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Virginia Tech’s Mike Vick quarterbacked seasons. Nobody quarterbacked an with arm AND feet like that before. It was a blast watching Tech through their undefeated 1999 (regular) season, having never cared to make a point to watch the Hokies before. Yes, Beamer land the foundations (and put up the drywall and paved the parking garage) for what we’ve known of Virginia Tech’s past quarter-century of winning, but it was Vick who electrified the big marquee that for miles around gave the program attention it’d never come close to having before.

Vick was great but he wasn’t the pioneer of doing that. Watch some Major Harris highlights from a decade before. He was running and throwing out of an option I offense when Vick was in Kindergarten.
Syracuse had a string of some really good QBs doing that before Vick came along too.
Also, Fezz was giving Vick credit for VT’s move to the ACC.  Credit VA’s Governor for that. The ACC wanted Syracuse, not VT. The Governor of VA told UVA if VT wasn’t part of the package then then they wanted them to block it.

Vick was the first QB I saw who ran and threw at that level of effectiveness (and did it at the next level as well).

There was an earlier guy named Tarkenton who was elusive, but he rarely ran the ball for yardage, he ran around to gain time to throw.

Vick still is the best run/pass or pass/run QB in my lifetime.   There have been good ones but Vick still stands out as the best.  

He's the only one where if you took away one, was good enough to be at least a very good college quarterback with just the other.  Russell Wilson is maybe the closest?  Elway was mobile for his day, but I don't think enough to beat you with his legs without the threat of passing.

He's the only one where if you took away one, was good enough to be at least a very good college quarterback with just the other.  Russell Wilson is maybe the closest?  Elway was mobile for his day, but I don't think enough to beat you with his legs without the threat of passing.

That's a good way to put it. 
The thought of him playing in today's offensive environment is the stuff of nightmares.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZFzdjjN5o

Oh my God, you guys are breaking my heart with this Vick love. Take 5 minutes and acquaint (or maybe reacquaint) yourself with a Mountaineer legend.

Pardon the production value. School produced highlight videos in the 80s?  Yeah, they weren’t great. Lol.

He was honestly Vick before Vick.  He wasn’t as fast as Vick but, IMO, he didn’t take a backseat to him in elusiveness, arm strength, or any other physical attribute besides straight line speed.

The NFL just wasn’t opening up their arms to QBs like him yet and I’m sure there were other reasons too.  I’ve heard he could have never fully digested a NFL playbook or been a guy who was going to win a chess match at the LOS. Vick and McNabb may have been better at that part of the game. Idk.

But physically he was gifted and an outstanding college QB.  I’ll admit I bristle a little when I hear Vick being the first of his kind.  WVU fans described him as a left handed Major when he came along.

Wisconsin hasn't won any national championships in football, so I'll stick to non-conference champions.

The 2005 Badger team that beat Auburn in the Capital One Bowl. The Badgers had a shot at winning the conference title, but consecutive losses against two very good teams, at Penn State and against Iowa, at the end of the season ended that dream (Penn State played in the Rose Bowl; Iowa beat Florida in the Outback). That left the Badgers deep underdogs to Auburn, a team that itself just missed the SEC championship game after an OT loss to a very good LSU team (which lost the SEC championship game and crushed #9 Miami in the Peach Bowl).

This was John Stocco's junior year and Brian Calhoun's only season for the Badgers. Joe Thomas was a junior, and Owen Daniels was a senior. Calhoun was as exciting a Badger to watch as any I can remember--not the best, but fun to watch.

This was Alvarez's last team, and Paul Chryst was the OC. This was at the peak of the "the Big Ten can't hang with SEC speed" years, and Wisconsin was given "no chance" against the mighty Auburn Tigers.

There were no unforgivable losses on the season (though the 51-48 loss at Northwestern was tough to take), and the Badgers won one of the more memorable games against Minnesota, with Jonathan Casillas blocking a punt then recovering it in the end zone for a last-minute win (same day as the Bush-Push and Michigan's last-second win over Penn State: http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/110482/why-oct-15-2005-was-the-wildest-day-in-college-football-this-century).

Then there was the upset win over Auburn. It wasn't a blowout, but it was decisive, with John Stocco taking a knee in the red zone for the 14-point win. What I remember most about it was Chryst's inside screens to tight ends and wide receivers (Daniels and Orr) for big chunks of yards.

It was also the first Wisconsin win over an SEC team in a bowl game (and the Badgers lost to Georgia to end 2004 and Auburn to end 2003; the Badgers were 0-4 against the SEC in bowl games; they are 3-2 since).