2000 Sugar Bowl
The 2000 Sugar Bowl was the designated Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game for the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season and was played on January 4, 2000, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The Florida State Seminoles, representing the Atlantic Coast Conference, defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies, representing the Big East Conference, by a score of 46-29. With the win, Florida State clinched the 1999 BCS national championship, the team's second national championship in its history.
An estimated total of 79,280 people attended the game in person, while approximately 18.4 million US viewers watched the game on ABC television. The resulting 17.5 television rating was the third-largest ever recorded for a BCS college football game. Tickets were in high demand for the game, with tens of thousands of fans from both teams attending, many using scalped tickets to gain entry.
The game kicked off at 8:00 p.m. EST, and Virginia Tech received the ball to begin the game. Though Tech advanced down the field, Florida State scored first and took advantage of a blocked punt for a touchdown, giving the Seminoles a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Tech answered with a touchdown drive of its own before the end of the quarter, but Florida State scored two quick touchdowns to begin the second quarter. Virginia Tech scored a touchdown before halftime, but halfway through the game, Florida State held a 28-14 lead. In the third quarter, Virginia Tech's offense gave the Hokies a lead with a field goal and two touchdowns. Tech failed to convert two two-point conversions, but held a 29-28 lead at the end of the third quarter. Florida State answered in the fourth quarter, however, taking a 36-29 lead with a touchdown and successful two-point conversion early in the quarter. From this point, the Seminoles did not relinquish the lead, extending it to 46-29 with another touchdown and a field goal.
For his performance in the game, Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick was named the game's most valuable player. Although Tech lost the game, several of its players won postseason awards—most notably Michael Vick, who earned an ESPY for his performance during the Sugar Bowl and the regular season. Several players from each team entered the National Football League after graduation, being selected either in the 2000 NFL draft or later editions of that selection process.
Team selection
By contract, the top two teams in the BCS Poll at the conclusion of the regular season were invited to the BCS national championship game. In 2000, the BCS Poll was a combination of four different systems: media and coaches' polls, team records, a collection of eight different computer ranking systems, and a strength-of-schedule component based on opponent records. Under the BCS, the site of the national championship game rotated every year. In 2000, there were four BCS bowl games: the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl. The national championship game rotated to a different location each year, and the other three games served as bowl games for lower-ranked teams. Later, in 2007, the BCS National Championship was created, adding a fifth BCS bowl. In 2000, the Sugar Bowl was scheduled to host the national championship game.Florida State
The Florida State Seminoles ended the 1998 college football season with a 23-16 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, which was the national championship game that year. The loss was only the second of the season for Florida State, which had entered the game ranked No. 2 and favored against the No. 1 ranked Volunteers. Florida State players and coaches entered the off-season hoping to improve upon their runner-up finish in the national championship game the year before, and were voted the No. 1 team in the country in the annual Associated Press preseason poll.Florida State lived up to its No. 1 ranking in its first game of the 1999 college football season, routing unranked Louisiana Tech, 41-7. The following week, in their ACC opener, the Seminoles had a closer contest against Georgia Tech, but still earned a 41-35 victory. As the weeks went by, the wins continued to accumulate. FSU defeated North Carolina State, 42-11; North Carolina, 42-10; and Duke, 51-23. In the seventh week of the college football season, the Seminoles faced off against a traditional rival: the Miami Hurricanes. Heading into the game, the Seminoles were without star wide receiver and potential Heisman Trophy candidate Peter Warrick, who was suspended from the team after being arrested for participating in a scheme to underpay for clothes at a Tallahassee, Florida clothing store. Despite the loss of Warrick, Florida State eked out a 31-21 victory over the Hurricanes after being tied, 21-21, at halftime.
The week after the Miami game, the Seminoles had an even closer call against the Clemson Tigers—their closest, in fact, of the entire season. Despite the return of Peter Warrick, who was cleared of charges in a Florida courtroom, Florida State fell behind the Tigers in the first half. Trailing in Clemson, South Carolina, 14-3 at halftime, Florida State cut the gap to 14-6 with a field goal midway through the third quarter, then tied the game at the end of the third quarter with a touchdown and two-point conversion. The Seminoles clinched the victory after a field goal late in the fourth quarter gave them a 17-14 lead and cemented the victory when a Clemson attempt to even the score with a field goal fell short. The victory was FSU head coach Bobby Bowden's 300th win and came against his son, Tommy Bowden, coach of the Tigers.
Florida State earned easy wins with a 35-10 victory over Virginia and a 49-10 win over Maryland before facing the rival Florida Gators in the final game of the Seminoles' regular season. Florida State led throughout the game, but had to fend off a last-minute Florida drive in order to clinch a 30-23 win and just the third perfect regular season in Florida State history. This season later was termed the "Wire to Wire" season as the Seminoles kept their No. 1 ranking the entire season.
Virginia Tech
Like Florida State, the Virginia Tech Hokies began the 1999 college football season with raised expectations. In 1998, the Hokies had gone 9-3 during the regular season and had posted a 5-2 record against fellow Big East Conference teams. The Hokies concluded that 1998 season—which was supposed to be a rebuilding year—in the 1998 Music City Bowl, where the Hokies defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide, 38-7. With the addition of redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Vick to a team that had allowed an average of just 12.9 points per game on defense, there was the possibility that Tech could improve upon its previous season's performance. Sports Illustrated, for example, predicted that the Hokies might challenge Miami for the Big East football championship, and the preseason Coaches' Poll ranked the Hokies No. 14 prior to the first game of the season.In their first game of the season, the Hokies lived up to expectations, shutting out James Madison University, 47-0. The game was the first time Tech had shut out an opponent in a season opener since 1953. The game was marred, however, by a leg injury to Michael Vick that caused him to leave the game. The following week, against the University of Alabama Birmingham, Vick did not play. Despite his absence, the Hokies still managed a 31-10 win. This was followed by a 31-11 Thursday-night victory over Clemson in Virginia Tech's first game against a Division I-A opponent during the season.
Following the win over Clemson, Tech faced traditional rival Virginia in the annual battle for the Commonwealth Cup. Despite the rivalry and the fact that Virginia was ranked the No. 24 team in the country, the Cavaliers put up even less of a struggle than Clemson. Virginia Tech won, 31-7. Now No. 5 in the country, Tech began to distance itself from other highly ranked teams with consecutive wins over Rutgers and Syracuse. The 62-0 shutout of No. 16 Syracuse was the largest victory ever recorded against a team ranked in the AP Poll. By this time, the Hokies were being described in media reports as a national championship contender.
Following a 30-17 victory at Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia, to face the West Virginia Mountaineers in the annual battle for the Black Diamond Trophy. In West Virginia, Virginia Tech eked out a 22-20 victory with a last-second field goal from placekicker Shayne Graham. It was Tech's closest victory of the season and moved the Hokies to the No. 2 ranking in the country.
Following the win over West Virginia, Tech defeated Miami, 43-10, and Temple, 62-7, to clinch the Big East championship. In the final game of the regular season, the Hokies beat Boston College, 38-14, cementing the third unbeaten season in Virginia Tech history and the Hokies' first since 1954.
Pregame buildup
In the month prior to the Sugar Bowl, media attention focused on Virginia Tech's sudden rise to national prominence and Florida State's perennial appearance in the national championship game. The Seminoles had the most top-5 finishes and the most national championship game appearances of any team in the 1990s, including a national championship victory in 1993. Many media stories focused on the apparent David and Goliath showdown between the two teams, with the Seminoles in the role of the overdog and the Hokies in the role of the underdog. Because of this fact, spread bettors favored Florida State to win the game by 5.5 points.Tens of thousands of fans from both teams traveled to the game, often purchasing ticket and travel packages for thousands of dollars. The limited numbers of tickets available for the game were in high demand by fans of both teams.