1994 Independence Bowl

1994 Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl
Virginia Cavaliers TCU Horned Frogs (8–3) (7–4) ACC SWC 20 10 Head coach:  George Welsh Head coach:  Pat Sullivan AP Coaches BC 18 16 19
1 2 3 4 Total Virginia 0 10 10 0 20 TCU 0 3 0 7 10
Date	December 28, 1994
Season	1994
Stadium	Independence Stadium
Location	Shreveport, Louisiana
MVP	QB Mike Groh DE Mike Frederick
Referee	John Smith (Big East)
Attendance	36,192
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Sean McDonough Rick Walker Dan Debenham
Independence Bowl  ← 1993   1995 →

The 1994 Independence Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the Virginia Cavaliers.

Background

TCU were co-champions of the Southwest Conference with four other teams, due to Texas A&M being ineligible for the conference title due to sanctions. This was TCU's first conference championship in 35 years. This was also TCU's first bowl appearance in 10 years. Virginia was third in the Atlantic Coast Conference and in a bowl game for the second time in the calendar year of 1994. After a loss to #4 Florida State in their first game, they won six straight games, jumping up to #13 before losing to Duke. They went 2–1 after that, with a loss to NC State making them fall from #13 to #18.

Game summary

In a rain drenched mess laid the Frogs, who failed to win a bowl game once again, the fourth since 1959. The Frogs had a 411.6 yards per game offense, but on this day were limited to 191, as Virginia limited the junior tailback André Davis to 97 yards on 24 carries and made quarterback Max Knake (8 for 24 with 65 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 interception) ineffective. ^[1] The Cavaliers utilized the rushing attack of Charles Way and Kevin Brooks, who ran for 114 and 90 yards, respectively. Mike Groh went 14 for 23 with 2 interception and 1 touchdown. When asked what he would have done differently after the game, Knake responded "I'd probably stay out of the casinos before having to get up at 8:30 the next morning. . . . The truth of it is, I played terrible." ^{[2] [3]}

Aftermath

While TCU wouldn't make another bowl game under Sullivan, they would return to a bowl game four years later. Virginia would reach bowl games in five of Welsh's six final years, including a conference title in 1995.

Statistics

Statistics	TCU	Virginia
First Downs	11	20
Yards Rushing	126	237
Yards Passing	65	199
Total Yards	191	436
Punts-Average	8-37.3	4-38.5
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	1-0
Interceptions	2	1
Penalties-Yards	6-39	9-66

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
2. "Archives". Los Angeles Times . December 29, 1994.
3. "Cavs top Frogs, 20–10". The Shreveport Times. December 29, 1994. Retrieved February 6, 2024– via Newspapers.com.