Florida State moved into the Atlantic Coast Conference and Penn State joined the Big Ten. South Carolina landed in the Southeastern Conference. The Big East gathered Miami, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
As most of the powerful major-college football independents joined conferences in the early 1990s, it was becoming more difficult to create bowl matchups that helped poll voters determine which team was No. 1 at the end of the season.
Roy Kramer, commissioner of the SEC from 1990-2002, recognized what the changing landscape and tie-ins between conferences and bowls were doing to the postseason, and crafted a solution that turned out to be the initial steps toward the College Football Playoff.