1995 American Football Season

The 1995 American football season was a landmark year, marked by dynasties cementing their legacies, expansion into new markets, and incredible individual achievements at both the professional and collegiate levels.

The NFL: Expansion, Relocation, and the Cowboys’ Dynasty

The 1995 National Football League season was a year of major transitions and historical milestones.

• Expansion and Relocation: The NFL expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was also a year of shifting geographies: the Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis, the Raiders returned to Oakland, and mid-season, the Cleveland Browns controversially announced their relocation to Baltimore for the following year.
• Super Bowl XXX: The Dallas Cowboys, under head coach Barry Switzer and led by the “Triplets” (Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin), defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–17. This victory made the Cowboys the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four years. Cornerback Larry Brown was named Super Bowl MVP.
• MVP Performance: Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre won his first of three consecutive AP NFL Most Valuable Player awards, leading the league in passing yards (4,413) and touchdowns (38).

College Football: The Cornhusker Juggernaut

The 1995 collegiate season was utterly dominated by what many sports historians consider one of the greatest college teams ever assembled.

• Nebraska’s Perfect Season: Under head coach Tom Osborne, the Nebraska Cornhuskers went undefeated (12–0) and repeated as consensus National Champions. Averaging an incredible 53.2 points per game behind an unstoppable option offense led by quarterback Tommie Frazier, Nebraska steamrolled through their schedule. They capped their perfect season by demolishing the #2-ranked Florida Gators 62–24 in the Fiesta Bowl.
• Northwestern’s Cinderella Run: The Northwestern Wildcats, a perennial underdog, shocked the nation by winning the Big Ten championship and reaching the Rose Bowl under head coach Gary Barnett, who swept the national Coach of the Year awards.
• Heisman Trophy: Ohio State running back Eddie George won the Heisman Trophy after a spectacular regular season, rushing for 1,826 yards and 23 touchdowns (finishing with 1,927 yards and 24 touchdowns overall) and capturing the Doak Walker and Maxwell awards.

1994 Gridiron Milestone Moments

Beyond the championships, 1995 was a year of incredible individual milestones and the end of legendary eras.

• Don Shula‘s Farewell: The 1995 season marked the end of the line for Don Shula, the winningest head coach in NFL history, who retired after 26 seasons at the helm of the Miami Dolphins.
• Emmitt Smith’s Touchdown Record: Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith set a then-NFL single-season record with 25 rushing touchdowns while also leading the league in rushing with 1,773 yards.
• Jerry Rice‘s Dominance: San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice set a then-NFL single-season record with 1,848 receiving yards, proving that even as the league evolved, he remained the gold standard at the position.
• The “Snowball Game”: The season also featured the infamous “Snowball Game” at Giants Stadium, where frustrated fans pelted the field (and the San Diego Chargers) with ice balls during the Giants’ 27–17 loss, leading to 15 arrests and 175 ejections.

A Deep Dive into 1995 Football History and Highlights

• January 2, 1995 – The 81st Edition of the Rose Bowl Game billed the PAC-10’s Oregon Ducks against the BIG10 representative Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State ended on top of the scoreboard 38-20. There were two MVPs, one from each team, as MVPs Ki-Jana Carter (Penn State RB) and Danny O’Neil (Oregon QB) were honored post-game.
• January 11, 1995 – The Canadian Football League tried some experimental U.S. expansion by announcing Alabama’s Birmingham Barracudas were granted a CFL franchise. Birmingham lasted only one season, though, per Onthisday.com, as the States did not support the Canadian style of play.
• January 15, 1995 – Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh – San Diego traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. The folks at BoltsfromtheBlue.com have an excellent synopsis of the game. The first half went pretty much as most experts expected. The Steelers’ defense was stout, holding the Chargers to 3 points and less than 50 yards of total offense, while the Steelers led 10 -0 at halftime. The powerful Pittsburgh run game was sputtering, though, as San Diego’s defense held one of the League’s top rushers, Barry Foster, to little gain on the ground. The second half had a bit of a surprise as blocking tight end Alfred Pupunu was the target of a quarterback Stan Humphries’ 43-yard touchdown pass play, and the Chargers were in the game down by 3. Late in the fourth, the Steelers sent an all-out blitz on Humphries, who found speedster Tony Martin in single coverage with no safety help, and the Chargers scored again. The San Diego Chargers denied the Pittsburgh Steelers, claiming a 17-13 victory that sent them to the Super Bowl.
• January 15, 1995 – Candlestick Park, San Francisco – NFC Championship: San Francisco 49ers beat Dallas Cowboys, 38-28 per OnthisDay.com.
• January 17, 1995 – On this date, the Los Angeles Rams announced their move to St. Louis.
• January 28, 1995 – The Memphis Mad Dogs were announced as the Canadian Football League’s 13th franchise as part of a U.S. League expansion plan.
• February 5, 1995 – Aloha Stadium, Honolulu – The AFC stars knocked around the NFC squad, 41-13, in the 1994 season’s NFL Pro Bowl game. The Most Valuable Player of this contest was none other than Marshall Faulk, who at the time played for the Indianapolis Colts as a running back.
• February 21, 1995 – The CFL’s Sacramento Gold Miners became the San Antonio Texans, according to OnthisDay.com. Apparently, fields in the San Antonio area were not up to the CFL’s standards. After failed attempts to have any of them upgraded and a failed bid by Texans owner Fred Anderson to build a new stadium, the franchise was doomed just a couple of months after the League’s Grey Cup was played. Our friend Chris Lawton from the Ninety-Nine Yards website has an interesting story on what he describes as the ill-fated U.S. Expansion of the CFL in the mid 1990’s. From 1993 through the 1995 seasons, the Canadian Football League tried to gain a foothold in the USA by introducing American teams such as the Baltimore Stallions, Birmingham Barracudas, Las Vegas Posse, Memphis Mad Dogs, Shreveport Pirates, and the Gold Miners/Texans franchise. Unfortunately, none of them would stick on American soil for a variety of reasons: US fans are very loyal to their NFL and college teams, and it is extremely difficult for other forms of football to gain market share.
• April 18, 1995 – Quarterback Joe Montana announced his retirement from football. More on this story.
• April 22, 1995 – The Cincinnati Bengals held the first pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. For their choice, the Bengals chose Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter as the number one pick. According to the Pro Football Reference folks, the members of this draft class that have been enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are Tampa Bay’s use of selection number 12 to take defensive tackle Warren Sapp of the University of Miami (FL), and then New England’s drafting of Michigan cornerback Ty Law at pick number 23. The Buccaneers turned around and made another brilliant defensive pick, taking linebacker Derrick Brooks with selection 28, and the Patriots also double-dipped into the future Hall of Fame pool by selecting Curtis Martin, the running back from Pitt. Denver once again used some late-round magic to find Georgia running back Terrell Davis in the 6th round with the 196th overall selection.
• May 30, 1995 – The Pittsburgh Steelers traded 2-time Pro Bowl and leading rusher for a single season, Barry Foster to the Carolina Panthers. Foster rushed for a Steelers record 1692 yards in 1992. Foster failed to make the Panthers roster after the trade and soon retired.
• June 21, 1995 – The Arena Football League announced a massive broadcasting expansion with ESPN, laying the groundwork for the sport’s late-90s cultural boom and proving that fans had a massive appetite for summer football.
• June 23, 1995 –  Raiders Move back to Oakland – NFL owners officially approved a deal that allowed the Los Angeles Raiders to pack their bags and head back to Oakland. Enticed by cheap rent and a publicly funded $225 million bond for stadium renovations, Al Davis officially ended the franchise’s 13-year stay in Southern California.
• September 3, 1995 – The NFL has two brand-new expansion teams debuting in their first games. And the first one, they roll out the Jacksonville Jaguars. But the Jaguars battled the Houston Oilers 10-3 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.
• September 3, 1995 – The debut of the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers make it an exciting game in their first game as they lose in overtime to the Atlanta Falcons 23-20 at the Georgia Dome.
• October 1, 1995 – The Jacksonville Jaguars record their first-ever franchise win in week five of their inaugural season in a thrilling 17-16 victory over the Houston Oilers at the Astrodome.
• October 3, 1995 – Retired NFL running back O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of murdering his wife, Nicole, and friend Ronald Goldman.
• October 8, 1995 – Dan Marino surpasses legendary signal caller Fran Tarkenton‘s NFL record of 3,686 career completions. Miami fell to the Indianapolis Colts in a heartbreaker, 24-27, in the game that day. Marino finished his career with 4,967 career completions.
• October 27, 1995, Art Modell and officials in Baltimore, Maryland, finalized the move of the Cleveland Browns’ franchise to Baltimore by signing the contract. We, of course, later learned that the City of Cleveland would retain Brown’s name, and the former Browns franchise would become the Baltimore Ravens.
• October 28, 1995, 7th College Football Holy War: Notre Dame beats Boston College 20-10 in South Bend.
• November 6, 1995 – Art Modell officially announced that his Cleveland Browns franchise was moving to Baltimore. The city of Cleveland later learned that it would retain the Browns name, so Modell’s franchise would go on to become the Ravens. (source)
• November 11, 1995 – OSU’s Eddie George rushed for a school-record 314 yards on 36 carries and scored three touchdowns to boot as Ohio State routed the University of Illinois 41-3. The website elevenwarriors.com summed up the story nicely. Running against the Illini was supposed to be difficult. Coming into the 10th Game of the season, Illinois was ranked 10th in the nation in run defense, giving up barely more than 100 yards per Game. Linebackers Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy were All-American caliber and were stout against the run.  That is all well and good, but those facts seemed to motivate Eddie G and his blockers up front. George had over 100 yards in the 1st quarter alone and over 180 at halftime. Eddie kept up the yardage after the half, too, as on the first play of the 2nd half, George took a handoff from Hoying and burst through a hole on the left side, then sped down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown.
• November 12, 1995 – Miami, Florida – Miami Dolphins, star Quarterback Dan Marino broke Fran Tarkenton’s NFL all-time passing yardage mark of 47,003 in a game against the New England Patriots. Bleacher Report reports that New England held on and won the game despite the 34-17 score. (source)
• November 19, 1995 – Taylor Field, Regina, Saskatchewan – The year an American Team took home the Grey Cup. What? Is that right? An American team won the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup? In fact, it is very true. The 83rd Grey Cup, the CFL championship, was played between the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders. The Stallions won the game 37–20. It marked the only time that an American-based team won the Grey Cup. It was only the second season for the Baltimore club. Yet, despite that, the Stallions would not be going for a repeat as the franchise ended up being dissolved and then added to make a reincarnated Montreal franchise, which had closed shop in 1986 and went under the old Alouettes moniker, due to Baltimore getting the NFL’s old Cleveland franchise, which we now know as the Ravens.  According to the website scorum.com, Baltimore got on the board first with an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown by Chris Wright. The Stampeders put the score within one point at the end of the first quarter with a couple of field goals by  Mark McLoughlin. Calgary quarterback Doug Flutie put the Stampeders up when he threw a TD pass to Marvin Pope in the 2nd stanza. The Stallions then bolted to a 23-13 halftime score on a scoop and score and three field goals. The Stallions never looked back as Tracy Ham used his feet and arms to keep putting points on the board for Baltimore. The Stallions’ quarterback, Tracy Ham, won the game MVP award. (source)
• November 26, 1995 – Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino set another record. This time, it was an NFL record: the 343rd touchdown pass in the game against the Indianapolis Colts, per American Fandom. Marino’s passing wasn’t enough as the Blue Horseshoe scored 36 points to the Dolphins’ 28.
• December 2, 1995 – The #2 Florida Gators cruised past the #23 Arkansas Razorbacks 34-3 in the 4th SEC Championship Game.
• December 9, 1995 – Ohio State Running Back Eddie George won the 61st Heisman Trophy Award. Heisman.com describes how George averaged 152.2 yards per game for a total of 1826 yards on the ground in his senior season to help the legendary Buckeye rusher gain the coveted hardware. His 22 touchdowns and 11 straight games of rushing for at least 100 yards catapulted Eddie over the competition in the voting.