Winning a national championship is the ultimate accomplishment in college football, a pinnacle that more than 130 teams annually dream of reaching, but only one actually gets to. It defines careers, shapes legacies and immortalizes the players and coaches in the sport’s history.
Some champions, though, are remembered slightly more than others. Look no further than the 2001 Miami Hurricanes for an example.
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Under the watch of first-year head coach Larry Coker and buoyed by a roster filled with future NFL stars, Miami was what sports journalist Dan Le Batard once referred to as “a nuclear absurdity.” The Hurricanes went 12-0, making up nearly one-third of a 34-game win streak across three seasons that established them as the dominant force in college football. The season culminated with a 37-14 pasting of Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, delivering Miami its first national championship in 10 years and completing the rebuild of a program that had been mired by NCAA sanctions for much of the previous decade.
The U was not only back, but potentially better than ever — which, given the program’s history, was saying quite a bit.
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As the Hurricanes prepare to face off against Indiana on Monday, Jan. 19 in the College Football Playoff championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, here’s a look back at the last Miami team to win a national title:
2001 Miami Hurricanes roster
Much of the mythology around the 2001 Miami football team wasn’t just what it managed to accomplish on the field, but what so many of its players did once they left the college ranks.
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Nearly 25 years later, that group of Hurricanes is widely regarded as one of the most talented teams in college football history, if not the outright best.
Given who was on the roster, it’s hard to argue against it.
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Here’s a sampling of the players who were on the Miami roster during its title-winning 2001 season:
In a sign of just how loaded the Miami roster was, several of those players who went on to decorated NFL careers didn’t even start for the Hurricanes that season, a group that includes Wilfork, Taylor, Winslow, McGahee and Gore.
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Click here to see the full 2001 Miami roster.
2001 Miami Hurricanes QB
At the center of the Miami offense, which averaged 43.2 points per game, was quarterback Ken Dorsey.
Though he didn’t go on to become an NFL star like many of his teammates, Dorsey was an incredibly productive college quarterback. Over his career with the Hurricanes, including three years as a starter, Dorsey threw for 9,565 yards, 86 touchdowns and 28 interceptions while averaging 7.5 yards per attempt. During the title-winning 2001 season, he completed 57.9% of his passes for 2,652 yards, 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He finished third in Heisman Trophy voting that season.
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In his three seasons as a starter, from 2000-02, Miami went 35-2.
Dorsey was a seventh-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2003 NFL Draft and played six seasons in the NFL. After hanging up his cleats, he got into coaching. He has served as the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills (from 2022-23) and Cleveland Browns (2024). He recently completed his first season as the pass game specialist for the Dallas Cowboys.
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2001 Miami Hurricanes draft picks
The 2001 Miami roster included 37 players who went on to be selected in the NFL draft, including 17 who were first-round picks. The Hurricanes had a record six players selected in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft, all of whom were on that 2001 championship team and were selected among the first 21 picks.
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Here’s a look at the Miami draft picks from that 2001 squad:
2002 NFL Draft
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OL Bryant McKinnie (1st round, No. 7 overall)
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TE Jeremy Shockey (1st round, No. 14 overall)
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CB Phillip Buchanon (1st round, No. 17 overall)
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S Ed Reed (1st round, No. 24 overall)
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CB Mike Rumph (1st round, No. 27 overall)
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RB Clinton Portis (2nd round, No. 51 overall)
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OL Martin Bibla (4th round, No. 116 overall)
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RB Najeh Davenport (4th round, No. 135 overall)
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S James Lewis (6th round, No. 183 overall)
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WR Daryl Jones (7th round, No. 226 overall)
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OL Joaquin Gonzalez (7th round, No. 227 overall)
2003 NFL Draft
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WR Andre Johnson (1st round, No. 3 overall)
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DE Jerome McDougle (1st round, No. 15 overall)
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RB Willis McGahee (1st round, No. 23 overall)
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DT William Joseph (1st round, No. 25 overall)
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DE Andrew Williams (3rd round, No. 89 overall)
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DE Jamaal Green (4th round, No. 131 overall)
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DE Matt Walters (5th round, No. 150 overall)
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QB Ken Dorsey (7th round, No. 241 overall)
2004 NFL Draft
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S Sean Taylor (1st round, No. 5 overall)
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TE Kellen Winslow Jr. (1st round, No. 6 overall)
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LB Jonathan Vilma (1st round, No. 12 overall)
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LB D.J. Williams (1st round, No. 17 overall)
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OL Vernon Carey (1st round, No. 19 overall)
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DL Vince Wilfork (1st round, No. 21 overall)
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LB Darrell McClover (7th round, No. 213 overall)
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CB Alfonso Marshall (7th round, No. 215 overall)
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OL Carlos Joseph (7th round, No. 254 overall)
2005 NFL Draft
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CB Antrel Rolle (1st round, No. 8 overall)
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WR Roscoe Parrish (2nd round, No. 55 overall)
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RB Frank Gore (3rd round, No. 65 overall)
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OL Chris Myers (6th round, No. 200 overall)
2006 NFL Draft
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CB Kelly Jennings (1st round, No. 31 overall)
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OT Rashad Butler (3rd round, No. 89 overall)
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LB Leon Williams (4th round, No. 110 overall)
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DL Orien Harris (4th round, No. 133 overall)
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CB Marcus Maxey (5th round, No. 154 overall)
As good as the 2001 Miami team was, it had lost several key pieces from the previous year’s team to the NFL, a group of standouts that included Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss and Dan Morgan, all of whom went on to become Pro Bowlers.
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2001 Miami Hurricanes schedule
Only one of Miami’s games during the 2001 season was decided by single digits, a 26-24 road win against a top-15 Virginia Tech team.
Here’s a look at Miami’s 2001 schedule and results:
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Sept. 1: Miami 33, Penn State 7
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Sept. 8: Miami 61, Rutgers 0
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Sept. 27: Miami 43, Pitt 21
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Oct. 13: Miami 49, No. 14 Florida State 27
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Oct. 25: Miami 45, West Virginia 3
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Nov. 3: Miami 38, Temple 0
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Nov. 10: Miami 18, Boston College 7
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Nov. 17: Miami 59, No. 14 Syracuse 0
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Nov. 24: Miami 65, No. 12 Washington 7
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Dec. 1: Miami 26, No. 14 Virginia Tech 24
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Jan. 3: Miami 37, No. 2 Nebraska 14
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Miami’s 2001 team: One of the greatest in college football history