Interesting College Football Zingers Quiz

Answer: 1990, Colorado and Georgia Tech

For both Colorado and Georgia Tech, their first NCAA college football championships were tainted by this 'split-poll' effect, Colorado winning out in the AP poll and Georgia Tech being selected by the coaches. There were also split polls in 1954, 1957, 1965, 1973, 1991 and 1997, but in each case at least one of the teams had won a previous NCAA football championship ... so the key words in the question were 'first time'!

Answer: True

The 1922 game between California (my poor Bears!) and Washington and Jefferson (who?) ended in a scoreless tie. Yes, that's right ... 0-0. The tiebreaker system had obviously not been developed at the time, and honestly ... who the heck cares about a game between Cal and Washington and Jefferson anyway?

Answer: Halfback

Jay Berwanger, aka 'The Flying Dutchman', was not only the first Heisman Trophy winner, he was also the first pick in the first NFL college draft! Though he was a great for the University of Chicago, he decided not to play after all in the NFL ... the money wasn't that great at the time.

Answer: BYU

Detmer, a non-Mormon Texan (though he later converted), played for BYU from 1988 until 1991. During that time he racked up an incredible 15,031 passing yards, with 63% of his passes completed. He also passed for an unbelievable 121 touchdowns, many against my beloved Utah Utes! The second leading passer during the 20th century was Tim Rattay of Louisiana Tech, who passed for 12,746 yards during his NCAA career.

Answer: Rose Bowl

Apparently anybody could get into the Rose Bowl in the 1910s! Actually, these two teams were both service teams, filling in at war time. The Mare Island Marines defeated the Camp Lewis Army team 19-7 in a game that must have only been equalled by the following year's game, when the Great Lakes Navy team defeated Mare Island 17-0! The following year was back to normal, with Harvard playing and defeating Oregon 7-6.

Answer: False

Texas Christian played against Marquette in the first Cotton Bowl game. The Horned Frogs defeated the Warriors in that 1937 game by a score of 16-6. One year prior, the Texas Christian Horned Frogs had defeated Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl game by the baseball score of 3-2.

However, this was not the first, but the second Sugar Bowl game played. The first was played in 1935 and saw Tulane defeat Temple 20-14.

Answer: Minnesota

Minnesota, not exactly known as an NCAA football powerhouse in the modern day, won the first NCAA football championship in 1936. They repeated this feat in 1940 and 1941, becoming as well the first three-time champion. Their final championship season of the 20th century came in 1960. Since then, the Golden Gophers have been hiding deep underground! (Incidentally, the second repeat champion was Army, who pulled off the accomplishment in 1944 and 1945, World War II years.)

Answer: Steve Owens

Apparently the halfback position has gone out of style, the last winning halfback was Steve Owens, playing for Oklahoma, in 1969. Since 1969 the winners have largely been listed as quarterbacks and running backs. Up to and including Owens, a majority of the winners were officially listed as halfback.

Answer: Charles Woodson

Amazingly, the Heisman Trophy, which has existed since 1935, was not awarded to a fully defensive player until cornerback Charles Woodson won it in 1997! Woodson played several memorable seasons at Michigan before turning pro and starring at the same position with the Oakland Raiders. Woodson was not the first winner to have played some defense, however. Leon Hart, who won the award in 1949 as an 'end', also played defensive end.

Answer: No

As a matter of fact, the very first Rose Bowl game in 1902 pitted perennial power Michigan against the fearsome Stanford Indians (later named the Cardinal). The game was won by Michigan, who defeated the apparently less fearsome than we thought Stanford 49-0.

The game was discontinued for 14 years following the initial contest. Following the 1921 game, the Rose Bowl featured a Pac Ten team every year, but not another Big Ten team until 1947 when Illinois took on UCLA and defeated the Bruins 45-14. Every subsequent contest of the 20th century featured a Big Ten/Pac Ten brouhaha.

This all came to a crashing end with the advent of the dreaded Bowl Championship Series, which ultimately rendered the specific bowls meaningless (aside from the one selected for the championship game), except in terms of money!