Note: in the review that follows, title-contenders are shown in bold.

An alternative history of the 1990s: eliminate the Florida Gators, the Michigan Wolverines, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and you might see teams like Tennessee, Ohio State, and Kansas State dominating the decade. In 1998, these three underachievers all won against their nemeses, and two of them finished 1998 1 and 2 in the polls.

The story starts with Ohio State, who came off 1997's Sugar Bowl loss to Florida State as the preseason #1. The Seminoles were also highly ranked, winning a 23-14 preseason game against a seemingly timid Texas A&M. The Buckeyes started off beating three marginal teams (West Virginia, Toledo, and Missouri) before clubbing Penn State, 28-9. The next few weeks seemed like a march to a coronation as the Buckeyes tossed aside inferior competition. They reached 8-0 with two more mosquitos before the dreaded game against Michigan. The Wolverines had lost their first two but had since returned to their 1997 form. Along the way, though, Ohio State lost incredibly to 4-4 Michigan State at home, 28-24. It would hardly matter, in retrospect, that they would beat Michigan (finally!) 31-16, because they were out of the championship hunt, and, in fact, were not even good enough for the Rose Bowl.

That's because Wisconsin decided to become Ohio State for a season. After beating a high-scoring Purdue team 31-24, the Badgers went in to the Michigan game 9-0, and promptly got waxed, 24-10. So the Wolverines still got to ruin somebody's season. But the Badgers went on to beat Penn State 24-3, and thus earn a Rose Bowl bid.

A number of teams took gaudy records into November in 1998, but only one major team finished the season undefeated (though Tommy Bowden's Tulane Green Wave, led by quarterback Shaun King, finished the year 12-0). Luckily for Florida State, they got their loss out of the way early. In perhaps the upset of the decade, the Seminoles were pounded 24-7 by North Carolina State in both teams' second game. The early loss would later be forgotten by pollsters, as the Seminoles would go on to beat Miami, 26-14, a high-scoring Georgia Tech, 34-7, and arch rival Florida, 23-12. Florida State finished the regular season 11-1.

Three good teams made it to 5-0 before their first loss. Nebraska struggled in its first season under coach Frank Solich, losing a 28-21 shocker to then 4-1 Texas A&M. A 20-16 loss to Texas would later put them completely out of contention. Arizona, another 5-0 team, was undressed 52-28 against UCLA's scoring machine, and Oregon was also prevented from a sixth straight win by a much closer, 41-38 margin with the Bruins. Arizona would later beat the Ducks 38-3 en route to a tremendous 12-1 season. Despite an up year for the Pac Ten, the Wildcats did not receive much consideration for the national championship game.

Three of the remaining four teams with good records-- Arkansas, who made it to 8-0, UCLA, who made it to 10-0, and Kansas State, who made it to 11-0, all present a story of fumble. The first to fall were the Razorbacks, who lost a heartbreaker in Knoxville against Tennessee, 28-24. The Hogs then lost the very next week to 6-3 Mississippi State in a 22-21 gut-wrencher, which not only put the brakes on a tremendous season, but also cost them the SEC West title. A solid thumping by Penn State in the bowl game made them 1 of their last 4. UCLA's tale might be even more spectacularly awful. A probable matchup against Tennessee in the national championship game, the Bruins had only a game at Miami to finish the season. There was some doubt whether the game would even be played, as it had been canceled early in the season due to a hurricane. Still, given that Miami had lost 66-13 the previous week against Syracuse, the Bruins looked in for a cake walk. Instead, it was a 45-41 decision in Miami's favor, thanks to a huge day by Edgerrin James against UCLA's porous rush defense. Insult to that injury was Wisconsin's Rose Bowl win over the Bruins. Finally, Kansas State, who had finally beaten Nebraska in a 40-30 game earlier, won 11 and a half straight games... but couldn't close out the 12th when Texas A&M made a furious comeback to win the Big Twelve Championship, 36-33. The Wildcats then played uninspired in a 37-34 Alamo Bowl loss to Purdue.

The team that did make it, with a little luck, was Tennessee. The Vols dodged a bullet in their opener when an amazing Tee Martin scramble helped beat Syracuse, 34-33. They adopted the worn-out monniker of Destiny's Team the following game in an improbable 20-17 win over Florida. The Gators had outplayed them, but missed a short field goal in overtime to lose. At 8-0, the Vols were beaten badly for three quarters by Arkansas, when a shocking fumble, a bad snap, and a safety allowed Tennessee to sneak away with a 28-24 win. A sluggish, mistake-filled 24-14 win over Mississippi State in the SEC championship brought them to 12-0.