Louisville vs. Virginia Game Series History

Mark BlankenbakerSeptember 8, 2014

The Cards and Cavs are cross-divisional ‘rivals’ as Louisville steps into Maryland’s place in the ACC Atlantic Division who would play UVA each year prior to the Terps departure to the Big Ten. Now Louisville will get Virginia home & away every year. The two programs have met just twice: A Cards win in 1988 30-28 at Cardinal Stadium; and a Cavs win the following year 16-15 at Scott Stadium.

In 1988, now Washington Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden & Deon Booker led the Cards back from a two TD deficit to win by two in front of a home crowd of 30,142. Booker rushed for 110 yards in the game, the 5th consecutive (school record) 100-yard performance by Booker. Howard Schnellenberger’s 1988 team finished 8-3 but was denied a bowl bid.

33,400 at Scott Stadium witnessed Virginia kicker Jake McInerney hit a 37-yard FG as time expired to break the hearts of the Louisville Cardinals. Browning Nagle and Carwell Gardner really couldn’t get going against the “Hoos” as the Cards were limited to just 253 yards of offense. Eventual ACC Player of the Year Shawn Moore led the final drive setting up the final FG accounting for 55 of 60 yards. 1989 was UVA’s 1st 10-win season in program history and won the ACC Championship.

Why The Virginia Cavaliers Are Called the “Hoos”

Short for Wahoos, the University of Virginia’s school yell is “wa-hoo-wa” and was adapted from a Dartmouth College Indiana Yell in 1888. Students & Alumni tout the Wahoo slogan on the basis that the fish that shares the same name has the ability to drink up to twice its body weight daily.

But the origin may also date back to a baseball article written by the Washington & Lee student paper in the 1890s (a hotly contested rivalry at the time) describing UVA students & fans as “a bunch of rowdy Wahoos”. Now the term has been shortened to just “Hoos’ but both variations are extremely common among Virginia culture and vernacular.

Scott Stadium

Virginia’s Scott Stadium (Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium) holds 61,500 after an expansion to begin the 2000 season was completed was originally constructed in 1931 to hold 22,000. It is a grass surface and a long tradition of a mounted Cavalier riding into the stadium with the football team occurs prior to every UVA Football game.

Scott Stadium features a pergola in the north endzone at the top of a grass hill seating area, the stadium’s signature. Virginia is 247-180-12 all time in this facility.