Due to often rigid existing bowl tie-ins, and various conference regulations, it was not uncommon that the two top-ranked teams at the end of the regular season would never meet on the field, even when there was a clear-cut #1 and #2.
[1] Under the agreement, bowl bids would be extended to the five member conference champions plus five at-large teams.
The Orange, Sugar, and Cotton bowls retained their long-standing agreements to invite the Big 8, SEC, and SWC champions, respectively.
[2] In later years,[citation needed] the Big 8, SEC, and SWC champions would be released to play in another bowl if it was necessary to force a "title game".
Most significantly, it did not include the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10, both of whom were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl.
The Coalition's founders tried to get the Tournament of Roses Association to release the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions to play in a title game if one of them was ranked #1 or #2 in the Bowl Poll, but it refused to do so due to concerns about this potentially violating its television contract with ABC.
The possibility also still existed that an undefeated and untied team would not get a chance to play for the national championship.
First, the Southwest Conference, which had seen a marked decline in its quality of play over the past decade, announced it would dissolve after the 1995 season.
The final year of the Bowl Coalition saw its formula break down completely, as the situation it was designed to prevent (a split national championship) presented itself as a serious possibility.
Penn State had decided prior to the formation of the Bowl Coalition to give up its independent football status to join the Big Ten,[3] a conference not part of the coalition and whose champion was contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl.
This meant that not only would there be a split championship if Miami won, but that Penn State's fate could be sealed before they even had a chance to play their game.