 The Cavaliers had finished 4th in the Atlantic Coast Conference after three losses by an average of 7 points and a late Virginia Tech (who had beaten Miami) loss knocked them out of the Top 25.This was Virginia's 2nd appearance and Miami's first in this bowl game, as Virginia had appeared in 1994.Despite outrushing the Hurricanes and having less penalties than them, Virginia was beset by injuries to quarterback Tim Sherman (who only went 3 of 10 for 27 yards before his arm injury) and tailback Tiki Barber (who had only 14 yards on 7 carries) early in the game.