The 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season saw

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

named national champions, defeating

Virginia Tech 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 re ...

in the BCS Sugar Bowl. Florida State became the first team in history to start out preseason No. 1 and remain there through the entire season. Their 12–0 season gave them 109 victories in the '90s, the most for any decade. Virginia Tech also had a remarkable season behind freshman quarterback Michael Vick, who was being touted as college football's best player. Vick was outshone in the national championship game by Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick. Warrick had early problems with the law, charged with a misdemeanor he sat out two games early in the season. But he scored three touchdowns in the title game, earning MVP honors. The BCS adopted a new rule after the previous season, nicknamed the " Kansas State Rule," which stated that any team ranked in the top four in the final BCS poll is assured of an invitation to a BCS bowl game. Many teams faced debacles.

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its origi ...

faced Hurricane Floyd, and in that same week, faced the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes. The Pirates were down, 23–3, but scored 24 unanswered points to win the football game, 27–23. Kansas State finished 6th in the BCS standings but again received no BCS bowl invitation, this time being passed over in favor of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

(ranked eighth). Kansas State's predicament demonstrated early on the problem of trying to balance historic bowl ties and creating a system which gives top bowl bids to the most deserving teams. In addition, for a second straight season, a team from outside the BCS Automatic Qualifying conferences (Marshall) went undefeated but did not receive a bid to a BCS bowl game, which illustrated the problem of BCS Non-Automatic Qualifying conference teams being shut out of the BCS bowls.

Rule changes

The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the following changes for the 1999 season: * Holding penalties committed behind the line of scrimmage will be enforced from the previous spot, modifying a 1991 rule that penalized holding (as well as illegal use of hands and clipping) committed behind the scrimmage line from the spot of the foul. * The penalty for intentional grounding was changed from a five-yard penalty from the spot of the foul plus loss-of-down to simply a loss-of-down at the spot of the foul. * Bandannas that are visible are considered illegal equipment. * Offensive teams may not break a huddle with 12 or more players. * Continuing action dead-ball fouls against both teams are disregarded, however any disqualified players must leave the game.

Conference and program changes

Two teams upgraded from Division I-AA, thus increasing the number of Division I-A schools from 112 to 114. *The Mountain West Conference was formed prior to the season by eight former members of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

. *Arkansas State joined the Big West Conference as its seventh member after three seasons as an independent. *Two schools made the move up to Division I-A football this season: the University at Buffalo and Middle Tennessee State University.

Conference changes

Program changes

Two programs, each playing as independents, changed their names prior to the season: *After ''Northeast Louisiana University'' changed its name to the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the ''Northeast Louisiana Indians'' became the

Louisiana–Monroe Indians The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast ...

. *Similarly, after the ''University of Southwestern Louisiana'' changed its name to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the ''Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns'' became the

Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams. Nickname The univ ...

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and br ...

. Rankings for Week 9 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and

second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted. *Week 0 **No. 3 Penn State defeated No. 4

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, 41–7 ( Beaver Stadium,

University Park, Pennsylvania University Park (also referred to as Penn State University Park) is the name given to the Pennsylvania State University's main campus located in both State College and College Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The campus post office was ...

) *Week 2 **No. 1

defeated No. 10 Georgia Tech, 41–35 ( Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida) *Week 3 **No. 3 Penn State defeated No. 8

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, 27–23 ( Miami Orange Bowl,

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

) **No. 4

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

defeated No. 2

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, 23–21 (

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

) *Week 6 **No. 6 Tennessee defeated No. 10 Georgia, 37–20 (

Neyland Stadium Neyland Stadium ( ), is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Fo ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...

) *Week 8 **No. 5 Tennessee defeated No. 10

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, 21–7 ( Bryant-Denny Stadium,

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population o ...

) *Week 9 **No. 6/5 Florida defeated No. NR/10 Georgia, 30–14 ( Alltel Stadium,

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

) *Week 11 **No. 6/7

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

defeated No. 5/5 Kansas State, 41–15 ( Memorial Stadium,

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United ...

) **No. 9/11 Alabama defeated No. 10/8 Mississippi State, 19–7 ( Bryant-Denny Stadium,

) *Week 12 **No. 1/1 Florida State defeated No. 4/3 Florida, 30–23 (

) *Week 14 **No. 7/7 Alabama defeated No. 4/5 Florida, 34–7 (

1999 SEC Championship Game The 1999 SEC Championship Game was won by the Alabama Crimson Tide 34–7 over the Florida Gators. The game was played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 4, 1999, and was televised to a national audience on ABC ABC are the ...

, Georgia Dome,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

)

Conference standings

Bowl games

::''Rankings from final regular season AP poll''

BCS bowls

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 only ...

: No. 1

(BCS No. 1, ACC Champ) 46, No. 2

(BCS No. 2, Big East Champ) 29 *

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

: No. 8

(At Large) 35, No. 5

(SEC Champ) 34 (OT) * Rose Bowl: No. 4

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

(Big 10 Champ) 17, No. 22 Stanford (Pac-10 Champ) 9 *

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pl ...

: No. 3

(Big 12 Champ) 31, No. 6

(At Large) 21

Other New Years Day bowls

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

: No. 24

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

27, No. 12

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

(Big 12 Runner Up) 6 * Florida Citrus Bowl: No. 9

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

37, No. 10

(SEC Runner Up) 34 * Outback Bowl: No. 21 Georgia 28, No. 19 Purdue 25 (OT) *: No. 23

28, No. 17 Georgia Tech 13

December bowl games

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

: No. 16 Mississippi State 17, Clemson 7 *:

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

63,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

21 *

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

24, No. 13

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

20 *

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

: No. 14 Penn State* 24, No. 18 Texas A&M 0 * Insight.com Bowl:

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

62, No. 25

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

28 * Holiday Bowl: No. 7 Kansas State 24,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

20 *: No. 15 Southern Mississippi (C-USA Champ) 23, Colorado State 17 *

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Ma ...

: Wake Forest 23, Arizona State 3 *

Oahu Bowl The Oahu Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. Played on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, the Oahu Bowl was sponsored by t ...

: Hawaii-Manoa (WAC Champ) 23, Oregon State 17 * Independence Bowl:

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

27, Oklahoma 25 * Music City Bowl: Syracuse 20,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

13 * Las Vegas Bowl:

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

17, Fresno State 16 *: No. 11 Marshall (MAC Champ) 21, BYU (MWC Champ) 3 * Humanitarian Bowl:

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a pub ...

(Big West Champ) 34, Louisville 31 * Mobile Alabama Bowl: TCU 28, No. 20

Final polls

Heisman Trophy voting

''The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year''
Winner: Ron Dayne,

, Running Back (2,042 points) *2. Joe Hamilton, Ga. Tech (994 points) *3. Michael Vick, Va. Tech (319 points) *4. Drew Brees, Purdue (308 points) *5. Chad Pennington, Marshall (247 points)

Other major awards

* Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year) – Ron Dayne,

* Walter Camp Award (Back) – Ron Dayne,

* Davey O'Brien Award (Quarterback) – Joe Hamilton, Georgia Tech * Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Senior Quarterback) –

Chris Redman Chris James Redman (born July 7, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for nine seasons. He played college football at the University of Louisville and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in t ...

, Louisville * Doak Walker Award (Running Back) – Ron Dayne,

Fred Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was crea ...

(Wide Receiver) – Troy Walters, Stanford * Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player) –

Corey Moore Corey Moore (born March 20, 1979) is a former American college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) during the early 2000s. He played college football for Virginia Tech, earned unanimous Al ...

, DE * Chuck Bednarik Award – LaVar Arrington, Penn State *

Dick Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

(Linebacker) – LaVar Arrington, Penn State * Lombardi Award (Lineman or Linebacker) –

, DE * Outland Trophy (Interior Lineman) –

Chris Samuels Chris Samuels (born July 28, 1977) is a former American college and professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Alabama, and was ...

, OT * Jim Thorpe Award (Defensive Back) –

Tyrone Carter Tyrone M. Carter (born March 31, 1976) is a former American football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Minnesota, earned All-American honors and won several national award ...

* Lou Groza Award (Placekicker) – Sebastian Janikowski, Florida St. *

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award The American Heart Association (AHA) Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are an annual awards banquet that is hosted each year in January, in Houston, Texas, by the AHA.For a list of American Heart Association offices, by state, go to: There are two aw ...

–

Frank Beamer Franklin Mitchell Beamer (born October 18, 1946) is a retired American college football coach, most notably for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and former college football player. He is the father of current South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane ...

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

Coach of the Year Award –

References

{{1999 NCAA Division I-A football season navbox