CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1999 season

Florida State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 12–⁠0 under Bobby Bowden, after it beat Virginia Tech 46–⁠29 in the Sugar Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Florida State 46, No. 2 Virginia Tech 29 (Jan 4, 2000). Three Division I-A teams finished unbeaten. 62 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin, who also won the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Doak Walker.

The Heisman vote: Ron Dayne 2,042 points, Joe Hamilton 994
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Ron Dayne RB, Wisconsin2,04258612142
Joe Hamilton QB, Georgia Tech99496285136
Michael Vick QB, Virginia Tech3192572100
Drew Brees QB, Purdue308389121
Chad Pennington QB, Marshall247214594
Peter Warrick WR, Florida State203145061
Shaun Alexander RB, Alabama171114352
Thomas Jones RB, Virginia140103246
LaVar Arrington LB, Penn State5431417
Tim Rattay QB, Louisiana Tech291516

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Florida StateAtlantic Coast Conference
2Virginia TechBig East
3NebraskaBig 12
4WisconsinBig Ten
5MichiganBig Ten
6Kansas StateBig 12
7Michigan StateBig Ten
8AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
9TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
10MarshallMid-American Conference
11Penn StateBig Ten
12FloridaSoutheastern Conference
13Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
14Southern MissConference USA
15MiamiBig East
16GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
17ArkansasSoutheastern Conference
18MinnesotaBig Ten
19OregonPac-10
20Georgia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
21TexasBig 12
22Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
23Texas A&MBig 12
24IllinoisBig Ten
25PurdueBig Ten

Biggest upsets

Nov 6, 1999Minnesota 24, 2Penn State 23
Nov 13, 1999Arkansas 28, 3Tennessee 24
Oct 2, 1999Texas Tech 21, 5Texas A&M 19
Nov 6, 1999Virginia 45, 7Georgia Tech 38
Oct 2, 199921Alabama 40, 3Florida 39
Sep 18, 1999Cincinnati 17, 9Wisconsin 12
Sep 25, 1999East Carolina 27, 9Miami 23
Oct 23, 1999Illinois 35, 9Michigan 29
Nov 26, 199924Texas A&M 20, 7Texas 16
Oct 16, 199920Purdue 52, 5Michigan State 28
Oct 23, 199918Texas 24, 3Nebraska 20
Oct 2, 1999Wisconsin 42, 12Ohio State 17

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1999, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalMarshall: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 21, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 No. 15, Wk 8 No. 15, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 13, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 11, Wk 16 No. 11, Final No. 1010 MarshallTennessee: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 6, Wk 16 No. 6, Final No. 99 TennesseeAlabama: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 21, Wk 4 No. 18, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 21, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 7, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 88 AlabamaMichigan State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 19, Wk 11 No. 19, Wk 12 No. 17, Wk 13 No. 15, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 10, Wk 16 No. 9, Final No. 77 Michigan StateKansas State: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 17, Wk 4 No. 16, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 8, Wk 16 No. 7, Final No. 66 Kansas StateMichigan: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 16, Wk 12 No. 16, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 9, Wk 16 No. 8, Final No. 55 MichiganWisconsin: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 No. 17, Wk 9 No. 17, Wk 10 No. 11, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 44 WisconsinNebraska: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 33 NebraskaVirginia Tech: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 22 Virginia TechFlorida State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 11 Florida State
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Michigan Stateunranked → No. 7
  2. Marshallunranked → No. 10
  3. Kansas StateNo. 20 → No. 6
  4. Mississippi Stateunranked → No. 13
  5. AlabamaNo. 20 → No. 8

Fell

  1. ArizonaNo. 4 → unranked
  2. Ohio StateNo. 9 → unranked
  3. Texas A&MNo. 7 → No. 23
  4. ColoradoNo. 15 → unranked
  5. UCLANo. 16 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsTim Rattay (Louisiana Tech)3,922 yds
Passing touchdownsChad Pennington (Marshall)37 TD
Passer ratingMichael Vick (Virginia Tech)180.4
Rushing yardsRon Dayne (Wisconsin)2,034 yds
Rushing touchdownsLaDainian Tomlinson (TCU) and Ron Dayne (Wisconsin)20 TD
Yards per carryLevron Williams (Indiana)6.9
ReceptionsTrevor Insley (Nevada)134 catches
Receiving yardsTrevor Insley (Marshall)2,060 yds
Yards per catchAndré Davis (Virginia Tech)25.5
Receiving touchdownsTrevor Insley (Marshall)13 TD
PointsShaun Alexander (Alabama)144 pts
Points per gameShaun Alexander (Alabama)13.1
Total offenseDrew Brees (Purdue)4,086 yds
Total offense per gameTim Rattay (Louisiana Tech)381.0
Punt return averageDennis Northcutt (Arizona)19.0
Kickoff return averageJames Williams (Marshall)32.9

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Florida State
Big 12
Nebraska
Big East
Virginia Tech
Big Ten
Wisconsin
Big West
Boise State
Conference USA
Southern Miss
Mid-American Conference
Marshall
Mountain West Conference
Colorado State, BYU and Utah (shared)
Pac-10
Stanford
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Western Athletic Conference
Fresno State, Hawai’i and TCU (shared)

Division I-AA

Atlantic 10
James Madison and Massachusetts (shared)
Big Sky
Montana
Gateway Football Conference
Illinois State
Ivy League
Brown and Yale (shared)
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Duquesne
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
North Carolina A&T
Northeast Conference
Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Conference
Tennessee State
Patriot League
Colgate and Lehigh (shared)
Pioneer Football League
Dayton
Southern Conference
App State, Furman and Georgia Southern (shared)
Southland Conference
Stephen F. Austin and Troy (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Southern

Division II and below

North Central Conference
North Dakota and Northern Colorado (shared)

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

26 playersAll 8 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1999 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1999 All-America teams page.

The 1999 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Defensive player of the year

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champion’s staff

Every title staff

Florida State 39 on the staff list

Support staff (29)

Strength and conditioning

  • Dave Van Halanger strength and conditioning
  • Mark Morrison strength and conditioning graduate assistant
  • Steve Tamborra strength and conditioning graduate assistant
  • Eric Johnson strength and conditioning graduate assistant
  • Russ Barbarino strength and conditioning graduate assistant
  • Don Acosta strength and conditioning graduate assistant

Operations and recruiting

  • Sue Hall administrative assistant
  • Debra Crews offense Secretary
  • Barry Every recruiting assistant
  • Carol Moore recruiting Program assistant
  • Caroline Scott football operations
  • Staci Wilkshire-Martin defense Secretary
  • Bernie Waxman director of Facilities & operations
  • Andy Urbanic associate director of athletics for football operations & special Projects

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Randy Oravetz director of sports medicine
  • Duane Brooks assistant trainer
  • David Walls assistant trainer
  • Dr. Bob Orsillo team Optometrist
  • Dr. John Van Tassel team Chiropractor

Equipment

  • Jimmie Callaway equipment manager
  • Dave Delegal assistant equipment manager

Video, communications and other staff

  • Mark Rodin Seminole Productions General manager
  • Billy Vizzini video coordinator
  • Manny Diaz Videographer
  • Kyle Wilson Videographer
  • Nick Menacof Dorm Supervisor, P.A. Announcer
  • Bettye Gibson Dietician
  • Rob Wilson sports Information director
  • Mark Meleney director of Student-Athlete Academic support services

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

Final BCS standings

1Florida State11–⁠0
2Virginia Tech11–⁠0
3Nebraska11–⁠1
4Alabama10–⁠2
5Tennessee9–⁠2
6Kansas State10–⁠1
7Wisconsin9–⁠2
8Michigan9–⁠2
9Michigan State9–⁠2
10Florida9–⁠3
11Penn State9–⁠3
12Marshall12–⁠0
13Minnesota8–⁠3
14Texas A&M8–⁠3
15Texas9–⁠4

The last standings of the season, released December 5: the Bowl Championship Series’ formula of polls and computer rankings that matched No. 1 and No. 2 in the title game, 1998–⁠2013. From Wikipedia’s season rankings article (CC BY-SA); records as it lists them.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 18, 1999Utah 17, Fresno State 16Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 22, 1999TCU 28, 20East Carolina 14Mobile Alabama Bowl
Dec 25, 1999Hawai’i 23, Oregon State 17Oahu Bowl
Dec 25, 1999Wake Forest 23, Arizona State 3Aloha Bowl
Dec 27, 199911Marshall 21, BYU 3Motor City Bowl
Dec 28, 199913Penn State 24, 18Texas A&M 0Alamo Bowl
Dec 29, 19997Kansas State 24, Washington 20Holiday Bowl
Dec 29, 1999Syracuse 20, Kentucky 13Music City Bowl
Dec 30, 1999Boise State 34, Louisville 31Humanitarian Bowl
Dec 30, 1999Illinois 63, Virginia 21MicronPC.com Bowl
Dec 30, 199915Mississippi State 17, Clemson 7Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 1999Colorado 62, 25Boston College 28Insight.com Bowl
Dec 31, 1999Ole Miss 27, Oklahoma 25Independence Bowl
Dec 31, 1999Oregon 24, 12Minnesota 20Sun Bowl
Dec 31, 199916Southern Miss 23, Colorado State 17Liberty Bowl
Jan 1, 200024Arkansas 27, 14Texas 6Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 200021Georgia 28, 19Purdue 25Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 200023Miami 28, 17Georgia Tech 13Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 20008Michigan 35, 5Alabama 34Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 20009Michigan State 37, 10Florida 34Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 20004Wisconsin 17, 22Stanford 9Rose Bowl
Jan 2, 20003Nebraska 31, 6Tennessee 21Fiesta Bowl
Jan 4, 20001Florida State 46, 2Virginia Tech 29Sugar Bowl