When members of Virginia's 1995 football team assemble at midfield tonight, nobody should expect perfect attendance.

Seven members of that team play for NFL teams that will have games on Sunday. Two other prominent players, quarterback Mike Groh and linebacker Anthony Poindexter, are on the UVa coaching staff and may have other responsibilities at halftime.

The 1995 team, arguably the best in school history, will be honored at least partly for its ACC co-championship -- the second of two shared ACC football titles -- but nobody should have to wonder about the timing.

Florida State is in town and ceremonies will coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the 1995 game between the teams, won by the Cavaliers 33-28 as the Seminoles lost to an ACC team for the first time since joining the league in 1992.

Groh passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns, Poindexter was involved in a game-saving stop on the final play and current New York Giants running back Tiki Barber rushed for a career-high 193 yards, but there were some memorable performances by some less-memorable players, guys like Bryan Owen.

Owen, a walk-on who originally joined the program as a place-kicking candidate, led UVa in receptions that night.

"No way!" George Welsh, the Cavaliers' head coach from 1982-2000, said Friday.

Welsh said he would have thought Demetrius "Pete" Allen led the team in receiving that night. Allen had four catches for 109 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown reception.

Owen had five receptions for 72 yards and also had a 13-yard return on a punt blocked by James "Pottsy" Farrior, now a Pro Bowl linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"I remember that I totally missed my assignment," said Owen, who had played soccer and not football at Cedar Cliff High in Camp Hill, Pa. "I was supposed to block my man and run downfield with him, but I saw that Pottsy was probably going to block the punt, so I didn't follow my guy.

"Fortunately, he did block it and all I could think of was, I didn't want to fumble."

He doesn't remember all of his receptions, "but, the first one, I do," said Owen, who has three UVa degrees and works in Web design and development in Falls Church. "It was our first offensive play of the game. I was in the slot and came across and they just didn't cover me at all."

Owen went on to enjoy a nice career, starting for 1¹₂ seasons and catching 43 passes, but nothing like the 15 or so teammates who went on to play in the NFL. One of them, wide receiver Patrick Jeffers, missed the 1995 Florida State game with an injury, giving Owen his big opportunity.

One of Owen's roommates was Walt Derey, a tight end from Northside High School, who was a starter in the 1995 UVa-FSU game.

"I think I had one pass attempt come my way," said Derey, a Roanoke contractor. "The thing I remember most was the atmosphere -- during the game and all day leading up to the game. I've never seen Scott Stadium so electric."

Derey is a UVa season ticket-holder and has seats and parking places next to former teammates Doug Karczewski and Matt Link. He corresponds via e-mail with Owen. Owen corresponds with Rafael Garcia, who will be returning from his native Spain for the occasion.

On a night when Florida State's Scott Bentley did not attempt a field goal, Garcia was 4-for-4.

Welsh said he reached into the vault and watched a film of the game not long after his retirement in 2000, but he has never seen the abbreviated version that regularly airs on ESPN Classic.

"They tell me it's one of the most-watched games they've got," he said.

That's no surprise, given the non-stop action on a night when Florida State had an almost unheard-of 92 plays and Virginia had 86.

Despite giving up 547 yards, Virginia had no shortage of defensive standouts, including safety Percy Ellsworth, who had two interceptions; cornerback Ronde Barber, with three passes broken up; tackle Antonio Dingle, who had two sacks; and Poindexter, later a safety, who had a team-high 11 tackles.

Nobody could top Farrior's numbers: 10 tackles, a sack, an interception and a blocked punt.

"Not a bad night!" Welsh marvelled.

A talented Florida State roster featured tailback Warrick Dunn, but the Seminoles were no more talented than Virginia, which had three future NFL players on the bench -- defensive end Patrick Kerney and linebacker Wali Rainer, both of whom played, and quarterback Aaron Brooks.

Current NFL players who started for Virginia that day were Tiki and Ronde Barber, Farrior and fellow linebacker Jamie Sharper.

All of those players came back in 1996, when some people felt the Cavaliers were even more talented, but they struggled to replace Groh at quarterback and finished 7-5.

For all of its accomplishments, the 1995 team was 9-4, including a pair of one-point road losses and a 36-29 home loss to Virginia Tech, which overcame a two-touchdown deficit in the final quarter.

"We should have won two more games," Welsh said. "If we'd coached them a little smarter, we could have won a couple of those, but it was just a really special team in a lot of ways."

1. Mount a pass rush. Inside linebacker Kai Parham has more sacks after five games (six) than the rest of the team combined (four). If the Cavaliers don't put any pressure on QB Drew Weatherford, the secondary can't hold up in coverage.

2. Get production out of its backs. Wake Forest showed last week that FSU is somewhat vulnerable to the run, but some running backs get more yards in a game than Virginia's featured tailback, Wali Lundy, has for the season (105).

3. Win the field-position battle. This comes down to special teams. Five of Chris Gould's 20 punts have been downed inside the 20-yard line, three inside the 10 and two inside the five. UVa hasn't blocked a kick all season; tonight would be a good time to start.