The 2000 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

during the 2000 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Lehigh won its third consecutive

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

championship. In their seventh year under head coach Kevin Higgins, the Mountain Hawks went undefeated (11–0) in the regular season, ending the year at 12–1 after losing in the second round of the national playoffs. Matt Andrews, Bryant Appling, Dustin Grande and Brian McDonald were the team captains. Including playoff games, the Mountain Hawks outscored opponents 337 to 160. Their 6–0 conference record topped the seven-team Patriot League standings. Lehigh was ranked No. 24 in the preseason national Division I-AA poll, but dropped out of the top 25 before its first game. After that opening win, the Mountain Hawks re-entered the rankings at No. 21 and steadily climbed to No. 8, where they ended the year. Despite their conference championship and undefeated record, Lehigh did not host any playoff games. The Mountain Hawks defeated No. 6

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

and then lost to a familiar foe, No. 3

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, on the road. Lehigh played its home games at

Goodman Stadium Goodman Stadium is Lehigh University's 16,000-seat stadium located on its Goodman Campus in Lower Saucon Township. It opened in 1988, replacing Taylor Stadium, which stood in the main academic campus from 1914 until 1987. The former Taylor Stad ...

on the university's Goodman Campus in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

Schedule

References

{{2000 Division I-AA football playoff navbox Lehigh Lehigh Mountain Hawks football seasons Patriot League football champion seasons

Lehigh Mountain Hawks football The Lehigh Mountain Hawks football program represents Lehigh University in college football. Lehigh competes as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level as members of the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks play their home games ...