Hurricanes Dominated in the NFL in the '00s
Categories: Sports
No college football team hit such heights and then sunk to such lows this decade than the Miami Hurricanes. From the 2001 team that won a national championship -- and is considered by most sane sports commenters as the best college team of the past ten years if not of all time -- to the 2007 season that saw the Canes fall to 5-7. That was the season the Canes got shut out in a 41-0 heartbreaker against Virginia in their final game in the Orange Bowl and didn't meet bowl eligibility for the fist time since '97. All in all, the Canes aren't going to top many NCAA end-of-decades state lists. Oddly, though, the program still dominated the NFL.
As Heather Dinich points out, Reggie Wayne's touchdown for the Colts against the Jags kept an impressive stat alive: Former Hurricanes have scored at least one touchdown in the NFL for each of the past 120 regular-season weeks.
On opening day 2009, 41 UM alumni were on NFL rosters -- second only to LSU and only by one player.
The program produced 63 NFL draft picks and 26 first-rounders this decade, more than any other team. In comparison, USC had only 61 picks and 15 first-rounders.
According to Wikipedia, UM also set and still hold records for "most players selected in the first round in a single draft (six in 2004); most first-round draft picks in a two-year period (11 from 2003 to 2004); most first-round draft picks in a three-year period (15 from 2002 through 2004); and most first-round picks in a four-year period (19 from 2001 through 2004).
And despite those sad, sad seasons since joining the ACC in 2004, the current team is beginning to finally turn around. I wouldn't be surprised if they see the same NFL success in the '10s.
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