The 2000 Sugar Bowl was the designated Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game for the United States 1999 college football season and was played on January 4, 2000, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Florida State Seminoles, representing the Atlantic Coast Conference, defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies, representing the Big East Conference, by a score of 46–29. With the win, Florida State clinched the 1999 BCS national championship, the team's second national championship in its history.
An estimated total of 79,280 people attended the game in person, while approximately 18.4 million US viewers watched the game on ABC television. The resulting 17.5 television rating was the third-largest ever recorded for a BCS college football game. Tickets were in high demand for the game, withs tens of thousands of fans from both teams attending, many using scalped tickets to gain entry.
The game kicked off at 8 p.m. EST, and Virginia Tech received the ball to begin the game. Though Tech advanced down the field, Florida State scored first and took advantage of a blocked punt for a touchdown, giving the Seminoles a 14–0 lead in the first quarter. Tech answered with a touchdown drive of its own before the end of the quarter, but Florida State scored two quick touchdowns to begin the second quarter. Virginia Tech scored a touchdown before halftime, but halfway through the game, Florida State held a 28–14 lead. In the third quarter, Virginia Tech's offense gave the Hokies a lead with a field goal and two touchdowns. Tech failed to convert two two-point conversions, but held a 29–28 lead at the end of the third quarter. Florida State answered in the fourth quarter, however, taking a 36–29 lead with a touchdown and successful two-point conversion early in the quarter. From this point, the Seminoles did not relinquish the lead, extending it to 46–29 with another touchdown and a field goal.
For his performance in the game, Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick was named the game's most valuable player. Although Tech lost the game, several of its players won postseason awards—most notably Michael Vick, who earned an ESPY for his performance during the Sugar Bowl and the regular season. Several players from each team entered the National Football League after graduation, being selected either in the 2000 NFL Draft or later editions of that selection process.
Read more about 2000 Sugar Bowl: Team Selection, Pregame Buildup, Game Summary, Statistical Summary, Postgame Effects
Famous quotes containing the words sugar and/or bowl:
“They give us a pair of cloth shorts twice a year for all our clothing. When we work in the sugar mills and catch our finger in the millstone, they cut off our hand; when we try to run away, they cut off our leg: both things have happened to me. It is at this price that you eat sugar in Europe.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)