Seems like yesterday everything go big. The Notoious B.I.G. was big; our President was big into…sax; young girls were big into boy bands (every generation has to do something embarrassingly stupid); fast-food places had their “biggie” and super-size menus.

College football got big in this decade especially on the stats page. QBs threw more, RBs ran more, receivers caught more. Schools played more, the Big Ten and the SEC grew…while the Big 8 went to the Big XII…and the Eastern schools started the…what else…the Big East.

Some of us die-hards began playing fantasy football, using the college kids. Now we had more reason to stay up late and wait for the Hawaii game. Or, the Nevada game. Or, the Boise State game. Or, the New Mexico State game…..etc etc.

The 1990s continued the trends of the 1980s, and expanded them. Passing and rushing records fell, seemingly, every weekend. Not only game, season, and career stats leaders in the NCAA record books are filled predominantly with players from the 1990s….but also per game, season, and career averages. Watch your head, you may get conked out by one of those falling records.

And, we got more games on TV. If the networks did not put more games on, the enterprising fan found them on satellite or via the internet.

QUARTERBACKS

When debating the greatest QBs in college football history, rarely does the name Tim Rattay (right, CNNSI) come up, but it should. Rattay, among college QBs who played more than one season, is the greatest fantasy QB in history. After one season in JUCO ball, the Arizona native blew chunks out of the record books in his three seasons at the Ruston, LA school. Rattay owns NCAA career records in average yards passing per game (382 ppg), average total offense per game (386 ppg), and TD passes per game (just over 3.5 TD per game). His 115 career passing TDs are only 6 behind Ty Detmer (the NCAA all-timer in TD passes) and Rattay had only three seasons compared to Detmer’s four. Also, Rattay did more than rack up stats against Louisiana directional schools, he lit up defending national champ Nebraska in Lincoln for 590 yards and two long TD bombs in 1998 (one game after Nebraska discombabulated Peyton Manning in the 1998 Orange Bowl). Also, his Bulldog squads won twice at Alabama (1997, 1999). Rattay’s 1998 season was his best – 4943 yards passing and 46 TDs.

The 1990 Heisman winner, Ty Detmer, enjoyed two spectacular seasons in the decade while at Brigham Young. In his Heisman winning season, Detmer threw for 5188 yards and 41 TDs. One of Detmer’s big wins in the 1990 season was an upset over defending national champ Miami (FL). By the time he left Provo, Detmer threw for over 15,000 yards and a still-NCAA record 121 TDs. If we included Detmer’s stellar 1989 season, the gap between him and Rattay on this list would be much closer.

After Andre Ware graduated at Houston, some wondered whether the high-powered Run-And-Shoot offense would still fly. It did with David Klingler. His 1990 season re-wrote the record books, as Klingler threw for 5140 yards and 54 TDs. Klingler set single-game records that season for passing yards (716 vs Arizona State) and TD passes (11 vs Eastern Washington)….records that still stand today. Klingler slipped a little in his stats the next season, but, still his 54 TD passes in 1990 are the single-season TD record.

RUNNING BACKS

With his Bob Marley-looks, and the late reggae star’s penchant for blunts, Texas RB Ricky Williams made defenses dizzy with his running. By the time he left Austin, Williams owned the NCAA record for career TDs (72) and rushing yards (6279). His 1998 Heisman-winning season was one for the ages: 2124 yards rushing and 28 TDs scored topping his outstanding 1997 totals of 1893 yards rushing and 25 TDs. Had Williams not been sharing carries with Priest Holmes in the 1996 season, he would have obliterated the record books (his career marks would be topped in the 1999 season). Arguably Williams is one of the greatest running backs, reality or fantasy, in college football history.

As they prepare his bust in Canton for his eventual enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, lets take time to remind everyone that Marshall Faulk was a heckuva running back while at San Diego State. In his three seasons for the Aztecs, Faulk led the nation in rushing twice. Although the only year he did not lead the nation in rushing, in 1993, it was his most productive one: 1530 yards rushing, 644 receiving yards, and 24 total TDs. And, Faulk just didn’t rack up stats against WAC foes, he had big games against Miami (FL) and USC. In 31 career college games, Faulk rushed for 4589 yards and scored 62 TDs (avg 2 TD per game, career)

Although his name is not as well known as the other RBs mentioned, Miami (Ohio) RB Travis Prentice was a fantasy stud (in my main fantasy college league he was the first player taken overall in our 1999 draft). Prentice owns the all-time rushing TD mark (73) and had over 5500 yards rushing in his career. One of the most consistent RBs each season, his best single-season was 1998, when he rushed for 1787 yards and scored 20 TDs. In 1999, he added 1659 yards and 21 TDs almost equaling, fantasy-wise, his 1998 season.

Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne was built like a human bowling ball, his stocky frame knocking down defenders like pins in his four seasons in Madison. Dayne left Wisconsin as the NCAAs all-time rushing leader with 7125 yards, and scored 71 TDs. Dayne’s senior season, 1999, was his best, rushing for 1834 yards and 19 TDs. His final two seasons were the best two seasons in Badger history: Two Big Ten titles and two Rose Bowl wins. What seperated Prentice from Dayne was that Prentice had more career points scored – 468 for Prentice to 378 for Dayne.

The only back in NCAA history to rush for over 2000 yards in two consecutive seasons, Iowa State’s Troy Davis was a workhorse…er work-pony (he stood only 5-7). The Miami native led the nation in rushing in 1995 (2010 yards, 15 TDs) and 1996 (2185 yards, 21 TDs). Although Iowa State rarely won during his time there, everyone knew Davis was getting the ball he still could pile up yards and this was an period where the Big 8/Big 12 was one of the best conferences in football.

Other RBs may have put up better season totals, but few were as consistent for three seasons as Rice’s Trevor Cobb. From 1990-1992, Cobb was consistently in the top ten nationally in rushing yards and double-digits in TDs scored….playing in a program with so little talent compared to their Southwest Conference counterparts. Cobb’s best season was 1991, when he rushed for 1692 yards and scored 14 TDs. In 1992, he added 1386 yards rushing, 283 yards receiving, and scored 15 TDs.

The best fantasy receiver of all time just may be Louisiana Tech’s Troy Edwards. The NCAAs all-time leader in TD catches (50), Edwards lit up the college football world in 1998…hauling in 140 passes for 1996 yards,and 27 TDs (31 total TDs). In the 1998 season opener at Nebraska, Edwards had 405 yards receiving (still the NCAA single-game record) and caught two long TD passes. His two seasons playing with Tim Rattay produced the most lethal hook-up in NCAA history; the 39 TDs from Rattay to Edwards is the NCAAs all-time record. His two year totals, 1997-1998, are the best ever by a receiver: 3703 yards receiving, 40 TD receptions.

Wyoming’s Ryan Yarbrough was a big-play receiver who frustrated WAC defenses in the early 1990s. Yarbrough still posesses the highest career average yards-per-catch (19.0) among players with more than one season played. His best season was 1993, where he caught 67 passes for 1512 yards and 16 TD…with a whopping 22.6 yards per catch. In a three-year span from 1991-1993, he hauled in 41 TD passes and and nearly 4000 receiving yards.

Just missing the first team on this list was another Wyoming WR, Marcus Harris. The all-time leading receiver for the Cowboys, Harris took over as the main target when Ryan Yarbrough graduated. Harris’ best season was 1996, when he caught 109 passes for 1650 yards and 13 TDs. Harris had a three-year span (1994-1996) as good as his former teammate (in fact Harris had more yards), but Yarbrough had a few more TDs and a higher yards-per-catch.

One of the most prolific WRs ever was Nevada’s Trevor Insley. The Wolf Pack receiver went wild in 1999, catching 134 passes for 2060 yards and 13 TDs…..the receiving yards are still the NCAAs all-time single-season best. At a program known for turning out productive receivers, Insley holds the all-time Nevada receiving record with 298 receptions and 5005 yards.

A little earlier in the decade, the Nevada Wolf Pack had another great receiver in Alex Van Dyke. His best season was 1995, catching 129 passes for 1864 yards and 16 TDs. When you put in his 1994 totals, Van Dyke had a two-year run where he caught 227 balls for 3110 yards and 26 TDs. Although a case could be made for fellow 1990s Wolf Pack WRs like Geoff Noisy and Byron Reeves to make this list, Van Dyke’s two prime seasons were better overall than his teammates.

The “Polish Powderkeg” Sebastian Janikowski put together a three-year career that no kicker in NCAA history could match. Built like a linebacker, and as trouble-rousing as any skill-position player, Janikowski hit 66 FGs and scored 326 points in his Seminole career. He not only was a threat to score when FSU got inside an opponents 45 yard line, but helped the Noles defense greatly by blasting kickoffs through the end-zone. Janikowski left early for the NFL and was a FIRST ROUND draft pick of the Oakland Raiders. I always wondered how Janikowski would have done in the Southwest Conference of the 1970s when kickers could use their own tees and their own footballs.

Another kicker who emigrated to the US and resided in Florida, the Argentinian-born Martin Grammatica, had a leg as strong as Janikowski’s. The Kansas State kicker had a phenominal 1998 season, hitting 22 FGs and 69 XPs for 135 points. What was so impressive with Grammatica is that he was so successful at long-range FGs in a part of the country known for its changing wind and weather conditions.

Nebraska kicker Kris Brown got a lot of work as the Huskers scored early and often. In his career from 1995-1998, Brown scored 388 points, including 217 XPs. He also hit 57 FGs in his Husker career, a surprising total since the Huskers seemed to score TDs at will during the mid-1990s.

DEFENSE

Honorable Mention: Florida State, Miami (FL), Arizona

Alabama enjoyed some of the best defenses of the 1990s, especially early in the decade. Its best may have been its 1992 squad, which spanked Miami (FL) in the Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship. The 1992 Bama D held opponents to 194.2 yards per game (NCAA best that season) and 9.1 points per game (2d nationally). Evidence of the great Bama D of 1992 was DB George Teague’s mugging of a Cane WR near the goal-line during the Sugar Bowl.

Later in the 1990s. Florida State developed one of the stingiest Ds in the land. Its 1998 defense was probably its best, holding opponents to a nation-best 214.8 yards per game and 11.2 ppg. NFL rosters were dominated by the likes of FSU defenders, including future Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks.

Continuing a trend from the 1980s, the Miami Hurricanes had their share of killer defenses. The 1994 unit, led by All-American DL Warren Sapp, led the nation in both total defense (220 yards per game) and scoring defense (10.8).

Usually some sort of counseling is required when anyone mentions “good Pac-10 defense”, but Arizona in the early 1990s had one of the best in the land under head coach Dick Tomey. Its 1992 version led the nation in scoring defense (8.9)…ahead of national champ Alabama, and produced such greats as New England Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi.

FREAKY STAT

Usually, I have some wild stat to ruminate about, but, I have already used a lot of “freaky stats” in my list of fantasy All-Decade players. OK, so, which is the longest-standing individual NCAA record? Oklahoma’s Jack Mitchell still has the highest career punt return average….23.6 per return. Mitchell played from 1946 to 1948. That record has held up after nearly 60 years which in itself is a little freaky.

FANTASY PLAYER OF THE DECADE (F-POD)

Although it is close, the F-POD goes to QB Tim Rattay. Few QBs put up the stats, and, he did have the best hook-up in college football history with WR Troy Edwards for two seasons…and many of those TD passes were long bombs (which some leagues give more points for). Some of his records (like career yards per game and career TD passes per game) have still held up until today…considering the offenses Texas Tech and Hawaii have run the past few years.