Ranking the 30 Greatest National Championship Games
By Zach Bigalke
21. 2000 Sugar Bowl
#1 Florida State d. #2 Virginia Tech 46-29
BEFORE THE GAME
After some mild skepticism in its first year of operation, the BCS was gift-wrapped an easy decision in its sophomore season. Only two of the Big Six conference teams managed to finish the regular season undefeated. There was no parsing out the merits of flawed champions. Once Penn State lost its first game of the year to Minnesota in early November and Tennessee fell the following week at Arkansas, nobody else was going to pass the teams with the perfect records.
Florida State scored more than 36 points per game en route to the ACC title, while Bobby Bowden’s defense coughed up just 16 points on average. Seven of their 11 regular-season opponents scored two touchdowns or fewer, as the Seminoles went wire-to-wire atop the AP Top 25 and never fell from first in the BCS rankings. Second-year starting quarterback Chris Weinke matured as a junior, completing over 61 percent of his passes to lead the Seminoles into their second straight title game.
This time their opponents were Virginia Tech, the unbeaten Big East champions. Under the management of Michael Vick, the Hokies averaged more than 41 points per game on offense to lead the nation in scoring. Vick finished third in the Heisman voting as a redshirt freshman, electrifying the college football world with his preternatural speed and strong arm. The VT defense held up its end of the bargain as well, allowing just 10.5 points on average and never more than 20 in a single game.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Florida State took the lead late in the first quarter, as Peter Warrick hauled in a Weinke pass for a 64-yard score. The Seminoles doubled their lead when Jeff Chaney pounced on a blocked punt and carried it in for the touchdown. Vick found Andre Davis on a 49-yard pass with 30 seconds left in the quarter, but FSU extended its lead to 28-7 by halftime thanks to another long Weinke touchdown pass and a 49-yard punt return score by Warrick. Vick ran in a touchdown right before the intermission, but Virginia Tech was still down by 14 at the break having already given up more points in two quarters than they had to any other opponent all year long..
Virginia Tech adjusted at halftime and seemed to have answered the Seminoles defense. Shayne Graham kicked a short field goal midway through the third quarter, and two Andre Kendrick touchdown runs gave the Hokies a 29-28 lead heading into the fourth. Weinke threw two more touchdown passes and Sebastian Janikowski added a 32-yard field goal to take back the lead for good. The Hokies finished the game with over 100 more yards of offense than Florida State, but they also coughed up two more turnovers to cede the momentum to the Seminoles.