For the past week, the Virginia football team has been preparing for its home showdown against No. 1 Florida State. And while the team has been practicing and perfecting its game, virtually every die-hard Cavalier fan has mentioned at least once, "We can beat the Seminoles. After all, we did it in 1995."
It's wonderful that the 1995 victory has given Virginia fans such a positive memory that still is talked about four years later.
Like most Virginia football fans, I have seen the pictures of students hanging from the goalposts in Scott Stadium many times and the pictures make me smile and proud to be a Cavalier.
I just question why that one victory in 1995 has given so many fans a reason to expect that Virginia will beat Florida State tomorrow in Scott Stadium.
My skepticism, however, does not mean that I think Virginia has no chance. More than anything, I would love to see the field rushed after a victory. But if that victory is to happen, it will happen based on this team in this year, and any events in the past really won't matter.
"That's so long ago," Cav quarterback Dan Ellis said about the 1995 game. "The whole 'we beat them once' line doesn't really mean anything anymore."
Indeed, if Virginia hadn't upset Florida State once before, most people wouldn't be expecting Virginia to upset the 'Noles tomorrow.
After all, do you really think every other ACC team looks at Florida State and says "Hey -- we can beat them because they lost to Virginia in 1995?"
It also seems a little inconsistent that while the 1995 game is clung to as inspiration, the last three games against the 'Noles, two of which resulted in 20-point losses, are just forgotten. I'm all for focusing on the positive, but this case of selective memory is a bit bizarre.
In discussing tomorrow's game, the focus needs to be on the two teams that are on the field -- the 1999 Cavalier and Seminole squads. But this doesn't mean the Cavs should roll over and play dead against Florida State.
"I'm not going to go out there like 'holy crap, it's Florida State,'" Ellis said. "They're fast and big and they can run. But they're human like us."
And that's even more reason why this game shouldn't be the complete focus of the Virginia football season. Yes, a win would prove the Cavs' talent and push them up in the rankings. It also would, as Ellis points out, put the entire season in a very positive light.
"We're probably like 25-point underdogs," Ellis said. "But we're looking at it like if we win, it will turn our season around."
If the Cavs come away with the victory, the game undoubtedly will have a greater effect than just this season, as was the case in 1995.
"Florida State was supposed to be so much above the Conference [in 1995], and they've proven to be above the rest of the Conference because they keep winning the ACC championship year after year," said Dwayne Stukes, a fourth-year cornerback who was dressed for the 1995 game. "For us to beat them -- that was the best moment I've had here."
With or without a win, the fond memory of 1995 still will exist for Stukes and Cav fans alike. But it's time to move out of the past and into the present and focus on the game at hand.
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