In honor of their recent basketball national championship, I decided to write about the 1990 Virginia Cavaliers.
Virginia never really had much in football and after the 1981 season, they hired George Welsh away from Navy to build a football program.
It wasn’t easy, but build a football program he did.
Welsh and his staff had their problems, but they recruited well and by 1989 they finished the season with a magnificent 10-3 record.
Optimism was high going into the 1990 season for Virginia.
And for good reason.
They had a lot of talent on offense and it all started at quarterback with Shawn Moore. Moore was in his third season as a starter going into his senior year. He’d played some as a freshman and then took over as the starter. As a dual-threat quarterback, Moore was one of the best around.
Running back Terry Kirby had been a major recruiting victory for the Cavaliers. Kirby was a Parade All American out of Tabb High School in York County, Virginia. He was so productive as a high
school football player that he still holds state rushing records in Virginia. The Cavs also signed teammate Chris Slade who was a consensus All American at Virginia in 1992 at defensive end.
Kirby had been a back up on the 1989 team, but everyone expected him to come into his own as the new starter in 1990.
Probably their best player was standout receiver Herman Moore from Danville, Virginia. Moore was a consensus All American in 1990 and the 10th player picked in the 1991 NFL Draft and he had a fabulous career with the Detroit Lions.
Tight end Bruce McGonnigal was also back after hauling in 42 receptions in 1989. But, up front, the standouts were offensive tackle Ray Roberts from Asheville, North Carolina, and center Trevor Ryals. Roberts was also a future 1st round pick and had a successful NFL career. Ryals was a highly recruited center from the famous Cincinnati Moeller High School who picked Virginia for academic reasons. How refreshing.
On offense, there weren’t a lot of better teams than the Virginia Cavaliers in 1990, but the polls only had them rated 15th to start the season.
The Cavaliers first game in 1990 came on my birthday, September 1st. On the road in Lawrence, Kansas against the Jayhawks. From everything I have seen about that game, it was hotter than a modern-day California wildfire that day in Kansas.
But, the heat didn’t hurt the Cavs and they scored 59 points against Kansas’ 10. Not a bad way to start a season and it did help Virginia in the polls a little dropping them to 14th.
When an opponent beats you 29 times in a row, and you finally beat them, that’s a pretty big deal.
Clemson had, indeed, beaten Virginia 29 times in succession. The Tigers were also ranked 9th. Not only did Virginia beat Clemson for the first time in forever, but it was also their first win over a top 10 team. The Cavalier’s big 20-7 win over the Tigers gained them more notice and they found themselves ranked 11th in the latest polls.
Navy in 1990 was not like the military academy football team we see today, so it was no surprise that Virginia crushed them, easily. But, maybe it was the way that they destroyed the confidence of the Navy players that was impressive.
Virginia rolled up over 650 yards of offense and quarterback Shawn Moore ran for 2 touchdowns and threw for 4 more in leading the Cavaliers to a 56-14 victory.
The voters in the AP poll moved the Cavs to number 10.
The Duke Blue Devils were next and it was just a massacre with Virginia blowing them out, 59-0.
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The Virginia Cavaliers were suddenly right in the mix with the polls placing them at 7th with soft William and Mary coming up next. Running back Terry Kirby ran wild with 188 yards and 4 touchdowns in leading the Cavs to another win, 63-35. But, the defense had some breakdowns and gave up a lot of points.
Things got really crazy across the nation the week that Virginia was beating William and Mary. Top-ranked Notre Dame lost to a terrible Stanford team at home while 2nd ranked Florida State lost to Miami. 4th ranked BYU also lost and to an unranked Oregon and the score wasn’t close.
Virginia suddenly found themselves ranked number 2 in the nation, but with plenty of football left to go.
The Michigan Wolverines ranked ahead of Virginia at number one for a solid week before they went down to unranked rival, Michigan State. The Spartans shocked the country and beat the Wolverines 28-27.
Virginia had just beaten North Carolina State, 31-0.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Lightning bolts must have hit together in the sky.
The Virginia Cavaliers were the number one ranked college football team in the country. This had never happened before in the history of college football.
Top-ranked Virginia moved ahead by blasting Wake Forest, 49-14. Then, the Cavs had a bye week to rest up for 16th ranked Georgia Tech.
Not only was this the top-ranked team in the country that the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech had to
play, but the also had to play them on the road.
For three incredible weeks, Virginia was the number one team in the nation. Numero uno. Top dog. The best.
But, that all came crashing down when Georgia Tech and their own talented team coached by Bobby Ross came into town and upset Virginia, 38-41.
Georgia Tech went on to split the national title with Colorado of the Big 8 Conference. Outside of a tie with Mack Brown coached North Carolina, Georgia Tech finished their season unbeaten.
Sadly, the same can’t be said about our Virginia Cavaliers.
They seemed to have recovered enough to beat a decent North Carolina in the following game. But, then, they lost every one of their remaining games.
Maryland beat them, 30-35. Then, rival Virginia Tech pasted them in their final season game, 13-38. In all fairness, Virginia quarterback Shawn Moore was injured and unable to play against the hated Hokies.
In spite of 3 season losses, the Sugar Bowl invited them to play 10th ranked Tennessee. The collapse continued with the Volunteers squeaking out a tight one, 22-23.
From number one in the country to an average 8-4 finish must have been hard for long-suffering Virginia fans.
But, hey, for three glorious weeks in 1990, the Virginia Cavaliers were number one in the nation in football.
Yes, the Virginia Cavaliers were number one for three glorious weeks.