Everyone who knew anything about college football said the same thing in 85.
The 1985 Hurricanes weren't a semi-pro team. The 01 Hurricanes were.
The 85 Canes had 2 players make all-america teams.
The 01 Canes had 5. 6 if you count the kicker but whatever.
The 85 Canes had 4 players drafted in the 86 NFL draft, 8 in the 87 draft and 10 in the 88 draft, so 22 total.
01 Canes had 11 in 02 draft, 8 in the 03 draft and 9 in the 04 draft for a total of 28.
Also worth noting that the 80s drafts had 12 rounds(333-335(two years had 333, one had 335) total picks) as opposed to 7 for the 00s drafts(255 total picks).
And of those picks, 8 of the 28 total went on to make at least a pro bowl from the 01 squad.
3 of the 22 from the 85 squad went on to be pro bowlers.
The 01 Hurricanes squad has produced 2 will be HoFers(Andre Johnson, Ed Reed). A 3rd that might be a HoFer(Vince Wilfork, but with him being a nose tackle it's iffy) and a 4th that was well on track to becoming one if he hadn't been murdered in Sean Taylor.
Of the 85 squad, only Michael Irvin is a HoFer.
So in every category, all-americans, total draft picks, picks that went on to successful NFL careers, and picks that went on to be HoFers, the 01 squad wins.
And if anything the 4 being drafted in 86 indicates that most of the 85 team's stars/best players were younger. Probably not a coincidence that he 86(11-1, lost the defacto National Title game to Penn STate, 14-0) and 87 team(12-0 national champions) were both better squads than the 85 squad.
85 Canes were "just" a really good football team.
01 Canes might be the greatest college football team of all time.