Nebraska and Florida State Named Co-Teams of the 1990s by CBS Sports

CBS Sports selected the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Florida State Seminoles as co-teams of the 1990s, marking the only shared honor in its decade-by-decade college-football rankings. The decision appears in a feature that also gave Nebraska honorable mentions for the 1970s and 1980s, while Florida State received no such mentions.

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Nebraska compiled a 108-16-1 record from 1990-1999, winning three national championships (1994, 1995, and a shared title in 1997). The program posted a 60-3 stretch between 1993-1997 and finished in the top three of the AP poll in 1999 under interim coach Frank Solich. Florida State posted a 109-13-1 record, captured national titles in 1993 and 1999, and finished in the AP top six six times during the decade. Both schools recorded double-digit win totals in every season.

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CBS Sports analyst Chip Patterson argued that Nebraska ended a national-title drought dating back to 1971 and that Tom Osborne’s program “clicked into place” in the mid-1990s, producing a dominant 60-3 run. Patterson also noted Florida State’s consistency under Bobby Bowden, highlighting “double-digit wins and top-five finishes in every season” from 1987-2000. The analyst concluded that honoring both programs reflects the broader story of college football in the 1990s.

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The article questions the need for a split honor, describing the decision as “splitting hairs” between Nebraska’s long-awaited breakthrough and Florida State’s emerging dominance. It suggests that a single selection would have provided clearer recognition, and it critiques the absence of any honorable mentions for other programs in the decade.

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• “ended a national title drought that spanned back to 1971.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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• “The Cornhuskers went 60-3 from 1993-97, claiming at least a share of the national championship in three of Osborne’s final four seasons.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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• “Nebraska may not have had the year-to-year consistency of Florida State throughout the 1990s, but three national titles (to FSU’s two) and a top-three finish by Frank Solich in 1999 helped solidify the case for a true co-champion honor.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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• “Celebrating both programs is necessary to the story of college football in the 1990s, so to make it up to you, we will award NO HONORABLE MENTIONS and stick to focusing on why Florida State and Nebraska stand out among the rest.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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• “The truly stunning statistics showcasing Florida State’s peak under Bobby Bowden stretch back to 1987 and through 2000 [double-digit wins and top-five finishes in every season], but it was in the 1990s that the spear was planted in the sport and the Seminoles became synonymous with college football at the highest levels.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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• “Patterson wrote about why they split honors: “Splitting hairs between Nebraska, which had been knocking on the door of Tom Osborne’s title-winning breakthrough for decades, and a Florida State program that had just started throwing haymakers against the sport’s best is too difficult.” — Chip Patterson, CBS Sports

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