Ah, the 90s. The final decade of the millennium started with a bit of everything: conference changes, teams moving up, teams moving to new conferences, and teams dropping football.
1990 I-AA (FCS) Over I-A (FBS) Victories (9)
- Missouri State @ UNLV, 31-24
- Montana @ Oregon State, 22-15
- Eastern Michigan @ Youngstown State, 24-14
- Akron @ Youngstown State, 28-23
- SMU @ North Texas, 14-7
- The Citadel @ South Carolina, 38-35
- Nevada @ UNLV, 26-14
- James Madison @ Navy, 16-7
- Ohio @ Youngstown State, 27-0
There was one tie between I-A and I-AA teams in 1990:
- Arkansas State @ Memphis, 24-24
Playoff Bracket, Notes, and National Champion
For the fifth season running, the playoff format remained unchanged. A 16-team field was selected with the top four teams seeded and campus sites used through the semifinal round. The championship game was played on December 15 at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia for the second straight season.
The home team is listed on the bottom of each matchup in the bracket below while an asterisk (*) denotes the number of overtime periods played if a game went to overtime. Georgia Southern (12-3 Overall as I-AA Independent) opened the new decade the way they ended the previous one: I-AA champions for the fourth time. They defeated Nevada (13-2 Overall, 7-1 Big Sky Conference) 36-13 on their home field.
Conference Changes
The Colonial League changed its name to the Patriot League, which remains the same name to this day. No other conference changes occurred in 1990.
Team Changes
Central Florida joined I-AA independent status from Division II. Meanwhile, Davidson dropped from I-AA Independent to Division III independent status. Fordham moved from I-AA Independent to the Patriot League. Lamar, previously in the Southland Conference, dropped their football program after the 1989 season.
The NCAA handbook has Southeast Missouri State listed as I-AA starting with the 1990 season, however, the school has a starting date of 1991. Ultimately, this makes no difference to the list of I-AA/FCS wins, nor the FCS versus FBS games as SEMO did not have any games against I-A competition in 1990. It must be noted that SEMO did play a full MIAA schedule in 1990, which led us to not include them as I-AA for the 1990 season.
| Team | Old Conference | New Conference |
|---|---|---|
| Central Florida | Division II Independent | I-AA Independent |
| Davidson | I-AA Independent | Division III Independent |
| Fordham | I-AA Independent | Patriot League (I-AA) |
| Lamar | Southland (I-AA) | Dropped Football |
| Holy Cross | Colonial League (I-AA) | Patriot League (I-AA) |
| Bucknell | Colonial League (I-AA) | Patriot League (I-AA) |
| Colgate | Colonial League (I-AA) | Patriot League (I-AA) |
| Lehigh | Colonial League (I-AA) | Patriot League (I-AA) |
| Lafayette | Colonial League (I-AA) | Patriot League (I-AA) |
1989 Season ———————————————————————————————————————————————————- 1991 Season