The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

38. Best college football teams of all-time: 1999 Florida State

The first team in college football history to be ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation from the start of the season to the end of the season. This Seminoles’ team earns a spot on this team not only for the history of their fantastic National Championship season — but also for their devastating potential on both sides of the ball.

An offense that featured an incredibly explosive core featuring the likes of Travis Minor, Laveranues Coles, Anquan Boldin and Peter Warrick paired up with a defense that featured ten upper-classmen in starting positions, the lone underclassmen being sophomore Bradley Jennings at middle linebacker, who would go on to be All-ACC in 2001. The roster also featured award-winning kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who would go on to be drafted in the first round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

A load of talent led the way for this Florida State team to survive a meeting with five of the nation’s Top 25 teams, including a trip to the Swamp and a Sugar Bowl match up with the legendary Mike Vick in the Sugar Bowl, en route to a national title.

Bowden had quite the staff, as he utilized stellar defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (who was then in his 16th season with the team). He also had future Georgia and Miami coach Mark Richt who was his offensive coordinator.