The 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami winning the national title for the fifth time.
The Hurricanes were led by Larry Coker, who was in his first year as head coach after five years as Miami's offensive coordinator under Butch Davis. Coker had the benefit of inheriting a star-studded program that Davis had rebuilt in the aftermath of NCAA sanctions in the mid-to-late 90s. Miami completed a perfect 12-0 season, which culminated in a 37-14 win over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl BCS National Championship Game.
In yet another controversial season for the BCS, #4 Nebraska was chosen as the national title opponent despite not having even played in the Big 12 championship game. The Huskers went into their last regularly scheduled game at Colorado undefeated, but left Boulder having lost the game by a score of 62-36. The Buffaloes went on to win the Big 12 championship game. However, the BCS computers didn't take into account time of loss, so one-loss Nebraska came out ahead of two-loss #3 Colorado and one-loss, #2 Oregon. Some fans chanted "number 4" at the title game held at the Rose Bowl.
Florida State did not win the ACC championship for the first time since joining the conference in 1991, losing out to Maryland. Steve Spurrier left the Florida Gators at the end of the season to coach the Washington Redskins, accepting what was then the largest salary for an NFL head coach.
The season had one of the more competitive Heisman Trophy races with Eric Crouch of Nebraska winning by only a small margin over Rex Grossman of Florida. All of the five finalists played the quarterback position. Two of the finalists were coached at some point by Oregon offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford. Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El earned first-team All-America honors from the FWAA after becoming the first NCAA Division I-A quarterback to throw for 40 touchdowns and rush for 40 touchdowns in a career. He also became the first player in NCAA I-A history to record 2,500 total yards from scrimmage in four consecutive seasons.
The Big West Conference stopped sponsoring football after the 2000 season, concluding a pattern that had been started by many of its previous members of the past decade. Its remaining football playing members left to join other conferences for the 2001 season: Boise State joined the WAC, Arkansas State, New Mexico State and North Texas joined the Sun Belt Conference, which sponsored football for the first time in 2001. Idaho also joined the Sun Belt, but as a football-only member. Utah State would stay in the Big West, playing football as an Independent.
The newly formed Boise State/Fresno State rivalry would be a major factor in the race to be the "BCS buster" for several seasons.
Troy State joined Division 1-A football this season.
The Aloha Bowl and Oahu Bowl lost funding after Chrysler Corporation, which owned the former bowl's sponsor of Jeep, was acquired by Daimler-Benz and became DaimlerChrysler. The Aloha Bowl moved to Seattle and became the Seattle Bowl.
The New Orleans Bowl began play, the host team being the Sun Belt champion.
Read more about 2001 NCAA Division I-A Football Season: End of Season Upsets and BCS Drama, Conference Standings, Bowl Championship Series Rankings, Final BCS Standings, Heisman Trophy Voting, Other Annual Awards
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