Welcome back to the Odyssey. Last time, we talked about what set up this crazy season and the most important game of the 2001 season that doesn’t seem to be talked about. Today, much like the future post outlining the Big Ten, we will take a big picture look at the ACC race throughout the entire season. The race had no true impact on the top of the BCS Standings, so we’re going to discuss it all in one post.

Act I: The Seminole Dominance

Florida State seemed to need a dance partner in the conference game. Penn State and Miami seemed to pick their sides with the Big Ten and Big East respectively. That left Florida State to choose either the SEC or the ACC. Florida State chose the ACC, beginning in the 1992 football season, and never looked back prior to 2001. The Seminoles didn’t lose a conference game until late in the 1995 season. They won at least a share of the ACC every season since joining. Then they went on to win every conference game in the next two seasons. Bobby Bowden’s football teams appeared to be unstoppable in conference play.

Florida State built off of those successes to gain National prominence. They made the National Championship each of the first three years of the BCS, winning in 1999. The 2001 season looked to be going that way as well. The Seminoles had a top preseason ranking, were picked #1 in the ACC preseason poll, and seemed destined to show their dominance early. The Noles were scheduled to host Georgia Tech, picked to be the ACC runner-up, on September 15th, but that game was postponed due to the September 11th attacks. The Yellow Jackets had finished second each of the last three seasons and figured to stay there with their experienced squad led by head coach George O’Leary.

Due to their delayed game, both Georgia Tech and Florida State needed to take care of business in their seasons to give their now December 1st game the same sense of prominence. Unfortunately for both squads, both of them would drop their next game.

Act II: The Mighty Fall

Florida State had the first honor to drop a conference game when they went to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina. The Tar Heels, led by future top ten picks Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims, had an interesting start to their season. We mentioned last week that they faced Oklahoma in a Week 0 game, they then lost at Maryland (we’ll get to them) before traveling to Austin and losing to Texas. Because of their schedule, this would be their third top ten opponent in four weeks.

In the first half, both offenses struggled, ending up with a 9-7 lead for Florida State at the half. The game seemed to turn fully in North Carolina’s favor on the second play of the second half. Tar Heel QB Darian Durant threw an interception to Stanford Samuels, who promptly fumbled on the return, which was recovered by the Tar Heels. North Carolina would score a TD on the ensuing drive. This would lead to Tar Heel scores on six of their next seven drives. That, combined with two Seminoles turnovers, turned a close game into a 41-9 blowout.

A week later, Georgia Tech would fall to a mid-tier ACC team. Clemson was picked to finish third in the preseason, coming off of a year where they only lost to Georgia Tech and Florida State. The game was a back and forth affair early on, tightened by a Woodrow Dantzler 38 yard scamper as the first half ended, making the game 19-14. The second half was an offensive explosion. Both teams traded TDs, keeping the deficit within one score the entire second half.

Georgia Tech went up 38-34 with 4 minutes left, and after a fourth botched 2 point conversion attempt, which was the sixth lead change of the game to that point. The Jackets defense held briefly until, on 4th and 13, Dantzler hit J.J. McKelvey for 63 yards and a TD to put the Tigers up 3. Georgia Tech methodically moved down the field to hit a game-tying 20 yard FG with 6 seconds left.

Clemson’s defense got a key 3rd and 1 stop in OT to force a Tech FG. Dantzler scored on the ensuing drive on a 11 yard 3rd down TD run to give the ACC stalwarts upsets in consecutive weeks. With both top teams falling, it opened the door for a team to surprise the conference and the college football world.

Act III: The Turtle Emerges

Maryland was picked to finish 7th in the conference in the pre-season. They opened their season with a dominant win over North Carolina. Conference wins over the bottom teams of the ACC got the Terrapins up to #22 in the nation coming into their road game against Georgia Tech. Maryland proved its legitimacy in a 20-17 OT victory over the spiraling Yellow Jackets. The Maryland defense was the standout unit. They racked two interceptions, a fumble recovered for a TD, and a game-winning fumble in overtime. After a win over Duke, Maryland took a #10 ranking into Tallahassee, with first place in the conference on the line.

 

The issue for the Terrapins is the offense struggles. In the game in Atlanta, the Terrapins were outgained by Georgia Tech and seemed to win due to the 6-2 turnover advantage. They also had a 3-0 turnover advantage in their opening weekend win over North Carolina. The Maryland offense surprised early, with two first-quarter TD drives. Florida State, on consecutive plays, tied up the game and took the lead on their next possession. Maryland and Florida State went blow for blow in the third quarter, before Florida State’s offense lit up the Maryland defense and finished off the Terrapins 52-31. The Seminoles now held the tiebreaker over the Terrapins.

North Carolina, with their 38-3 win over Clemson, now was in a three-way tie for the lead with Florida State and Maryland heading into November, all with one conference loss. Only one team would survive those couple of weeks still with one loss in conference play.

Act IV: The Wolfpack Test

With their win over Clemson at the end of October, North Carolina was 5-3 and ranked for the first time all season. They traveled to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech to legitimize their ranking and standing in the ACC. Georgia Tech, who still had their game with Florida State, felt the urgency in the game and brought their best offensive game to date. The Jackets piled up 424 yards, which was second to their game against Duke in terms of yards in ACC yards. Unlike the Duke game, they only turned the ball over once. Georgia Tech pulled away with a deadly rushing day in the second half to edge out the Tar Heels 28-21.

Georgia Tech was eliminated from ACC Championship contention the next weekend when Maryland knocked off Clemson. Clemson had just come off of losing a two-score effort against Florida State and couldn’t pull off the upset and fell once again by double digits. Right before the Clemson-Maryland game, Florida State was looking to keep pace with the Terrapins. They were hosting NC State.

The Wolfpack, led by future NFL contributors Phil Rivers and Jerricho Cotchery, lit up the Seminole defense. They also got a tad of fumble luck. They lost control of the ball twice but recovered both times including a TD recovery putting them up early. NC State used a 17 point second quarter to pull ahead of the favored Seminoles; a lead they would not relinquish. Florida State had a chance to win it on the last play but a Chris Rix throw went through the end zone. The Seminoles were once again upset by a Tobacco Road team, losing 34-28.

The following weekend had simple stakes for Maryland. If they beat NC State, they win the ACC and are going to the Orange Bowl. If they lose, Florida State gets yet another ACC title and they will likely go to the Orange Bowl. The game vs NC State was a slow burn, with field goals the only scores during the first half. Maryland got the first TD of the game on the opening drive of the second half, leading 10-9. From there, both teams battled for field position. NC State ultimately got a FG out of the battle to lead 12-10. On the next Wolfpack drive, Rivers led his team down the field before ultimately stopped on a 4th down gamble to try and get a TD to extend their lead. The Terrapins marched right down the field to make it 16-12 (due to a missed 2 point conversion).

Rivers took the ensuing drive and scored with under five minutes to go, putting the Wolfpack up 3. Then, things went a little sideways. Maryland QB Shaun Hill hit WR Rich Parson up the middle for a gain into the red zone, and potentially a TD. I say potentially because Parson promptly fumbled the ball into the endzone for a Wolfpack touchback. Maryland use their timeouts and forced a 3rd down run out of bounds to give their offense another opportunity for the win. Maryland relied on both the arms and legs of Hill to march down the field to get into FG range.

However, with an Orange Bowl bid on the line, a FG wasn’t enough for the Terrapins. As the clock wound to under a minute, Hill found his offense inside the 10 yard line. The next play Hill hit Gullian Gary on a curl towards the near pylon to give Maryland the lead for good. An interception of Rivers clinched the ACC Championship for Maryland.

Act V: Conclusion

Two weeks later Georgia Tech and Florida State had their showdown, only Florida State had both lost four times to that point and the result of the conference was already in hand. Florida State would not be winning the conference for the 10th straight year. Georgia Tech would not be coming in second. A team that was picked to finish seventh, who hadn’t been to a bowl since 1990, and had a brand new coach took the conference by storm and rode a solid offense and a spectacular defense to an Orange Bowl bid.

That game will be discussed later on the Odyssey. Next time on the Odyssey, we take a look at a team Florida State has known well. Next stop on the Odyssey we take a look at the 2001 Big East Season. Until then, sound off below about your thoughts on the above season.