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He is the best player on the best team.

The controversial but talented Florida State receiver gave coach Bobby Bowden his long-awaited second national championship in Warrick's last college game. He had some help, but why deal with trivia? When Warrick gets going, cornerbacks get torched and sales clerks swoon.

Almost three months to the day after being arrested in the infamous Dillard's incident, Warrick once again became Peter the Great.

In a wild, wonderful, wacky Sugar Bowl, Warrick was the only constant in Florida State's 46-29 victory over Virginia Tech. The Sugar Bowl MVP caught six passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He added a punt return for a touchdown and a two-point conversion catch.

His 20 points were a Sugar Bowl record. His coach finished with his first spotless record. His police record now stands as a footnote to a great career that ended in the national spotlight, not in the men's department.

"I came back for my senior year for two reasons: to win the national championship and graduate," said Warrick, who has now accomplished both goals. "I didn't win the Heisman. I didn't win the Biletnikoff Award. I can't gripe about that. Those weren't my goals. My goals were to graduate and win the national championship.

"I've never been focused for a game like this in my life."

Plucky Virginia Tech (11-1) tried mixing coverages, tried blitzing, tried trash talking. But Warrick was always there with an answer. It was a Cinderella story, 21st century-style. Convicted thief turns into national championship hero in front of the largest Sugar Bowl crowd in Superdome history.

The only larger Superdome crowd jammed in to watch the Rolling Stones a few years ago. Instead it was Warrick who rocked, beating Michael Vick and the boys.

"It would have been hard to win tonight without Pete," Bowden said. "It was a team win. There was a lot of firepower. But he gave us a lot of bullets."

None of the projectiles were more deadly than the 43-yard pass quarterback Chris Weinke threw to Warrick with 7:42 left. Florida State had rallied back from a 29-28 deficit to take a 39-29 lead. Warrick called the offense together on the bench and said, "Y'all want me to finish 'em right here?"

"We had to make a decision whether we were going to try to win the game right there or sit on the ball," Bowden said. "So we called 'Peter Take Off.' Pete grabbed about four guys and said, 'Do ya'll want me to finish 'em right here?' "

On the first play after his speech, Warrick ran a streak pattern, leapt past a defender and made a bobbling catch to finish the Hokies. Babe Ruth was never that confident.

"When Pete gets in a groove he can't be stopped," teammate Ron Dugans said. "You can only try to contain him. He came to the side and said, 'Hey, you want me to score again?' It's hard to do. You don't know what defense you're going to face."

Warrick wouldn't be the first Seminole to, let's say, engage in a lively conversation on the field. In fact, the game started with Virginia Tech defensive end Corey Moore telling quarterback Chris Weinke what he was going to do to him.

Weinke then went out and completed 20 of 34 for 329 yards and 4 touchdowns in what looked like his last game. The junior will announce his NFL plans Friday, but they seem certain now that he has won a national championship and his favorite receiver is gone.

"The funny thing is, before the game I spent a lot of time with Pete talking with him about what this game means to both of us," Weinke said. "I said, 'They've done a lot of trash talking all week. When you're up there accepting that MVP award you let them know who can do the talking now.'

"He went out and delivered tonight. A lot of people watched Peter Warrick tonight. Now they know who the best player in the country is."

The victory became redemption -- for Warrick and Bowden. Warrick might have finally washed away the memory of Dillard's. Bowden can now quit answering questions about getting another ring and how he handled the Warrick situation.

"Character is never tested except through adversity," Bowden said. "His character would never be tested had he not done something like that. We don't recommend it but ..."

Warrick has been mostly contrite since Dillard's but couldn't resist one last tweak of the nose of Florida State president Sandy D'Alemberte Tuesday night. It was D'Alemberte that many accuse of slowing Warrick's return to the field after Warrick was suspended.

"See you later," Warrick told D'Alemberte according to one witness.

Prize performance: Peter Warrick and Bobby Bowden check out the national championship trophy.(AP)

Bowden, 70, joins his sons Terry and Tommy in finally nailing down an undefeated season. Those sons were among 35 Bowdens who came to see patriarchal history.

"That last one was a load off my shoulders," Bobby said. "Now the players have got a ring. I've got two."

And a memo to playoff supporters: Dispose of the rhetoric. The two teams combined for 10 touchdowns, a Sugar Bowl-record 75 points and 862 total yards. Virginia Tech scored the most points ever by a losing team in the Sugar.

It was great football but also draining. Any tongues that were wagging before the game were dragging by the end of it. Imagine what Tuesday would have been like if each team had played three games just to get to New Orleans.

"This bowl is a wonderful experience," Virginia Tech punter Jimmy Kibble said. "The hype, the atmosphere, it was everything we thought plus more."

Except victory in the biggest game of Virginia Tech's 106-year football history. This national championship should also be remembered for how close Virginia Tech came to stealing it. The Hokies fell behind 28-7 in the first half thanks in part to Weinke's 64-yard touchdown pass to Warrick and Warrick's 59-yard punt return for a score.

In fact, the Hokies gave up more points in the first 16½ minutes (21) than they had in any game all season. But they did rally, scoring 22 unanswered points to take a 29-28 lead with 2:13 left in the third quarter.

The Sugar Bowl, dominated by Hokie fans, was rocking, and Florida State could have easily folded. Vick was establishing himself as the 2000 Heisman frontrunner by running for 97 yards and passing for another 225.

"There isn't a darn thing you can do about Vick," Bowden said. "When we made some of our best defensive plays, he ran 50 yards for touchdowns. I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was that good."

But Vick showed just enough of his freshman-ness to doom the Hokies. He also fumbled two times, the last time with 12 minutes left in the game. The turnover led to a Sebastian Janikowski field goal that gave Florida State a 10-point lead.

Let the arguments start about team of the decade. Nebraska can provide a good argument. But Florida State won 108 games and two titles in the 1990s. Ironically, it nailed down the 1999 title by winning its first game of 2000.

Can it repeat? A flip of the calendar might not make much difference.

"There's something very exciting," Weinke said amid the celebration, "about going undefeated two years in a row."