The 1999 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represented

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six reg ...

in the

1999 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State named national champions, defeating Virginia Tech in the BCS Sugar Bowl. Florida State became the first team in history to start out preseason No. 1 and remain there through the entir ...

. Virginia Tech competed as a member of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. The Hokies were led by Frank Beamer in his 13th year as head coach. Virginia Tech finished the regular season undefeated but lost in the national championship game to the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdiv ...

Regular season summary

Michael Vick led the

Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 va ...

to an 11–0 regular season and to the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, includ ...

national title game in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed on ...

against Florida State. Although Virginia Tech lost 46–29, Vick was able to bring the team back from a 21-point deficit to take a 29–28 lead into the fourth quarter. During the season, Vick appeared on the cover of an ''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...

'' issue. Vick led the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

in passing efficiency that year, setting a record for a freshman (180.4), which was also good enough for the third-highest all-time mark ( Colt Brennan holds the record at 185.9 from his 2006 season at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

). Vick was awarded an ESPY Award as the nation's top college player, and won the first-ever Archie Griffin Award as college football's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. He was invited to the 1999 Heisman Trophy presentation and finished third in the voting behind Ron Dayne and Joe Hamilton. Vick's third-place finish matched the highest finish ever by a freshman up to that point, first set by

Herschel Walker Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia. ...

in 1980 ( Adrian Peterson later broke that mark, finishing second in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Schedule

Roster

Rankings

Game summaries

James Madison

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Michael Vick ran for three touchdowns in the first 22 minutes of the game, but left due to an injury after he somersaulted into the end zone on the third score. The freshman had run for 54 yards, and thrown for 110 yards in leading the Hokies to a 24–0 lead that turned into a 47–0 win.

UAB

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Clemson

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at Virginia

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at Rutgers

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No. 16 Syracuse

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at Pittsburgh

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at West Virginia

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No. 19 Miami (FL)

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at Temple

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No. 22 Boston College

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vs. No. 1 Florida State (Sugar Bowl)

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Players in the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Awards and honors

* Michael Vick –

Big East Rookie of the Year The Big East Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year, known as Big East Conference Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year from 1989 to 2015, is a Rookie of the Year award given annually by the Big East Conference to one or more men's basketba ...

, Big East Offensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, Archie Griffin Award, Heisman Trophy finalist (3rd) * Corey Moore – Big East Defensive Player of the Year, Unanimous First-Team All-American, Bronko Nagurski Trophy,

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lo ...

* Shayne Graham – Big East Special Teams Player of the Year * Frank Beamer – Big East Coach of the Year,

AFCA Coach of the Year The AFCA Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The award has had several different sponsors over the years, including Eastman Kodak Corporation, and thus also be ...

, AP Coach of the Year, Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, George Munger Award, Paul "Bear" Bryant Award, Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award

References

{{Big East Conference football champions

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Virginia Tech Hokies football seasons Big East Conference football champion seasons Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy seasons

Virginia Tech Hokies football The Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the sport of American football. The Hokies compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...