In the 1995 college football season , teams were selected for the Sugar Bowl under the new Bowl Alliance system . The Bowl Alliance matched up the conference champions of the Big East , Southeastern Conference , Big 12 Conference , Atlantic Coast Conference , and two at-large teams in games to determine an official national champion . Prior to the introduction of the Bowl Alliance and its predecessor , the Bowl Coalition , national champions were determined by various college football polls that sometimes named different teams as champion
Big East
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
1995 Sugar Bowl (December)