Jefferson-Eppes Trophy
The Jefferson-Eppes Trophy is an American college football trophy given to the winner of irregularly played games between the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University and the Virginia Cavaliers of the University of Virginia. The trophy was created on the suggestion of former FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte, after Virginia became the first ACC program to defeat Florida State on November 2, 1995. To that point, the Seminoles had run up a perfect 29–0 record through their first 3½ years of Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Virginia Cavaliers
| |
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | October 31, 1992 Florida State 13, Virginia 3 |
| Latest meeting | September 14, 2019 Virginia 31, Florida State 24 |
| Next meeting | 2025 in Charlottesville, VA |
| Trophy | Jefferson-Eppes Trophy |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 19 |
| All-time series | Florida State leads, 14–4 |
| Longest win streak | Florida State, 9 (1996–2004) |
| Current win streak | Virginia, 1 (2019–present) |
Virginia and Florida State played each other yearly between 1992 and 2006, but the game never became a major rivalry (e.g., called "one of the lesser known rivalries in college football" by the Orlando Sentinel). The annual game was not preserved by the ACC when its divisional play began, and the Cavaliers and Seminoles began facing off much more rarely. In recent decades the games are sporadic but competitive: since 2005, Virginia is 3–2 against Florida State.
Virginia won the most recent trophy game in 2019, and currently possesses the Jefferson-Eppes Trophy in Charlottesville. Unless they meet in an ACC Championship Game, Florida State and Virginia will not match up on the gridiron again until 2025.