| Historical Stats & Info |
| "It is the most important victory of my career." -- Head Coach Dick Voris, after the Hoos’ 15-12 victory over Duke on September 27, 1958. Voris finished his UVA career with a record of 1-29. |
| "We've stopped recruiting young men who want to come here to be students first and athletes second." -- Former Virginia head coach Sonny Randle, describing his strategy for turning around UVA's football program |
| "As the score mounted, to 20-0 and finally 26-0, his movements slowed. With two minutes to go and South Carolina threatening once more, Voris stood behind several rows of substitutes, staring at his shoes." -- Sports Illustrated, describing Coach Voris’ stellar coaching performance during the Hoos’ 26-0 loss to South Carolina in 1960 |
| "Really, Texas wasn't as good as I thought they'd be." -- Ted Manly, Virginia's freshman quarterback, after Texas had spanked the Hoos 68-0 |
| UVA Football's Top 20 Stomach Punch Games (1989-2008) |
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| Awhile back I asked my friend Steve, a buddy of mine from college, if he'd be interested in putting together a list of the 20 most deflating losses in the history of UVA football for me to include on my website. In my mind, Steve was the perfect guy for this - not only is he one of the most diehard Hoos fans I know, he also has Rain Man-like recall skills when it comes to UVA football. Fortunately, Steve was willing to overlook some minor details - such as the fact that I couldn't pay him anything and that my site draws about six visitors per day - that may have led others to decline my offer. Below is the first installment in what will be a continuing series. Big ups to my boy Steve - the thoroughness and level of detail go far, far beyond what I expected. I was so jacked after reading this that I started doing the Sam Cassell testicle dance in my office. |
| www.hoosfootball.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Virginia. |
| All photographs on this site are the property of the respective copyright owners. They are presented here solely for educational and/or editorial purposes and may not be reproduced for any other purpose. |
| Copyright © 2008 www.hoosfootball.com All Rights Reserved |
| Over the last 20 years, rooting for UVA football has been a fun, exciting and ultimately fulfilling pursuit that has brought joy to Wahoo fans across the nation. Two ACC co-championships, numerous bowl games, All-American superstars and future NFL standouts have helped UVA build its program, enhance its stadium, and increase expectations for greater success now and in the future. However, during this period of sustained success, UVA football regularly bludgeoned its fans to death by finding incredibly inventive ways to lose. Blown leads, missed opportunities, and unfathomable upsets have become ingrained into the UVA fan's psyche, and, quite likely, taken years off of innocent people's lives. If it wasn't so maddening, it would be almost, well, charming. We're like Cubs fans with bow ties and nice flasks. As a cathartic and sometimes painfully comical exercise for all Wahoo fans, I've put together a comprehensive list of the Top 20 Stomach Punch Games (SPGs for short) of the Past 20 Years of UVA Football. It's a veritable horror show of game-changing turnovers, untimely penalties, and incomprehensible mental errors, but presented with sincere love and affection (despite the irrevocable damage it's done to me, my family, and my extended Wahoo brethren). Please consider this not only a therapeutic exercise for UVA fans, but also an educational opportunity for college football fans in general. So when some assclown Iowa Hawkeye or South Carolina Gamecock fan tries to tell you they're the most tortured program in the country, just point them to this list. After reading through it, chances are that they will simply nod knowingly and buy you drinks for the rest of the night. Rather than simply coming up with an arbitrary ranking of the top 20, I developed specific criteria to help determine which games ultimately delivered the most mental anguish to Wahoo nation. Games were given a score of 0-10 in each of the following categories, with a maximum overall score of 60. |
Size of Lead Lost – The vast majority of the Top 20 SPGs involved games where
Virginia played great for some portion of the game. Points were assigned in this
category based on the size of the lead that was lost during the game, with
special consideration for leads that were lost late and/or in spectacular fashion.
Games in which we had our doors blown off by the likes of FSU were generally
not considered SPGs.
Level of Choke – This is obviously a subjective measure that describes UVA's
level of play as the momentum turned in the game. This ranking considers
factors such as bad overall play, egregious gaffes or boners, poor coaching or
game-planning, and playing down to the level of competition. Lots of material
here.
Singular Moment – Games where a single play significantly altered the outcome
are usually remembered more poignantly than others. These watershed
moments live in the hearts and minds of UVA fans for eternity. Kind of like the
repressed memories of the time your creepy Uncle Frank got drunk at
Thanksgiving dinner and put his balls in the mashed potatoes.
Painful Finish – No SPG would be truly complete without the climactic finality of a
gut wrenching finish. Anyone who secretly wished Scott Sisson would get hit by
a bus knows what I'm talking about.
Season Killer – Blowing big leads during down years of low expectations
generally did not make the list. SPGs should have major implications for the
season, allowing UVA fans to speculate about the great bowls and top-10
finishes we would have had if we could have just kept our freaking composure.
(This type of speculation knows no bounds. Our good friend Sgt. Party has spent
the last 14 years insisting that UVA should have won the national championship
in 1995.)
Long-Term Implications – It probably goes without saying, but some games were
unique opportunities to raise the overall level of the program either within the
ACC or nationally. Many SPGs were games where we fumbled or punted that
opportunity away in the most egregious manner imaginable.
Virginia played great for some portion of the game. Points were assigned in this
category based on the size of the lead that was lost during the game, with
special consideration for leads that were lost late and/or in spectacular fashion.
Games in which we had our doors blown off by the likes of FSU were generally
not considered SPGs.
Level of Choke – This is obviously a subjective measure that describes UVA's
level of play as the momentum turned in the game. This ranking considers
factors such as bad overall play, egregious gaffes or boners, poor coaching or
game-planning, and playing down to the level of competition. Lots of material
here.
Singular Moment – Games where a single play significantly altered the outcome
are usually remembered more poignantly than others. These watershed
moments live in the hearts and minds of UVA fans for eternity. Kind of like the
repressed memories of the time your creepy Uncle Frank got drunk at
Thanksgiving dinner and put his balls in the mashed potatoes.
Painful Finish – No SPG would be truly complete without the climactic finality of a
gut wrenching finish. Anyone who secretly wished Scott Sisson would get hit by
a bus knows what I'm talking about.
Season Killer – Blowing big leads during down years of low expectations
generally did not make the list. SPGs should have major implications for the
season, allowing UVA fans to speculate about the great bowls and top-10
finishes we would have had if we could have just kept our freaking composure.
(This type of speculation knows no bounds. Our good friend Sgt. Party has spent
the last 14 years insisting that UVA should have won the national championship
in 1995.)
Long-Term Implications – It probably goes without saying, but some games were
unique opportunities to raise the overall level of the program either within the
ACC or nationally. Many SPGs were games where we fumbled or punted that
opportunity away in the most egregious manner imaginable.
Alright, now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let's start counting them
down, Seacrest-style.
down, Seacrest-style.
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