Column: Wahoos looking to channel 1995 in FSU matchup

This season marks the 30th anniversary of the biggest win in UVa football history. And, as luck should have it, the Hoos get a chance to take on the same opponent, Florida State, in a primetime game this Friday night at Scott Stadium (7 p.m., ESPN.)

Virginia’s thrilling stop at the goal line in that 1995 game sealed a massive win over the then No. 2 Seminoles, who had yet to lose an ACC game in 29 contests since joining the conference at the beginning of the decade. 

That victory didn’t put UVa on the map, as the Cavaliers had been a good program in the years prior, but it’s a victory that’s still talked about today around college football and certainly within the fanbase. 

The opportunity this weekend isn’t quite that big, but perhaps a win over this Seminoles team, ranked No. 8 in the latest Associated Press Top 25, could reignite a UVa fanbase that still seems to be in “show me” mode. 

Much has changed since ’95

So many things have changed since that Thursday night game in Charlottesville. The Hoos and Seminoles are still conference rivals, but in a league that barely resembles the ACC of old. The conference just announced this week that the league will go to a nine-game schedule as it tries to navigate a 17-team mega-conference now seemingly relegated to the sport’s second tier. In the 90s the nine league members played each other annually with no championship game and were considered a top-tier conference. 

A lot has changed for the programs, too. Florida State remained a power through the 90s, closing the decade with a national title win over Virginia Tech. The Seminoles were a nationally relevant program into the next century, though their dominance in the ACC faded as the league expanded and eventually Clemson took the mantle. FSU won a title with Jimbo Fisher and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston in 2013, and Mike Norvell had the Noles in the mix a couple years ago before a devastating injury to starting quarterback Jordan Travis that kept them out of the four-team playoff. After a season-opening win against Alabama, the Seminoles have dreams of an appearance in the 12-team CFP. 

For Virginia, it hasn’t quite been three decades in the wilderness though it feels like that to some degree. George Welsh stuck it out with the Cavaliers for a few more years, and Al Groh had a competitive program for a while before a fall off at the end of his tenure lingered through most of the Mike London era. Bronco Mendenhall got the Hoos back in the postseason on a regular basis, and delivered the program a Coastal Division title in 2019, the same year they beat a then-struggling Florida State program at home early in that season. Mendenhall’s momentum seemed to peter out after the pandemic, and Tony Elliott’s program struggled both on the field and with an unprecedented tragedy early in his tenure. Now, the team faces a critical fourth season this fall that’s off to a solid start. 

Changes don’t end there

The fanbase has changed a lot, too. While the Scott Stadium expansion was initially successful and the Hoos routinely drew crowds over 60,000, attendance has waned little by little over the last two decades with a few exceptions here and there. That win over FSU in 1995 was played in front of a great crowd of 44,300 (though I’m sure about 80,000 people claimed to have been there in the years to follow), which will probably be similar to Friday’s attendance, with 15,000+ empty seats going unclaimed. Attendance and the overall importance of the program isn’t something unique to UVa by any means, and while there’s still hope that fans will start coming out in bigger numbers if the Hoos keep winning, we are in a different reality. 

The way Virginia builds its roster is so different, too. In watching the 1995 game on YouTube and seeing that Cavaliers’ starting lineup, there was an obvious local flavor, driven by successful local recruiting efforts and development of that talent year-over-year. 

In 2025, UVa’s roster was built largely on the fly via the transfer portal with 50+ new players on the roster and of course all of them eligible to profit from their talents through revenue sharing and NIL. The 1995 team that started against FSU featured 12 starters from the Commonwealth and five more from neighboring states and DC. This year, Cavalier fans are probably still trying to figure out who some of their key players are and where they came from. 

Some things remain the same

But while so much has changed since that famous game three decades ago, Friday’s matchup is still a massive opportunity for the Hoos. It’s still Florida State, and a good Seminoles team at that, ranked No. 8 and 3-0 on the season, looking primed to challenge for an ACC title. 

While a loss to UVa wouldn’t wreck FSU’s season, it could make Virginia’s. The Hoos dropped a heartbreaker at NC State three weeks ago and were a play or two away from coming into this one 4-0. 

A victory over FSU on Friday would help put that loss in the rear view and give the Cavaliers some viability heading into the back half of a schedule that still looks pretty manageable. Getting a win like this, on national television in a stand-alone broadcast, would be a nice boost as well. Virginia has played a fun brand of football this season with explosive plays both through the air and on the ground, with a dynamic return man in Cam Ross, and against Stanford the defense got in on the action too with five sacks and a takeaway. 

What better way to showcase the program’s improvement and create some excitement around the direction things are headed than a big upset win over a top-10 opponent and still an important college football brand?

It won’t be easy by any stretch, but Friday’s game is UVa’s best chance in years to make some noise with a significant win. 

If the Wahoos can pull it off, perhaps people will still be talking about this game and this season years into the future