Florida State football: 5 best seasons in program history
By John Buhler
National Champions/ACC Champions. No. 1 Coaches/No. 1 AP. player. 804. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 1999 (12-0). 1
After losing the national title game the year prior to the Tennessee Volunteers, the 1999 Seminoles came back with a vengeance. They entered the year as the No. 1 team in the land, going forever unconquered. Led by quarterback Chris Weinke and wide receivers Laveranues Coles and Peter Warrick, Florida State put together its best season ever under Bowden.
Florida State beat five ranked teams, including at No. 3 Florida and No. 2 Virginia Tech at the end of the season. The Seminoles beat a pair of ranked teams in ACC play with wins over No. 10 Georgia Tech and No. 20 North Carolina State. They also defeated in-state rival Miami when the Canes were the No. 19 team in the country.
What gives this team the edge over the 2013 National Championship team is who the 1999 team had to beat in succession to win a national title. To beat rival Florida in Gainesville when they were the best team in the SEC and followed it up with a trouncing of Michael Vick and the Virginia Tech Hokies in the BCS Championship Game.
Interestingly enough, this team only had one major award winner on it, as kicker Sebastian Janikowski took home the Lou Groza Award. Outside of the longtime Oakland Raiders kicker, the greatest NFL player on this team was a freshman quarterback by the name of Anquan Boldin. He’d become a Hall-of-Fame level wide receiver in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.
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