National Experts proclaim 2001 Miami football best of last 21 years

We are not talking about teams at the back end of the rankings, these are teams that were just outside the top ten. Washington was ranked eighth two weeks before they played Miami. A loss to unranked Oregon State dropped the Huskies to 16th in the country.

Miami traveled to Tallahassee with Florida State ranked 14th in the country. That was one of five games the Hurricanes played against teams ranked 14th or better at the time they played them in 2001. Miami Crushed Florida State 49-27 on the road.

Virginia Tech on their home field was the only ranked team that got within 21 points of the 2001 Miami football team. The Hurricanes won those games by an average margin of 33.4 to 14.4.

Take away the 26-24 victory over Virginia Tech and the margin increases to 28.2 to 9.6. Miami defeated both Virginia Tech and Florida State on the road. Adelson’s assertion about the Hurricanes playing a weaker schedule because they were in the Big East in 2001 isn’t entirely accurate.

Texas played only four games against ranked teams in 2005. The Longhorns won those games by an average margin of victory of 16.5 points per game. One was in the Rose Bowl against USC.