No. 49 | |||
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Position: | Tight end | ||
Personal information | |||
Born: | Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | May 1, 1968||
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||
Weight: | 229 lb (104 kg) | ||
Career information | |||
High school: | Loyola (Towson, Maryland) | ||
College: | Virginia | ||
NFL draft: | 1991 / round: 9 / pick: 238 (By the Pittsburgh Steelers) | ||
Career history | |||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
Career NFL statistics | |||
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Player stats at PFR |
Joseph Bruce McGonnigal (born May 1, 1968) is a former American football tight end on the University of Virginia football team, and was a starter at the position in 1989 and 1990. In 1989, he set an ACC record for receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, with 634. [1]
McGonnigal played high school football at Loyola High School where he helped the Dons end a long losing streak to archrival Calvert Hall in the annual Turkey Bowl game his senior year. MCGonnigal graduated in 1986.
McGonnigal has become an integral part of football folklore at the University of Virginia, where many fans tell varying accounts of how McGonnigal was injured while searching for his girlfriend's dog, some time prior to the game against Georgia Tech in 1990. McGonnigal ruptured his spleen and received a concussion from the fall incurred during the nighttime search. The spleen injury sidelined him for the rest of the 1990 season. At the time of the accident, the Virginia Cavaliers football team was ranked #1 in both major polls. Without McGonnigal, the Cavaliers fell to eventual NCAA champion Georgia Tech, 41–38. Late in the game, with the Cavaliers trailing 38–35, quarterback Shawn Moore threw what would've been a go-ahead touchdown pass to new starting tight end Aaron Mundy; however, the play was overturned because a back-up tight end had not come onto the field causing there a penalty for too few players on the line of scrimmage. Coach George Welsh then elected to kick a tying field goal, but the Yellow Jackets then drove for the winning field goal. Many University of Virginia football fans speculate that had McGonnigal never been injured, the Virginia Cavaliers might have gone on to win at least a share of the NCAA national championship. [2]
McGonnigal was drafted in 1991 by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the ninth round, but ended up with the Cleveland Browns, where he saw little playing time and closed out his brief NFL career. [3] [4]
McGonnigal took up a career in political campaign management after leaving the NFL. [5]
Scott Stadium, in full The Carl Smith Center, home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium, is a stadium located in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits on the University of Virginia's Grounds, east of Hereford College and first-year dorms on Alderman Road but west of Brown College and the Lawn. Constructed in 1931, it is the oldest active FBS football stadium in Virginia.
Albert Michael Groh II is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Wake Forest University from 1981 to 1986 and at the University of Virginia from 2001 to 2009, compiling a career college football coaching record of 85–92. Groh was also the head coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) for one season, in 2000, tallying a mark of 9–7. He last coached as the defensive coordinator for Georgia Tech in 2012.
Earl Heath Miller Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons from 2005 to 2015. Miller played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the John Mackey Award. The Steelers selected him in the first round with the 30th overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft.
The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of collegiate football in the nation. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the five Power Five conferences in college football. The program began in 1926. Since then, it has since won five AP national championships in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001.
Fuad Reveiz is a Colombian American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the seventh round of the 1985 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins. He also played for the San Diego Chargers and the Minnesota Vikings. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 1994. He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1981 to 1984, and holds the school record for the longest field goal.
The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Buffaloes (11–1–1) took the AP poll while the Yellow Jackets (11–0–1) took the UPI Coaches poll by one vote over Colorado, 847 to 846. During the season Colorado had a particularly controversial victory over Missouri in what would later be known as the "Fifth Down Game". It was the only time in UPI Coaches poll history that a coach changed his vote against the pre-bowl #1 after that #1 team won their bowl game. Unlike several seasons to come in the 1990s, the two teams that became split national champions could have actually met in a 1 vs. 2 bowl game. Georgia Tech's ACC champion status did not preclude them from taking their #2 ranking to the Orange Bowl to face the automatic Big-8 champion in #1 Colorado for a decisive title game. But the Orange Bowl committee wanted Notre Dame instead of Georgia Tech as the Buffaloes' opponent, because Notre Dame had a larger fan base and would accrue more money and better TV ratings than the Yellow Jackets would have.
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Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall is an American football coach for the University of New Mexico (UNM) Lobos in Albuquerque. He previously coached at the University of Virginia. He stepped down after the 2021 season. Mendenhall joined Virginia in 2015 after spending the previous eleven seasons as the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU). He has a career record of 135 victories and 81 losses and has recorded fourteen postseason bowl game appearances with seven victories.
Shawn Levique Moore is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers and was recognized as a first-team All-American. He later returned to Virginia as an assistant coach under Mike London. Moore was named Director of Community Relations for the College Football Playoff in March 2014.
Matthew Brent Blundin is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played both college football and basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers. He was a backup in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions during the 1990s.
The 2001 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Miami Hurricanes' 76th season of football and 11th as a member of the Big East Conference. The Hurricanes were led by first-year head coach Larry Coker and played their home games at the Orange Bowl. They finished the season 12–0 overall and 7–0 in the Big East to finish as conference champion. They were invited to the Rose Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game, and defeated Nebraska, 37–14, to win the school's fifth national championship.
Sean Glennon is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Virginia Tech.
The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia (UVA) in the sport of American football. Established in 1887, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the Academical Village. UVA played an outsized role in the shaping of the modern game's ethics and eligibility rules, as well as its safety rules after a Georgia fullback died fighting the tide of a lopsided Virginia victory in 1897.
Scott O'Neal Sisson is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New England Patriots (1993) and the Minnesota Vikings (1996). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, winning the 1990 national championship and earning first-team All-American honors in 1992. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 2003.
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The Maryland–Virginia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Maryland Terrapins and Virginia Cavaliers. The Terrapins and Cavaliers first met in 1919 and the series was played annually from 1957 through 2013, before Maryland left the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
The 1990 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cavaliers offense scored 464 points while the defense allowed 227 points. Led by head coach George Welsh, the Cavaliers competed in the Sugar Bowl, losing 23-22.
The 1990 Georgia Tech vs. Virginia football game is an American college football game played on November 3, 1990, between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Virginia Cavaliers. Georgia Tech won by a score of 41–38 over top-ranked Virginia. The game was decided by a 37-yard field goal by Scott Sisson with seven seconds remaining. Georgia Tech went on to claim the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship and a share of the national championship.
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