Virginia Cavaliers football Hard Rock Stadium — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia Returns to Hard Rock Stadium for the Fifth Time Since 2017

The Cavaliers look to change their fortunes at a familiar venue in Miami on Thursday night

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Sep 30, 2021 2:27 PM EDT

On November 10th, 2007, the Miami Hurricanes bade farewell to the Orange Bowl, one of the most historic venues in all of college football. After seventy years of playing in the Orange Bowl for each of their home games, the Canes looked to take victory in one final game as they hosted the Virginia Cavaliers.

The Hoos had other plans.

UVA did not just upstage Miami. The Cavaliers completely ruined the celebration with a staggering 48-0 victory over the Hurricanes.

Jameel Sewell and Mikell Simpson each recorded two touchdowns and Chris Cook added a 44-yard fumble return for a touchdown with only minutes remaining in the game to make it the biggest shutout loss for Miami in the history of the Orange Bowl.

It was the first time that Miami had been shut out at home since 1974 and the largest margin of defeat Miami had suffered in any game since 1998.

The stadium was demolished in May 2008 and the Hurricanes moved their football program to what is now called Hard Rock Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, it seems that Miami has been getting payback on UVA ever since.

In seven games played against the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium, Virginia has won only one time (2011), with the Canes taking each of the last five games played at Miami.

To make matters worse, Virginia has had to play in Miami an unusual amount of times in recent years. The Hoos have played at Hard Rock Stadium five times since 2017. To begin with, Virginia played at Hard Rock twice in the 2019 season, having played the Hurricanes on the road in the regular season that year and then returning to Miami to play against the Florida Gators in the 2019 Orange Bowl. Both of those games resulted in eight-point losses for UVA (9-17 against Miami and 28-36 against Florida).

Normally, UVA and Miami alternate home and away games, as they had done every year from 2004 to 2019. In 2020, however, the Cavaliers got the unlucky draw of playing on the road at Miami for a second-consecutive season as a result of schedule adjustments due to Covid-19. With the scheduling back to normal in 2021, Virginia returns to Hard Rock Stadium to play Miami for a third-straight year.

Virginia at Hard Rock Stadium
Date	Result
November 18th, 2017	Virginia 28, Miami 44
October 11th, 2019	Virginia 9, Miami 17
December 30th, 2019	Virginia 28, Florida 36
October 24th, 2020	Virginia 14, Miami 19
September 30th, 2021	?