The World in 1994, When Rice Last Beat Texas in Football

The college football season is just a few days away. More importantly, in just five days, the Texas Longhorns begin their march back to the Bowl Conference Series National Title game.

This week, the Longhorns take on the Rice Owls in Houston, TX. It is a glorified preseason game in all reality that will count towards their regular season win and loss total. The game this week against Rice and next week against Wyoming will help the starters get ready for when the Big 12 play begins in Week Three against Texas Tech.

By all regards, this game should be over by halftime.

But what happens if Rice makes a game of it and beats Texas?

When the heck was the last time they even beat the Longhorns?

Well, it was October 16, 1994 and the score was Rice 19, Texas 17.

Life was a lot different 16 years ago. So click on through as we take a fun look back at what was popular the last time the Rice Owls beat Texas in football.  This is a fun week with football coming back on Saturday.

Top Grossing Movie of 1994: The Lion King: $783,841,776

The Lion King dominated the movie scene in 1994. Second place that year was the Tom Hanks hit Forrest Gump.

Speaking of Hanks and Forrest Gump, the movie won best picture at the Oscars that year and Hanks won best Actor for his role as Forrest.

Other winners of the 1994 Oscars:

Best Actress: Jessica Lange, Blue Sky

Supporting Actor: Martin Landau, Ed Wood

Supporting Actress: Dianne West, Bullets Over Broadway

Director: Robert Zemeckis, Forrest Gump

Song of the Year 1994: A Whole New World, Aladdin's Theme

Disney dominated in 1994 as they won here at the Grammys.

Other notable winners at the Grammys in 1994.

Album of the Year: "The Body Guard Original Soundtrack"

Best New Artist of the Year: Toni Braxton

Rap Song of the Year (Solo): Dr. Dre, "Let Me Ride"

Rap Song of the Year (Duo or Trio): Digable Planets, "Cool Like That"

Rock Song of the Year: Soul Asylum, "Run Away Train"

MTV Video Music Awards Video of the Year: Aerosmith "Cryin"

I am sorry that I could not post this video on the slideshow. But do yourself a favor and either download the song on Itunes or YouTube it.

But other winners in 1994 when MTV actually played music videos.

Best Male Video: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "May Janes Last Dance"

Best Female Video: Janet Jackson, "If"

Best New Artist in a Video: Counting Crows, "Mr. Jones"

Best Metal/Hard Rock Video: Sound Garden, "Black Hole Sun"

Best Rap Video- Snoop Doggy Dog, "Doggy Dog World"

Best Alternative Video: Nirvana, "Heart Shaped Box"

Viewer's Choice: Aerosmith, "Cryin"

Top Television Show Drama and Comedy: Picket Fences and Frasier

In 1994 there were not as many channels as there are today. Here are some of the other winners of the 1994 Emmys.

Lead Actor in a Drama: Dennis Franz, "NYPD Blue"

Lead Actor in a Comedy: Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier"

Lead Actress in a Drama: Sela Ward, "Sisters"

Lead Actress in a Comedy: Candice Bergen, "Murphy Brown"

In fact the Screen Actor Guild Awards' first year was 1994.

Price of Gas in 1994: $1.10

Ugh, don't you wish we could go back to the days of these gas prices?

But at kickoff time for the Rice vs. Texas game the gas price was $1.10.

Now in 2010 the price of gas on average at kickoff will be $2.86.

Television Shows That Debuted in 1994

Wow, 1994 was a great year for television shows. Take a look at these shows that hit our television screens for the first time in 1994.

Friends

NFL Fox Pre-Game Show

Ellen

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Extra

New York Undercover

Party of Five

ER

Touched by an Angel

The Associated Press National Champion 1994: Nebraska

Enough with the pop culture of 1994. Let's get down to what happend in the sports year of 1994.

The college football year had quite the controversial finish, as Penn State and Nebraska finished the year both undefeated. The Coaches and Associated Press final poll voted Nebraska No. 1.

That year Nebraska beat Miami in the Orange Bowl and Penn State beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

The end of the 1994 season saw the end of the Bowl Coalition and the beginning of the Bowl Alliance.

Other big moments from the 1994 college season:

Kordell Stewart threw his famous Hail Mary pass to defeat No. 4 Michigan in what was to be named "The Miracle at Michigan."

Rashaan Salaam of Colorado won the Heisman Trophy, but Division I-AA quarterback Steve McNair of Alcorn State finished third in the final Heisman voting.

Texas finished the season unranked in any of the polls.

Major League Baseball's World Series Champion: No One!

In 1994 Baseball decided to cancel its season in mid-August in a player lockout. So for the first time since 1904, baseball did not have a World Series champion.

But the All-Star game was held in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA and it gave me a reason to remember when the Pirates were only two years removed from a winning season.

Now it is 18 years and counting.

National Basketball Assocation World Champion: Houston Rockets

In 1994 the Houston Rockets defeated the New York Knicks in an thrilling seven-game series. That series saw the Knicks go up three games to two with two chances to win the NBA Title. However, they could not close out the Rockets and lost the final two games in Houston.

Other NBA winners in 1994:

Season and Finals MVP: Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets)

Scoring Champion: David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)

Rookie of the Year: Chris Webber (Golden State Warriors)

Defensive Player of the Year: Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets)

Sixth Man of the Year: Dell Curry (Charlotte Hornets)

Coach of the Year: Lenny Wilkens (Atlanta Hawks)

National Hockey League Stanley Cup Winner: New York Rangers

The New York Rangers ended their Stanley Cup drought in 1994 by defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. However, unlike New York's other sports team, the Knicks, the Rangers were up in their series three games to one. They then lost the next two to Vancouver forcing a Game 7 back in New York. The Rangers took care of business by defeating Vancouver 3-2, bringing home the Stanley Cup to Broadway.

Other NHL award winners in 1994:

Conn Smythe: Brian Leetch (NY Rangers)

Art Ross Trophy (Scoring Champion): Wayne Gretzky (LA Kings)

Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Martin Brodeur (NJ Devils)

Hart Memorial Trophy (League MVP): Sergei Fedorov (Detroit Red Wings)

James Norris Trophy (Defensive MVP): Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins)

Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie): Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabers)

Jack Adams (Best Coach): Jacques Lemaire (NJ Devils)

National Football League Super Bowl Champion: San Francisco 49ers

The 1994 NFL season saw Steve Young win his first Super Bowl championship as a full-time starter. The 49ers that year defeated the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX 49-26.

Other NFL winners that year:

NFL MVP: Steve Young (San Francisco 49ers)

Coach of the Year: Bill Parcells (New England Patriots)

Offensive Player of the Year: Barry Sanders (Detroit Lions)

Defensive Player of the Year: Deion Sanders (San Francisco 49ers)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Marshall Faulk (Indianapolis Colts)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Tim Bowens (Miami Dolphins)

Time Magazine Man of the Year 1994: OJ Simpson!

Kidding, kidding, kidding, I am kidding!

But in 1994 the famous OJ police chase that captivated America happened.

Some say that it was the birth of reality television.

But thanks for taking a trip back to 1994 when Rice beat Texas. What were some of your favorite moments of 1994? Be sure to leave them in the comment section and remember this Saturday the Texas Longhorns take on the Rice Owls at 2:30 p.m.

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