A Look Back at BCS Champs

With the Florida Gators winning the BCS Championship last night I thought it would be a good time to look back at all of the BCS Champions since the BCS started in 1998 (the '99 Fiesta Bowl was the first BCS national championship game but it was for the '98 season) and examine the road each team had to travel to get to the title game i.e. how many AP top 10 teams they beat in that season or who their star players were. I'm sure this will bring back some memories for some people who might have forgotten about likes of Tee Martin and Snoop Minnis.

1998- Tennessee Volunteers
Top ten ranked teams defeated: #2 Florida, #7 Georgia, #10 Arkansas, #2 Florida St.
Key Players: Tee Martin, Peerless Price, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Al Wilson, Shaun Ellis.

The thing people forget about this team is that Tee Martin was the QB and not Peyton Manning where Manning left the previous season for the NFL. Martin never did much in NFL (besides a cup of coffee with the Raiders a few years back) but then again no one really expected him to be a starter in the NFL where he wasn't drafted until the 5th round. I thought Price would have a better NFL career but besides the '99 season when he caught 94 passes for over 1,200 yards he never showed the talent he had.

Henry and Lewis have both had up-and-down careers thanks to some drug related offenses for the both of them and Henry's seeming unwillingness to use birth control (Henry has nine kids from nine different women). In their time on the field they have put up solid numbers as Henry has had three 1,000 yard seasons. Lewis has certainly had a better than solid career going over the 1,000 yard mark in every season but one. He also had the second highest total rushing yards in a season back in 2003 when he had 2,066 yards putting him just 39 yards shy of Eric Dickerson's record. Lewis also went over the 10,000 yard mark this past season becoming just the 24th player in the NFL to join that club.

Al Wilson made 5 pro bowls in a career that was cut short due to injuries. Shaun Ellis has been with the Jets his whole career and has always seemed like a guy that has the potential to be better but has still put up good all around numbers.

1999 Florida St. Seminoles
Top ten teams defeated: #10 Georgia Tech, #3 Florida, #2 Virginia Tech.
Key players: Chris Weinke, Peter Warrick, Corey Simon.

Weinke was 28 by the time he finished college after playing in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system for a few years. He was 32-3 as a starter at FSU and became the oldest person to win the Heisman Trophy.

Warrick was a bust as the 4th overall pick in the 2000 draft (wide recievers drafted in the first round in 2000- #4 Warrick, #8 Plaxico Burress, #10 Travis Taylor, #21 Sylvester Morris, #29 R. Jay Soward, besides Plax all of them were busts). While he was one of the best wide recievers ever in the college, he just could not transition to the pros.

Also, Simon had some good years with the Eagles but injuries forced him out of the game when he was 30.

2000 Oklahoma Sooners
Top ten teams defeated: #2 Kansas St., #1 Nebraska, #3 Florida St.
Key players: Josh Heupel, Quentin Griffin, Roy Williams

Heupel never took a snap in the NFL. Griffin reminds me of Darren Sproles and had a few season with Denver and while he had some big games he was just too small to ever be an all pro running back. Williams, thanks to his horse collar tackling, got that play banned which is now known as the Roy Williams rule. People tend to think he is good because he hits hard but thats about all he can do.

2001 Miami Hurricanes
Top ten team defeated: #4 Nebraska
Key player: Ken Dorsey, Clinton Portis, Najeh Davenport, Jeremy Shockey, Andre Johnson, Bryant Mckinnie, Ed Reed, Mike Rumph, Jonathan Vilma, Phillip Buchanon, Jerome McDougle.

Perhaps the greatest college football team of all time. I'm not even going to bother to go through these guys as I'm sure most of you are familiar with their highlight reels.

2002 Ohio State Buckeyes
Top ten team defeated: #10 Washington st., #1 Miami
Key players: Craig Krenzel, Maurice Clarett, Michael Jenkins, Chris Gamble.

Krenzel never stuck in the NFL but at least he played a few games. Maurice Clarett, on the otherhand, peaked his freshman year in college before winding up driving around with a lot of guns and Grey Goose in his SUV after being cut from the Broncos during training camp a few years later. Jenkins finally has a QB in Matt Ryan who can throw the ball near him instead of say...10 feet over his head. Gamble was great on this team playing both ways as a reciever and cornerback. He has been solid just a CB for the Panthers his whole career.

2003 LSU Tigers
Top ten team defeated: #5 and #7 Georgia(twice, once when they were ranked #7 and once as #5), #1 Oklahoma
Key Players: Matt Mauck, Justin Vincent, Michael Clayton, Laron Landry.

Mauck and Vincent have done nothing in the pros. Clayton had 1,193 recieving yards his rookie season with 7 touchdowns. In the following 4 seasons combined he has put up only 1,513 yards recieving and 2 touchdowns. He is still only 26 years old and I can't help but think that with his size that he could be a good WR. Landry, meanwhile, is well on his way to being one of the best defensive backs in the NFL.

2004 USC Trojans
Top ten team defeated: #7 Cal, #2 Oklahoma.
Key players: Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Steve Smith, Dwyane Jarrett, Lendale White, Lofa Tatupu.

Similar to the '01 Hurricanes this team was loaded from upperclassmen to underclassmen. In fact, 51 players from this team have been drafted into the NFL. Again, I'm pretty sure you don't need me to go over this team's NFL acoomplishments.

2005- Texas Longhorns
Top ten teams defeated: #4 Ohio St., #10 Texas Tech, #1 USC.
Key players: Vince Young, David Thomas, Michael Huff, Michael Griffin.

They played one of the greatest games ever when they beat USC in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship. I still think Vince Young will have good year ahead of him in the NFL. Oakland passed on Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler to take Huff in the '06 draft...which they turned around and used the #1 overall pick in the '07 draft on Jamarcus Russel...instead of Brady Quinn. You wonder why this team is years away from making the playoffs.

I think Thomas can be a real solid tight end for the Pats, though I have said the same thing about Benjamin Watson for the last 4 seasons. Griffin had a real solid '08 season for the Titans and was 2nd in the NFL with 7 interceptions.

2006- Florida Gators
Top ten team defeated: #10 LSU, #8 Arkansas, #1 Ohio St.
Key players: Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, Jarvis Moss, Reggie Nelson.

This was Urban Meyer's first title with the Gators, though Ron Zook should get some credit for recruiting most of this team. Leak had to deal with the fans screaming for Tebow all the time but he managed to hold his own and did a nice job running this offense. Tebow showed the world what he could do running the ball his freshman season, but that was just the start for one of the greatest players of all time. Harvin, as a freshmen, showed flashes of what was to come in the future for the Gators. Moss and Nelson were both first round picks in the NFL but only Nelson has played as Moss has been unhealthy.

2007- LSU Tigers
Top ten teams defeated: #9 Virginia Tech, #7 Florida, #1 Ohio St.
Key players: Matt Flynn, Jacob Hester, Glenn Dorsey, Craig Steltz, Early Doucet.

I'll keep this one short: the jury is still out on these guys as you can't tell much after only 1 year in the NFL.

2008 Florida Gators
Top ten teams defeated: #3 LSU, #8 Georgia, #1 Alabama, #1 Oklahoma.
Key Players: Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, Brandon Spikes.

Tebow is amazing. As Percy Harvin said after the game, "Tebow is superman." That must make Harvin the Flash because he was great last night. I hope Tebow comes back next year to try for a third title and a second heisman and leave no doubt in peoples' minds that he is the greatest college football player of all time.


I had a lot of fun looking back at some of these teams and being able to see how good some guys were in college when it just didn't happen for them in the pros. Congrats to the Gators once again they deserve to be the champs playoffs or no playoffs, and I don't want to hear one word about Utah. Hopefully in the next few years Notre Dame will be on this list.