August 26, 2000
FSU defeats BYU 29-3

Chris Weinke got a leg up on the 2000 Heisman race Saturday night against the Brigham Young Cougars. With over 300 yards passing in his first outing since leading the Noles to the 1999 national championship, Weinke showed which university is truly Quarterback U. Battered at times by the suprisingly impressive BYU defensive front, Weinke displayed the toughness that will ultimately win him the coveted award for the best college football player in the nation. Weinke set career highs in passing attempts, passes completed, and yards for a single rushing attempt. His final line: 32 of 50 for 318 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions (Weinke already holds the ACC record for the most consecutive passes without an interception). Two individual plays will leave a lasting impression from this game. The first: Weinke was shoved into BYU's 69 year old coach, Lavell Edwards, after firing a desperation touchdown pass. The second: a slim Weinke scampered 21 yards to leave the Noles with a first and goal. The play was Weinke's career longest gain from scrimmage, surpassing a previous high of 8 yards. The next play, Weinke layed a crucial block on a reverse that put the game out of reach just before halftime. Weinke's numbers would have been astronomical, but the Noles concentrated on the ground game to protect our lead in the second half.

September 9, 2000
FSU defeats Georgia Tech 26-21

Chris Weinke proved he belongs on the top of anyone's Heisman list against Georgia Tech last night in a hostile environment.  Weinke led the Seminoles to another come-from-behind victory with a career-high 443 yards passing.  Along the way, he became Florida State's all-time leading passer with 6,433 yards.  Weinke was 25 of 38 with 2 touchdown passes.  He has thrown for 761 yards in two games with NO interceptions.  Last night, Weinke found 8 different receivers in a game which was unfortunately dominated by the officiating.  With Vick and Crouch falling flat, and Brees playing another weak opponent, Weinke should top any respectable Heisman list this week.  Weinke was named as the ACC Offensive player of the week for his efforts against Georgia Tech.

September 16, 2000
FSU defeats North Carolina 63-14

Weinke got some great help from Travis Minor and the FSU running game, but still produced numbers worthy of the Heisman trophy. Against North Carolina in FSU's home opener, Chris completed 12 of 22 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns as the Noles cruised to a 63-14 shallacking of the Tar Heels. Weinke's numbers were hampered by 4 or 5 dropped passes (FSU's receivers overall have still had a great season). Also, Chris was rested after the 3rd quarter and back-up Marcus Outzen mopped up the Heels. For the season, Weinke has thrown 110 passes with ZERO interceptions, 1,023 yards, and 8 touchdowns. He is clearly the team leader on the defending national champions, and has done nothing to hurt the Noles run to repeat, or his own run for the Heisman.

September 23, 2000
FSU defeats Louisville 31-0

Chris Weinke took a back seat to the Seminole defense and FSU's great running backs last night against the Louisville Cardinals.  Travis Minor, Jeff Chaney, Davey Ford, and Greg Jones found great holes for big yardage against the previous number one ranked team versus the rush.  The Nole defense prevented Louisville from scoring, and scored themselves for the fifth consecutive game.  Weinke did finish with respectable numbers, going 18 of 28 for 221 yards, 1 touchdown pass, and 1 touchdown rush.  This, in only three quarters of work as Marcus Outzen was again called for mop-up duties.  Weinke suffered his first pass interception on the year, and added two more inconsequential picks later in the game.  But, a total of three interceptions in four games (138 pass attempts) is still Heisman worthy.  Also, the most important stat --- FSU 31, Louisville 0 --- improves the defending champion's record to 4 and 0 on the season.  With the victory, Weinke tied Gino Toretta for consecutive wins with 24.  The two are tied for 4th all-time in college football history.  Weinke will likely move past Gino (a former Heisman winner from Miami) on Thursday night when the Noles battle Maryland.

September 28, 2000
FSU defeats Maryland 59-7

Playing most of the night with a sprained ankle, Chris Weinke led the Seminoles to their 17 consecutive victory . . . his 25 (Chris did not play in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl due to a neck injury).  25 consecutive victories by a quarterback moves him into a tied for third place in the history of college football.  Also, Weinke took over the Florida State record for career touchdowns.  He threw three TDs to give him 58 in his career.    In just over two quarters of work last night, Weinke hit 11 out of 15 passes for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He sat down after a long touchdown pass in the third quarter to rest a nagging sprained ankle that he injured in the first quarter.  Marcus Outzen came in and mopped up the Terrapins, giving him some much needed playing experience.  For the season, Chris is completing over 64 percent of his passes.  He has thrown for 12 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions.  He has1,478 yards passing through only 5 games.  And most importantly, the senior has led Florida State to a perfect 5-0 record in the Noles' quest to defend the national championship.

October 7, 2000
FSU loses to Miami 27-24

The difference between being a lock for the Heisman and being just another candidate in most people's eyes is a minute and thirty-seven seconds.  On the strength of a career day, Chris Weinke led Florida State to an incredible comeback against the hated Miami Hurricanes, taking the lead by four with only 97 seconds left.  But, the Canes were able to take advantage of our prevent defense and regain the lead with only seconds on the clock.  Not giving up, Weinke again led the Noles downfield in position to tie the game with a long field goal.  It was the Canes' day as the kick was no good.  Had the Noles not scored so quickly on the go-ahead touchdown, the media would be praising Weinke with one of the greatest days in collegiate history.  As it turned out, the two interceptions will be what they'll concentrate on.  Weinke was hampered all week with a sprained ankle, and admitted to only being 75% at game time.  His rustiness showed in the first half when he threw the two interceptions.  But, he came back with a furor in the second half, throwing for 3 touchdowns.  For the game, Weinke was 29 of 58 for 496 yards and three touchdowns.

October 14, 2000
FSU defeats Duke 63-14

In the race for the Heisman Trophy, Chris Weinke did everything he could last week in the Miami game.  After sitting out of the week's practice due to a sprained ankle, Chris completed 29 passes for 496 yards against a very highly rated Hurricane secondary.  Unfortunately, the media couldn't see Weinke's unbelievable night through the "L", and dropped him in many of the Heisman watches.  Weinke came back this week, and topped even those lofty numbers.  Against Duke, Weinke set a single game Florida State passing yardage record with 536.  He topped Bill Cappleman's 31 year old record of 508.  Charlie Ward's 529 yards of total offense also fell.  Chris did all of this in only 2 1/2 quarters of play.  In two games, Weinke has thrown 105 passes, completing 66 for 1,032 yards and 8 touchdowns.  In the Duke game, Weinke was 37 of 47 (78.2%) for 536 yards and 5 touchdowns.  The five touchdowns moved Weinke ahead of Joe Hamilton's in career passing touchdowns.  The ACC record is now 66 and counting.  With this performance, Gary Danielson might give him a grade above a C-.

October 21, 2000
FSU defeats Virginia 37-3

Against Virginia, Weinke started slowly.  The Cavaliers keyed on stopping the pass in the first half.  They were somewhat successful, yielding Weinke under 200 yards in the first half for the first time in three games.  But, Weinke exploded in the third quarter and finished with 274 yards before giving way to Marcus Outzen (who had 152 yards) in the 4th quarter.  Weinke threw 2 touchdown passes to Marvin Minnis.  FSU beat the Cavaliers 37-3 to improve our record to 7-1 on the season.  We are ranked number 5 in the Bowl Championship Series.

October 28, 2000
FSU defeats NC State 58-14

Two years ago in Raleigh, many Nole fans thought we should have utilized the ground game more against the Wolfpack. On Saturday, we did just that.  Behind Travis Minor & co., the Noles rushed 54 times for 324 yards.  That left Weinke with slim pickens in the yardage department.  He did complete 13 of 21 yards for 185 yards and a touchdown in his personal redemption game.  Weinke led the Noles to a 58-14 victory over NC State.  The win move the Noles to 8-1 on the year, and up to 4th place in both polls.

November 4, 2000
FSU defeats Clemson 54-7

Chris Weinke had another outstanding night in front of the ESPN cameras, the Game Day crew, a Doak Campbell record attendance, a full house in the press box, and a national television audience.  On a perfect night in Tallahassee, Weinke led the Noles to a 54-7 trouncing of the number 10 team in the nation, and the second best team in the ACC.    Chris could do no wrong, and broke several records on the way to icing the Heisman Trophy.  Against Clemson, Weinke completed 27 of 43 passes for 521 yards, 2 touchdowns, & zero interceptions before giving way again to Marcus Outzen.  Weinke eclipsed 400 yards for the fourth time this season.  He set the FSU single season passing mark,  and passed Spence Fisher for 3rd place on the ACC career passing list.  Weinke's smooth ball fake and 98 yard touchdown pass to Snoop Minnis was the longest pass in FSU's history.  Weinke now holds the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th best single game passing performances in FSU history (all this year).  But most importantly, Weinke has guided the Seminoles to a position of possibly winning back-to-back national championships (neary back-to-back-to-back had it not been for his neck injury two years ago).  It would be a crime if he did that after returning for his senior season, and did not win the Heisman Trophy.

November 11, 2000
FSU defeats Wake Forest 35-6

Chris Weinke, the 2000 Heisman frontrunner, did nothing on Saturday to hurt his standing.  Unlike another candidate (Brees), who lost to a weak opponent, Weinke led his team to an easy victory over Wake Forest.  Weinke threw for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Demon Deacons.  The win moves the Seminole's record to 10-1, the fourteenth consecutive season that FSU has won at least 10 games.  Also, the Noles are in contention to win back-to-back national championships behind the greatest quarterback in FSU history, Chris Weinke.

November 18, 2000
FSU defeats Florida 30-7

In a closing argument that would make Johnny Cochran jealous, Chris Weinke did everything within his power to become the second Seminole to win the Heisman Trophy.  After suffering from the effects of a virus all day Friday, Weinke was ready to play on a chilly Saturday night.  He continually embarrassed a good Florida Gator secondary with pinpoint passes to his reliable receivers.  Most  notable, Weinke hit our Biletnikoff candidate, Marvin "Snoop" Minnis eight times for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns.  In front of a national television audience & a record home crowd, Weinke dominated once again, completing 23 of 43 passes for 353 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Bobby Bowden & Mark Richt smartly shut down the passing game in the 4th quarter to run the clock in order to protect our 23 point lead. If not for this, Weinke would have easily gone over 400 yards.  Chris became the leading passer in ACC history (9,839 yards), and extended his record number of touchdown passes (79).  He also bettered the FSU single-season passing record by 850 yards.  This season Chris notched 3 of the top 4 passing games in FSU history.  For his career, Weinke has passed for 10,086 yards including last year's National Championship game.  He looks to add to this total as the Seminoles vie for back-to-back titles (BCS willing).