THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280538
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHREVEPORT, LA. LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
By now, we should have a clear idea of just how good the Virginia football team that plays Texas Christian tonight in the Independence Bowl is.
We should, but we don't, and apparently not many Virginia fans do either.
The Cavaliers have won eight games, were ranked as high as 10th in one of the major polls, and may have come within a first down of being invited to a really big bowl game.
It sounds impressive, but I don't see many Virginia fans being excited about it.
In fact, I don't see many Virginia fans at all in this bowl city that is packed with TCU followers.
It doesn't seem to matter that Virginia may be on the brink of having perhaps its most successful season ever after not knowing at the outset if it would have even a winning record.
That was the fear expressed by coach George Welsh after he watched the Cavaliers get waxed by Florida State in the season opener.
``I don't know if we can have a winning record,'' Welsh whimpered on that humbling afternoon in Tallahassee.
Even now, Welsh seems amazed that the Cavaliers finished 8-3.
``We had to rebuild our offensive line, and we had to establish a running game,'' he reminds.
``I don't know if anyone on my staff believed we could win eight games when the season began.''
Certainly not many would have thought so if they knew returning quarterback Symmion Willis would not play up to expectations and fail to hold the starting job.
But while it may be clear in Welsh's mind, no one else seems to know for sure if the Cavaliers are overachievers or underachievers, very good or very mediocre.
Did they play over their heads in beating North Carolina and Virginia Tech, or did they play below their capabilities in losing to Duke and North Carolina State?
Should this Virginia team be playing Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, or does it deserve to be cast in this most remote corner on the major college bowl landscape?
The Cavaliers will look into the ESPN cameras tonight and give us the answers.
If the voters who have them 18th in the poll and the bettors who have them a 10-point favorite are right, the Cavaliers should not have a problem with the Horned Frogs from the nearly-extinct Southwest Conference.
But I suspect most Virginia fans do not think it will be easy.
That may be a reason a large majority of them chose to remain home to watch the game on their television sets instead of discovering Shreveport.
If the game starts going in the direction that Virginia's last four bowl games went, it will be easier to change channels than change cities.
Virginia lost those bowl games by a total of 62 points, and it hasn't had a postseason victory to celebrate since nudging Brigham Young in the 1987 All-American Bowl.
But maybe this year history won't repeat itself.
These Cavaliers can make their own history if they have one more surprise left in them.
No one should underestimate any Virginia team that beats Clemson, North Carolina and Virginia Tech in the same season either.
A victory over TCU would make these Cavaliers only the second Virginia team this century to win nine games in a season and probably give them the highest ranking in the final poll in school history.
It would let Virginia fans know how good this team really was too.
The only question then might be if they care. by CNB