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Top bowl performances

SportsLine staff

Jan. 4, 2000

By winning the Sugar Bowl, Florida State turned a football axiom on its ear and bucked a powerful trend in this bowl season: The Seminoles won without establishing a running game.

Teams that out-rushed their opponents won an amazing 20 of 23 bowls, the exceptions being Hawaii over Oregon State, Michigan over Alabama and the Seminoles over Virginia Tech. The Hokies out-gained FSU 278-30 on the ground -- and 503-359 overall -- but the Seminoles turned the tide in their favor by outclassing the Hokies on special teams, striking for more big plays and by making key fourth-down stops.

For the bowl season, winning teams rushed for 4,234 yards, almost twice that of losers. Those on the wrong side of the score managed to scrape together 2,184 yards.

As you can see from looking at the list of top bowl rushers, those leading ground gainers tended to be on many more winning teams than the top passers.

For Florida State, however, none of that matters.

Chris Weinke threw for the fifth-most yards (329) and only Michigan State's Plaxico Burress had more receiving yards than FSU's Peter Warrick (163) … and the Seminoles didn't need to follow any trends. They're No. 1, and everyone has to follow them.

Here's a breakdown of the top bowl performances.

100-yard rushers

Att-Yds Player Team Result
34-254 Mike Anderson Utah W, 17-16 Fresno State
15-210 Cortlen Johnson Colorado W, 62-28 Boston College
34-200 Ron Dayne Wisconsin W, 17-9 Stanford
12-162 James Mungro Syracuse W, 20-13 Kentucky
25-161 Shaun Alexander Alabama L, 35-34 Michigan
18-157 Ken Simonton Oregon State L, 23-17 Hawaii
23-152 Brock Forsey Boise State W, 34-31 Louisville
14-133 Doug Chapman Marshall W, 21-3 BYU
36-124 LaDainian Tomlinson TCU W, 28-14 East Carolina
10-122 Rocky Harvey Illinois W, 63-21 Virginia
17-121 Deuce McAllister Ole Miss W, 27-25 Oklahoma
12-117 Clinton Portis Miami W, 28-13 Georgia Tech
21-116 James Jackson Miami W, 28-13 Georgia Tech
24-111 Frank Moreau Louisville L, 34-31 Boise State
23-110 Thomas Jones Virginia L, 63-21 Illinois
21-108 Dan Alexander Nebraska W, 31-21 Tennessee
20-105 Lloyd Clemons Michigan St. W, 37-34 Florida

250-yard passers

Att-Com Yds Player Team Result
39-53 390 Josh Heupel Oklahoma L, 27-25 Mississippi
36-60 378 Drew Brees Purdue L, 28-25 Georgia
34-46 369 Tom Brady Michigan W, 35-34 Alabama
20-39 335 Bart Hendricks Boise State W, 34-31 Louisville
20-34 329 Chris Weinke Florida State W, 46-29 Virginia Tech
26-47 314 Chris Redman Louisville L, 34-31 Boise State
30-43 308 Dusty Bonner Kentucky L, 20-13 Syracuse
24-50 301 Brandon Streeter Clemson L, 17-7 Miss. State
24-50 288 Doug Johnson Florida L, 37-34 Mich. St.
19-40 269 Jonathan Smith Oregon St. L, 23-17 Hawaii
23-40 266 Dan Robinson Hawaii W, 23-17 Oregon State
17-34 258 Todd Husak Stanford L, 17-9 Wisconsin
21-35 257 Bill Burke Michigan St. W, 37-34 Florida
19-37 256 Billy Cockerham Minnesota L, 24-20 Oregon
14-24 254 Kurt Kittner Illinois W, 63-21 Virginia

100-yard receivers

Rec-Yds Player Team Result
13-185 Plaxico Burress Michigan St. W, 37-34 Florida
6-163 Peter Warrick Florida State W, 46-29 Virginia Tech
11-156 Travis Taylor Florida L, 37-34 Michigan St.
10-150 David Terrell Michigan W, 35-34 Alabama
6-147 Brian Wofford Clemson L, 17-7 Mississippi St.
6-126 Luke Leverson Minnesota L, 24-20 Oregon
5-116 LaMont Chappell East Carolina L, 28-14 TCU
7-113 Tony Hartley Oregon W, 24-20 Minnesota
9-109 Arnold Jackson Louisville L, 34-31 Boise State
6-109 Brandon Daniels Oklahoma L, 27-25 Mississippi
8-108 Donte Stallworth Tennessee L, 31-21 Nebraska
7-108 Andre Davis Virginia Tech L, 46-29 Florida State
4-108 Margin Hooks BYU L, 21-3 Marshall
12-103 Chris Daniels Purdue L, 28-25 Georgia
8-100 Dez White Georgia Tech L, 28-13 Miami

Ten longest scoring plays

Yards Play Team
91 Zek Parker kickoff return Louisville
88 Ben Kelly punt return Colorado
87 Doug Chapman run Marshall
80 Deuce McAllister run Mississippi
80 Shaunard Harts interception return Boise State
78 George White interception return Boston College
75 Payton Williams blocked FG return Fresno State
74 Terrence Edwards run Georgia
73 Clinton Portis run Miami
64 Peter Warrick reception Florida State