UVa honoring 1989 ACC title team

By Andy Bitter

Published: September 4, 2008

Virginia’s 1989 football team never garnered as much attention as the 1990 squad, so it figures that the school will celebrate the ’89 team’s ACC championship — UVa’s first ever — on the 19th anniversary instead of a nice round number, as is custom.
“Hey, at least they’re doing it,” said Shawn Moore, the quarterback of both those teams.
A group of players from the 1989 team and coach George Welsh will be recognized at Scott Stadium this Saturday when the Cavaliers host Richmond.
While the 1990 team gets more notice because it reached No. 1 in the polls for the first time and featured the most explosive offense in the country, the 1989 group has one thing its ’90 brethren do not — a championship ring.
The Cavaliers tied Duke for the first place in the ACC in 1989, ending Clemson’s three-year reign as champions.
“Great talent. Great leadership,” Welsh said. “On offense, the execution was unbelievable. And we had a pretty good defense, too. We did what we had to do.”
Said Moore: “That was a hell of a football team.”
The 1989 team was the first in Virginia history to:
w win an ACC championship.
w win 10 games (it remains the only team to do so).
w appear in a New Year’s Day bowl game (it lost 31-21 in the Florida Citrus Bowl to a Jeff George-led Illinois squad).
Virginia had four all-ACC first-teamers that year, led by outside linebacker Ray Savage and Moore, who set a UVa record for total offense with 2,583 yards and 27 touchdowns.
“I know of three (players) that I think were perfect college quarterbacks: Shawn Moore, John Hufnagel and Aaron Brooks,” Welsh said. “Because they could run, they could throw, they could break tackles, they had speed and they were very clever with the football.”
Six more players made second team, including tailback Marcus Wilson, who ran for 1,098 rushing yards, and wideout Herman Moore, who began to emerge as a force, with a team-best 848 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
The ’89 Cavaliers might be overlooked for a couple reasons. First, they got hammered in the Kickoff Classic by defending national champion Notre Dame, losing 36-13 in East Rutherford, N.J., to open the season.
“I thought, if you’re going to get in the big leagues, you’ve got to start playing those kind of games,” Welsh said.
Second, they lost to Clemson halfway through the season when Shawn Moore couldn’t play because of a shoulder injury suffered against William & Mary the previous week. That prevented an outright ACC title.
But there were plenty of highlights, like the 14-6 win at No. 12 Penn State the week after the Notre Dame loss that got the season back on track.
Virginia carried that momentum to the ACC portion of the schedule. It scored on seven straight possessions to clobber Duke and outspoken coach Steve Spurrier, and it crushed Maryland 48-21 in the regular season finale to clinch a share of the regular season title.
The current Cavaliers will wear retro uniforms against Richmond this Saturday to honor all of the Welsh teams from 1984-93, but it will be the ’89 squad that gets singled out.
Finally.
“It’ll be fun,” Welsh said. “It’s about time.”