Scott Stadium



Scott Stadium (officially the Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium), located in Charlottesville, Virginia, 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 football stadium in Virginia.

Scott Stadium, with a capacity of 61,500, is the 27th largest university-owned college football stadium and is tied with Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, as the 69th largest stadium by capacity in America when including the 31 National Football League professional venues and college stadia not owned by any university, such as the Cotton Bowl and the Rose Bowl.

It also hosts other events, such as concerts for bands that can fill an entire stadium, such as the Dave Matthews Band in 2001, The Rolling Stones in 2005, and U2 in 2009. The Virginia High School League held its Group AAA Division 5 and 6 State Championship games at the stadium in 2007 and 2009. The facility has also hosted the Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1977 and 1982 and the ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament in 2008.

History
Built as a replacement for the old Lambeth Field or "Colonnades," Scott Stadium bears the name of donor and University Rector Frederic Scott, and held 25,000 spectators at opening. The stadium had a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and specifically Monticello Mountain out the south end of the stadium. An artificial turf system was installed in 1974, making it impossible a long tradition of a mounted Cavalier riding into the stadium with the football team. David A. Harrison III provided a gift allowing natural grass to be reinstalled in the stadium, and the Cavalier has ridden into Scott Stadium every game since 1995. Another unique feature of Scott Stadium is the Adventures of Cavman, which takes place a few minutes prior to kickoff, on the videoboard. In this computer generated skit, the mascot of the opposing team is causing trouble on the Grounds of UVA, and the Cavalier slays him, then rides to the stadium via the Grounds. After the skit is over, the live Cavalier rides onto the field accompanied by orange and blue fireworks.

1981
The first expansion to the stadium's capacity came in 1981, when upper decks and grass hill seating allowed 40,000 fans.

2000
Carl Smith's donations helped make the most recent contributions to Scott Stadium in 2000, filling in the upper deck and south end to allow 20,000 additional fans, and installing the pergola, state-of-the-art lighting and gigantic audio/visual tower known as "Hoo-Vision," as well as a new lighting system placed on towers with "V's" built in. The facility's official name is a result of this string of donations.

2009
Scott Stadium received a new scoreboard and a larger video screen, Hoo Vision.

Traditions and controversy
Traditionally, males wear coats and ties and females wear sundresses to games, which is also tradition at Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. Beginning during the 2003 season, however, head coach Al Groh called upon fans to set aside traditional attire for orange clothing. Over the following seasons, many fans took to wearing orange t-shirts with slogans like "Orange Crush," "Orange Fever", "Al's Idiots", and "Sea of Orange". See image above and notice the orange-colored student section, to the left of where the band was sitting.

The t-shirt movement has been welcomed by many, but ties and sundresses can still be easily spotted at Scott Stadium among students and alumni. Some have compromised by wearing ties with orange dress shirts or orange sundresses. The Cavalier Daily, the University's daily student-published newspaper, weighed in on the debate in its September 1, 2005, lead editorial. The Declaration, an alternative weekly news magazine at the University, also ran a feature story on the debate prior to the 2006 home opener.

The 2008 season marked the debut of the athletics department's "Power of Orange" marketing campaign. Nike released the official orange t-shirt, while orange towels bearing the logo were distributed to all fans at the home opener to achieve an "orange out". Famous alumni will be utilized at every home game to raise a large Power of Orange flag just before kickoff at the top of The Hill.

September 8, 1990: #14 Virginia 20, #9 Clemson 7
UVa entered this game with an 0-29 record against Clemson. The win was Virginia's first-ever victory over an opponent ranked in the top ten. Both goalposts came down when the fans stormed the field; the first actually fell with 48 seconds still on the clock. The win proved to be something of a watershed in UVA football history in that it set the stage for the 1990 squad to begin the season 7–0, rising to #1 in the polls for the first time. In addition, in contrast to Virginia's historical futility against Clemson prior to the 1990 game, as of 2009 UVA has beaten Clemson eight times (and tied once) since that 1990 win, although since 2004 the schools no longer play every year due to the Atlantic Coast Conference's expansion.

November 3, 1990: #16 Georgia Tech 41, #1 Virginia 38
The Yellow Jackets ended Virginia's three-week reign at #1 in the polls as they overcame a two-touchdown halftime deficit to win on Scott Sisson's 37-yard field goal with :07 left. Undefeated Georgia Tech would go on to win the rest of its games to take a share of the National Championship.

November 2, 1995: #24 Virginia 33, #2 Florida State 28
This nationally televised contest was the first Thursday night game played at Scott Stadium and marked Florida State's first loss in an ACC game (after winning its first 29). In arguably the greatest victory in Virginia football history, FSU running back Warrick Dunn was stopped inches from the south end zone goal line after taking a direct snap on the game's final play. Fans stormed the field and brought down both goalposts, a feat not since repeated at Scott Stadium.

November 16, 1996: Virginia 20, #6 North Carolina 17
With Mack Brown's squad poised to clinch a spot in the Bowl Alliance, UVA trailed North Carolina 17-3 in the 4th quarter and the Tar Heels were driving for the knockout blow when Antwan Harris picked off a 3rd down pass and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. Following quarterback Tim Sherman's touchdown scramble on the Hoos' next drive, kicker Rafael Garcia hit the game-winning 32-yard field goal with :39 left. In this installment of the South's Oldest Rivalry, Virginia extended North Carolina's winless drought in Scott Stadium to 15 years with the 20-17 upset.

October 15, 2005: Virginia 26, #4 Florida State 21
Ten seasons after the 33-28 milestone, Virginia's 1995 ACC Co-Championship squad was honored in a halftime ceremony. UVA went on to win in a 26–21 upset for its first victory over FSU since the 1995 game. Quarterback Marques Hagans threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns, and Connor Hughes kicked four field goals in the victory.

Following the game a large part of the crowd stormed the field, with some fans climbing the goalposts. The celebration was marred, however, by the fact that 12 people were injured in a nearly lethal stampede accompanying the rush to the field.