The 2001 Miami Hurricanes finished with a 12-0 record and was one of the most dominant college football teams of all-time. Miami had a lot of NFL talent on its roster that season.
In 2000, the Hurricanes had an 11-1 record, and they were also considered one of the greatest college football teams over the last 25 years. Miami in 2001 however reached a different level on the college football landscape. They defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the National Title game that season.
The Athletic Lists the 2001 Miami Hurricanes As the Greatest College Football Team Over the Last 25 Years
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic listed his top 25 teams in the college football landscape over the last 25 years. There was a major debate between putting the 2019 LSU Tigers and the 2001 Hurricanes at number one, but Miami edged the ’19 Tigers team in this regard. Mandel said about how dominant Miami was during the 2001 college football season,
“AP All-Americans: QB Ken Dorsey, RB Clinton Portis, TE Jeremy Shockey, OT Bryant McKinnie, G Martin Bibla, DE Jerome McDougle, DT William Joseph, CB Phillip Buchanon, S Ed Reed, K Todd Sievers
Signature wins: No. 8 Nebraska (37-14 in BCS championship game), No. 14 Syracuse (59-0), at No. 15 Florida State (49-27), at No. 18 Virginia Tech (26-24), No. 19 Washington (65-7), at No. 21 Boston College (18-7)
The 2001 Hurricanes, who hammered their foes by an average of 43-9, are universally recognized as one of the best of all time. I did strongly consider 2019 LSU here, because it played a much tougher schedule. But Miami still beat six teams ranked in the final Top 25 and won out because of its stingier defense (9.4 points per game, one of only three teams in the 2000s in the single digits) and ridiculous wealth of talent — 15 future first-round picks and nine future All-Pros, including Hall of Famers Reed and WR Andre Johnson, over the next three drafts.
Dorsey finished third in the Heisman vote and had a backfield featuring Portis, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore and Najeh Davenport, while throwing to Johnson and Shockey and getting protected by McKinnie, who finished eighth in the Heisman vote.”
This Hurricanes team may have had the most NFL talent ever on one college football team. Miami’s head coach during the 2001 season was Larry Coker. The running back room on this Hurricanes team may have been one of the best running backs rooms ever at the college football level. They just dominated the competition on the field and had so much talent on both sides of the football also.
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