Sometimes, things are just meant to be.
That would perfectly describe the scene of Scott Stadium on October 15, 2005.
The Cavaliers had dropped their past two games on the road and were
taking on an undefeated Florida State Seminoles team that had climbed
all the way to No. 4 in the country.
The Seminoles had embarrassed the Cavaliers the previous season 36-3
when both teams were ranked in the top 10 and still featured an
explosive offense led by Drew Weatherford.
Yet, none of that seemed to matter. No one cared about 2005; the
only year that mattered to the Cavalier fans that brisk night in
Charlottesville, Virginia was 1995. For Virginia was celebrating
the ten year anniversary of possibly the biggest win in school history,
a 33-28 victory over FSU. It turned out to be a celebration that
would last all night long.
Mike Groh was the quarterback that night when Virginia pulled off the
monumental victory. In 2005, he was the quarterbacks coach for
his father head coach Al Groh. Clearly if Mike Groh had the secret to
beating the Seminoles, he must have told Virginia’s current QB Marques
Hagans right before the game because what ensued was something none of
the 63,106 people in attendance would ever forget.
Hagans simply could not be stopped, whether it was his feet or his arm,
he made the FSU defense look like the pee wee league. Marcus
Hamilton started the night off on the right note by picking off a pass
by Weatherford near the fifteen-yard line. This allowed Hagans to
start a magical performance. On 3rd and 16, Hagans was able to
scramble to his right and found Emmanuel Byers for a huge play to put
them in scoring position. On the following play, Hagans escaped
from the pocket and found tight end John Stupar who tiptoed inbounds
for the touchdown and the lead.
The joyous crowd soon was silenced however, when a toss sweep to
Lorenzo Booker resulted in a lengthy FSU touchdown to tie. The
Seminoles speed was clear from the start. If Virginia were to
stay in the game, they would have to use every ounce of talent they had.
Virginia and FSU exchanged field goals to deadlock the game at
10-10. Then with Virginia just inside Seminole territory, Hagans
escaped the pocket again and floated a ball perfectly between two
defenders that wide receiver Deyon Williams was somehow able to come
down with. This led to another field goal and put Virginia back
up. An interception by Chris Gorham would lead to another field
goal but Virginia fans still worried. Everyone knew FSU would
eventually make a run; they simply had too much talent. The
Cavaliers needed to make a statement going into the half and that is
exactly what happened.
On third down inside their own 10, Weatherford was sacked by Virginia
linebacker Kai Parham setting Virginia up with a short field in the
final minutes of the first half. Hagans was able to find Williams
downfield for a 30 yard gain and put Virginia in the red zone.
Then on third down from the 20, Hagans once again escaped pressure to
find running back Wali Lundy. Lundy escaped a defender and curled
into the end zone for a desperately needed touchdown. Scott
Stadium erupted as Virginia went to the half with a 23-10 lead.
“I think maybe that took a little bit of wind out of them,” Lundy would say after the game.
Virginia was able to knock another field goal to extend their lead to
16, but the rest of the second half would turn out to be a
nail-biter. The Seminoles regained their composure and battled
back. In the fourth quarter, Weatherford was able to find wide
receiver Davis who put on a shifty spin move and waltzed into the end
zone to cut the deficit to 26-18 with 12:30 remaining in the
game.
The Cavalier offense which had been so hot in the first half was ice
cold in the second half, unable to maintain ball control, Florida State
quickly marched down the field again. The Cavalier defense was
able to make a final stand on 3rd and 10 from the UVA 15, forcing the
Seminoles to kick. However, with the score 26-21 and 7:35 to play
it was clearly anybody’s game.
With momentum completely on the side of Florida State, Virginia
desperately needed to cut time off the clock. With 3:16 left,
Virginia faced a 3rd and 4 on their own 25. Hagans pass to
Williams was incomplete but the referees called pass interference and
fortunately gave the Cavaliers a reprieve. This allowed Virginia
to milk precious time off the clock, however, FSU stood firm and once
again forced the Cavaliers to punt.
Florida State had been in this exact same scenario ten years before,
Danny Kannell and Warrick Dunn were the offensive weapons at the time
and they were able to march their team all the way to the one-yard
line. Virginia would not face an equally terrifying proposition
this time however, because Tony Franklin claimed the third and most
important interception of the game with only 50 seconds remaining in
the game. With no timeouts, Virginia had insured its biggest win
in the past ten years. The field was flooded by fans and the
Cavaliers partied like it was 1995.
FSU coach Bobby Bowden has seen amazing quarterbacks during his
time. He saw Michael Vick first hand at the Sugar Bowl.
However, he seemed lost for words at the end of this game.
“I've never seen a quarterback make as many one-man plays as he made tonight,” Bowden said. “We couldn’t stop him.”
Hagans finished the game 27 of 36 for 306 yards. Weatherford was
35 of 59 for 377 yards, but it will be his three interceptions everyone
remembers. Though Virginia would not consistently show this kind
of determination and talent the remainder of the season, this game
proved critical to getting Virginia in a bowl game. There the
Cavaliers were able to defeat Minnesota and help send Hagans off on a
positive note. While Hagans may have been forced to wait two
years to be a quarterback at Virginia, while his size may limit his
opportunities in the NFL, he will always have this game. He can
always say he put forth one of the greatest performances by a
quarterback in Virginia history. Let’s just hope we all get to be
in the crowd in 2015.
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