teams....
. These polls are conducted weekly during the football season, and the final polls (in January, after all bowl game
Bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...
s) determine the championship.
Because 1990 was a year in which no single college football team was dominant, the Fifth Down controversy played a role in determining the Division I-A national champion for the 1990 season. The Missouri game caused Colorado's ranking to decline to 14th. However, most of the top teams lost in subsequent weeks, while the Buffaloes won their remaining games, including a 27-12 victory in Lincoln over highly-rated Nebraska
1990 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 1990 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Schedule:...
and a squeaker over Notre Dame. The Orange Bowl
1991 Orange Bowl
The 1991 Orange Bowl was a 1990–1991 college football bowl game that was played on January 1, 1991, for the national championship. The 57th edition of the Orange Bowl featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado came into the game with a 10–1–1 record and #1 AP...
victory over Notre Dame was considered very controversial as well, due to a clipping call on Notre Dame on a punt
Punt (football)
In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....
return touchdown late in the game by Raghib Ismail
Raghib Ismail
Raghib Ramadian Ismail is a retired professional American and Canadian football player, who played Wide receiver in both the Canadian Football League and National Football League. He played college football at Notre Dame...
when Colorado held a 10-9 lead, which would be the final score after Notre Dame was assessed the penalty. A blocked extra point
Extra Point
Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...
by Colorado turned out to be the winning margin.
Colorado would be crowned 1990 national champion in the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
poll of sportswriters. By one vote, Georgia Tech would be crowned 1990 national champion in the UPI
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
poll of college football coaches, its fourth national title in school history (after 1917, 1928, and 1952). Tom Osborne, then Nebraska head coach (the only school that played both schools that season), cast the deciding vote in favor of the Yellow Jackets.