Upon entering the ACC in 1992, Florida State dominated the conference. The Seminoles won the conference in each of their first nine seasons in the ACC and won their first 29 ACC games, but all streaks have to come to an end. For FSU’s ACC winning streak, that came on a Thursday night in Charlottesville as Virginia stunned the Seminoles, 33-28.
“It was a heartbreaking loss,” said then Florida State senior center and 1995 Consensus All-American Clay Shiver. “It was a Thursday night game away. They kind of were a lay in waiting up there.”
Florida State was ranked second in the country when it paid a visit to No. 24 Virginia on November 2nd, 1995. The Seminoles led 14-7 after a quarter thanks to a pair of Danny Kanell touchdown passes — one to Phillip Riley and another to running back Warrick Dunn.
Virginia however, would answer with 17 unanswered points and would never trail again. Quarterback Mike Groh’s 1-yard touchdown pass to running back Tiki Barber, who rushed for 193 yards against the vaunted FSU defense that night, tied the game. Raphael Garcia’s first of four field goals following a blocked punt put the Cavaliers up 17-14 with 11:16 to play in the first half.
Kanell marched the Seminoles deep into Virginia territory on the ensuing drive, but was intercepted inside the Cavaliers’ 10. Groh gave Virginia a 10-point lead by hooking up with Demetrius Allen for a 72-yard touchdown plays later.
FSU answered when Kanell found receiver E.G. Green from 38 yards out with just over two minutes to play in the first half, but the game’s next three scores would be Garcia field goals. His fourth make of the night gave Virginia a 33-21 lead with under seven minutes to go in the game, but the Seminoles needed just 43 seconds to respond as Dunn’s second touchdown of the night and first on the ground made it 33-28.
Florida State marched deep into Virginia territory on its next possession, but Kanell was intercepted for a third time. The Seminole defense however, would come through and Florida State would get the ball back with 1:37 to play.
Again, the Seminoles marched, but again FSU came up short of the end zone. With six seconds to play and the ball at the Virginia 6-yard-line, Dunn took a direct snap and stumbled toward the goal line, coming up just short. Virginia had defeated the Seminoles and fans stormed the field.
Kanell passed for 454 yards for the Seminoles, but the three interceptions proved too much to overcome. In addition to Barber’s big rushing night, Groh passed for 302 yards and a pair of scores.
“It was a convergence of things that shouldn’t have gone wrong that did go wrong,” said Shiver about the night 20 years ago. “Still, the last play on the direct snap to Warrick Dunn, we were inches away from scoring and you think ‘maybe if I had pushed my guy a little more’. You think back on those things and you say ‘wow, we could have been undefeated for our four years in the ACC’.”
Fortunately for Florida State, the Seminoles were able to rebound to win the ACC and defeat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. FSU finished ranked fourth in the AP Poll, but the stunning loss in Charlottesville 20 years ago is one neither fans of the Seminoles or Cavaliers will soon forget.
Featured image courtesy of Florida State athletics
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