Sugar Bowl

[This story originally appeared in the Official Game Program for the 2025 Allstate Sugar Bowl.]

When No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Virginia Tech met in the 2000 Sugar Bowl for the BCS Championship, the hype and excitement were off the charts in New Orleans and around the country.
 
The Seminoles, with a host of superstars on the roster, and legendary head coach Bobby Bowden came into the game in the midst of one of the most successful stretches in college football history.
 
The Hokies, meanwhile, were the up-and-coming party crasher under the direction of the crafty Frank Beamer. And they featured Michael Vick, a redshirt freshman whose name was popping up in fan circles around the country – though without the omnipresence of YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, highlights galore, he was almost a mythical figure with his feats possibly just exaggerated urban legends.
 
Even with all the pre-game hype, that legendary national championship game didn’t just meet the expectations, but it exceeded them. And the memories continue to bring smiles and head-shaking to those in attendance.
 
JEFF HUNDLEY, the current CEO of the Sugar Bowl who has been with the organization for over 30 years: The ticket demand was the hottest I can remember. Florida State had been there several times and their fans really enjoyed coming. Virginia Tech making it into the game firmly established them as a national program. Florida State needed more tickets than we could even come close to providing; and Virginia Tech wanted even more than that. Fans for both teams were excited because it was the national championship game and the prospect of having a good time in New Orleans.
 
MILES CLEMENTS, the President of the Sugar Bowl for 1999-2000: There was a huge demand for tickets. I was at the National Football Foundation’s annual banquet in New York in early December. The president of Virginia Tech saw me coming off an elevator and he ran towards me – I thought he was going to tackle me! He had me cornered and said that he was desperate for more tickets. I told him I’d see what I could do and asked how many he was looking for. He said, “I gotta get another 5,000!” I just laughed, I thought he wanted 20 or so, and I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to find those.
 
To add to the pregame excitement – or perhaps consternation – this was 1999, leading into the year 2000 and the unknown of what chaos Y2K would rain down on the world of technology.
 
HUNDLEY: We kept it behind the scenes, but we were running scared. We did as much research as we could and backed up the computers. At the last minute on New Year’s Eve we decided to unplug the computers just in case. And by the way, we were hosting the national championship game in a few days. We were glad the game was on Jan. 4 because it gave us some time to know everything was okay. We were glad nothing happened, but there was so much that was unknown. Everyone adapted and adjusted.
 
Florida State was a known commodity, having just posted its 13th consecutive 10-win season. The Seminoles were aiming to become the first team to be number one from wire-to-wire – start the season at No. 1 and, for the next 12 weeks and the postseason, remain in the top spot.
 
BOWDEN, from a 2019 ESPN interview: Here are the notes from the first meeting with my squad in 1999. ‘We’ve never had an undefeated season, even when we won the national championship in 1993. Now, if you boys will do everything we ask, it’ll happen.’
 
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, had posted just the third 10-win season in program history. The Hokies were definitely the lesser-known participant in the Sugar Bowl. But they had the appeal of Vick, the breakout star of college football that season.

MICHAEL VICK: I just knew we were playing Florida State – Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn, all those great players I grew up watching. And I knew I was going to face a team that was going to give me hell all day. If I could measure up on that stage, it would show I could play with anybody.
 
FRANK BEAMER, Virginia Tech head coach: Michael was such a special talent. He could break down defenses with his feet and his arm. He changed the game because he was a drop-back passer who could throw from the pocket but then he was so dangerous when he rolled out. I was always kind of hoping that our receivers would be covered because Michael would take off and get us 10,15, 20, 25 yards because he was so athletic. He always had the green light not to hang in the pocket because he had the instinct to make terrific decisions and make the defenses pay.
 
BRENT MUSBERGER, ESPN broadcaster: I had not interacted with Michael Vick [before New Orleans]. I saw him the night before, down in the end zone loosening up. It was his physical condition that blew me away. How strong he looked out there! But he was also calm. Here was this 19-year-old redshirt freshman and there was all this buzz about him.
 
TOMMY BOWDEN, Clemson head coach from 1999-2008, son of Bobby, who coached the Tigers against both teams in 1999: I think Florida State was favored because they were better known and considered to have better talent. But I thought they were very well matched. The key was being able to tackle Michael Vick enough, which they finally did. You had to keep him pinned up. You knew you needed a spy to tackle him. He could throw the ball a mile and was really accurate. He could beat you in or out of the pocket.
 
There was so much anticipation for the game that everybody in the building – fans, media, tv announcers – were on the edges of their seats. Virginia Tech started strong as Vick drove his team 80 yards on 10 plays, but things went awry on the 10th play.
 
VICK: It was so loud and so intense. I had a migraine early because I was screaming at the top of my lungs so they could hear me. It was a different atmosphere, it was the national championship; there was anxiety, but also excitement. I was a little out of whack. We were about to go up 7-0, and I had that fumble, turned the wrong way – I never did that, a mental error. I put us in a tough spot. Against a team like FSU, you can’t do that. I knew I had to get out of my funk and get back to playing my game.

As Vick said, it’s not a good idea to make a critical error against a team like Florida State – with a star player like Peter Warrick. The All-American receiver scored on a 64-yard pass from Chris Weinke, then the Seminoles blocked a punt with Jeff Chaney scoring another touchdown on the return and it was 14-0 late in the first quarter.
 
HUNDLEY: When you work for a bowl, you spend so much time preparing everything, and when the game kicks off, you’re just hoping that it’s a good one because you’ve worked so hard for a year. And FSU jumped out like they did. I’ll admit, I was hanging my head a little bit thinking it’s going to be a blowout.
 
CLEMENTS: The game gets started and I’m heading to the ABC suite and then, all of a sudden, Florida State is routing them. I turned around and went the other way. Blowouts aren’t good for the TV folks.
 
Vick connected on a 49-yard touchdown pass to Andre Davis, and while it didn’t appear to turn the tide to those on the outside, it gave confidence to one critical person.
 
VICK: I think the touchdown to Andre Davis was my favorite play of that game. It happened when we needed it the most. I knew how good their corners were, so for me and Andre to connect, it showed me that we could get back in that game.
 
Despite the touchdown, Florida State kept on coming. Weinke connected with Ron Dugans for a 63-yard touchdown and then Warrick struck again, returning a punt 59 yards for another score and a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter – the Seminoles had put up 28 points in just over six minutes of actual game time.
 
PETER WARRICK: I’ve never been so focused before a game in my life. I was just going to go into this game to do what I’d done all season – go out and make plays.
 
After a long Andre Kendrick kickoff return, the Hokies stalled on an incomplete pass and a sack; and Beamer, the special-teams guru, felt the need to change things up and opted for a fake punt.
 
CALEB HURD, VIRGINIA TECH HOLDER: I looked at Coach Beamer twice, just to make sure. ’Ok…we’re really doing this.’ The call was an option play for me and Shayne [kicker Shayne Graham]. We needed seven yards; we’re not trying to score a touchdown. I took the snap, but I looked up and saw a red jersey in my face, I pitched it to Shayne, it bounced off his face mask [and was recovered by FSU]. Coach looked at me after and asked, ‘What went wrong? Think we can try it again?’ I said, ‘Coach, I just saw red, I don’t know.’ That’s my biggest memory, unfortunately not a good one.
 
BEAMER: I thought we needed to do something special to beat them, so we faked a punt and a field goal and neither one worked out. Looking back, we were probably good enough to beat them straight up, and so I regretted that I had let thinking the other way affect my judgement. Of course, if they’d worked, I would have been really proud.
 
Things were most definitely not looking good for the Hokies. However, despite the failed fake punt, Virginia Tech finally slowed down the red-hot Seminoles. With 3:53 to go in the first half, Vick danced and sidestepped defenders all over the Superdome field, dashing for a 43-yard gain. Four plays later, Vick darted three yards to the end zone to make it 28-14 and give the Hokies life.
 
BEAMER: Even when we got down 28-7 it didn’t seem insurmountable. I knew we weren’t going to quit in the national championship. It also helped that our best players were our leaders. When that happens everything else falls into line. We fought back which says so much about the character and toughness of the team.
 
Vick, the 19-year-old virtuoso, continued his display of excellence in the third quarter. Scrambling so much as to make the FSU defense dizzy, he kept breathing life into his bunch of underdogs and pushing the Hokies to four touchdowns in five possessions. Somehow, Virginia Tech grabbed a stunning one-point lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.
 
HUNDLEY: Then all the sudden here comes Michael Vick. And we all saw where all those stories came from. When he took over in the third quarter and Virginia Tech took the lead, the energy in the Superdome was electric.
 
CLEMENTS: But then late in the third quarter, Virginia Tech took the lead. And I hustled back to the ABC suite, and we all celebrated – we knew every sports fan in the country had their television on and they were hanging on the edges of their seats for every single play.
 
KIRK HERBSTREIT, ESPN ANALYST: When Tech took a 29-28 lead into the fourth quarter, it was as electric of an atmosphere as I have ever felt at a football game. 
 
COREY SIMON, Florida State nose guard: All the hard work in the offseason. It all came down to this. We couldn’t quit when they got ahead.
 
Ron Dugans added his second receiving touchdown early in the fourth quarter and Sebastian Janikowski booted a field goal to put the Seminoles back on top 39-29, but Vick’s performance had the majority of the nation believing anything was possible for the Hokies.
 
Until Warrick slammed the door.
 
WARRICK: I went to Coach Bowden and I said, ‘Coach B, you want me to finish ’em?’ He looked me in the eye and then said, ‘Get number nine the ball.’
 
GENE DECKERHOFF, Florida State radio voice making the call live: Seminoles take over at the 43 of the Hokies, dropping Weinke, looking Weinke, wants to throw the knockout punch to Warrick, Warrick ooooo-pen! Cannot make the catch, flags thrown at the one…Touchdown! It’s a touchdown! He did catch it! Touchdown Florida State! Oh Peter Warrick, how did he do that?!
 
The veteran receiver had broken free, then tried to come back for the under-thrown ball and was hammered by the defensive back. He still managed to tip the ball up, it bounced off his own facemask, and then he somehow managed to corral it to wrap up the victory. And the game’s Most Outstanding Player honor.

MUSBERGER: Virginia Tech was really rolling with all of that momentum in their favor. I thought they’d be able to take it to the finish line. But then Peter Warrick stepped in, and the rest is history.
 
VICK: Peter was the reason that the whole game went left. It was finally going right for us, except for him. That’s why he’s Peter Warrick.
 
HUNDLEY: To this day, people call it the Michael Vick game even though Florida State won and Peter Warrick was the MVP. I think that’s because Vick did so many things in that game that nobody had ever really seen before. But Warrick definitely deserved MVP – three amazing touchdowns including that incredible late touchdown to ice the victory.
 
BEAMER: We didn’t quite make it, but there was such great pride about what we’d done. Here was Virginia Tech playing for the national championship. There was disappointment, but there was also a lot of pride. 
 
STEWART MANDEL, long-time sportswriter who was covering his first national championship: People will always think of it as the Michael Vick show even though Peter Warrick had a great game too. Still, it was Michael Vick’s night. I’d never seen anybody like him. He was a transformative player. Prior to 1999 the stars were usually running backs. But Vick was different because he was a fantastic passer, and he had that speed; he could turn on a dime.
 
VICK: When I look back on that game, I think about how proud I was of our school; we had the opportunity to do something that had never been done before. Being a part of it was surreal. I’m so proud of my teammates, I wouldn’t have been in that moment by myself. I needed the offensive line and the defense. It taught me a lot about “team” and also how great of a coach Coach Beamer was. To take us from where we were the year before to the national championship game.
 
MUSBERGER: I still don’t believe it was a 17-point game at the end. It felt more like three. That’s how good it was. There were so many big moments, but the ‘Noles’ superior talent won out. Good for Coach Bowden. He got the title.
 
BOWDEN, from ESPN interview in 2019: Every football team has to establish an identity. These guys never lost. This team here set the standard.