When: Saturday, October 3rd, 12:00 PM
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, NC
TV: Raycom Sports
Records: UNC 3-1, 0-1 ACC; UVa 0-3, 0-0 ACC
Virginia has been awful on so many levels this season going back to a 12 point loss to Williams & Mary to lead off the season. It did not get any better versus TCU and at Southern Miss, the Cavaliers led by 17…twice but still lost the game. The only saving grace for UVa was they received a reprieve in the schedule via the bye week and spent two weeks trying to make adjustments. I have no idea if any of them will actually work but given UNC has lost 9 of 11 versus UVa, this game should not be taken lightly.
Last season in Charlottesville, UVa played well enough to keep the UNC offense in check then taking advantage of the infamous Tar Heel prevent late in the game to tie it up forcing OT where they won 16-13. Unfortunately there are no signs that the UNC offense will be much better this season which shifts the burden to the defense to keep UVA off the scoreboard and off the field. The latter is what went so terribly wrong at Georgia Tech and if I were a betting man I would take money on the defense not playing like that again. It was clear Butch Davis was most displeased with the performance of both units last season but more so with the defense for not getting key stops when needed. If the Heels do not come out and play inspired football after what the defensive debacle of last week, I can only painfully speculate over what might happen next.
I personally think the defense will bounce back nicely, helps to some extent by a bad UVa offense. The worry is the offense. With Dwight Jones back opposite Erik Highsmith, getting a passing game going should be fairly easy. The problem lies with the running game and offensive line. UNC needs a big game from someone in the backfield with improved play on the offensive line. Anything short of that against this version of UVa does not bode well for the rest of the season as the Heels face a tough set of defenses. Something along the lines of 100 yards or more from Shaun Draughan with a healthy dose of Ryan Houston running over people would work out immensely.
Despite the dangerous nature of a desperate UVa team, UNC should win this game and it should not be close. Anything else is simply going leave the Heels open to more questions about their toughness coming off a loss not to mention doubts galore.
UNC 35 UVa 10
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My dad and brother have been talking smack to me all week that this will be UVa’s first win. I would love nothing more than to see the Heels destroy my kin’s beloved team. Here’s to hoing the beating UVa will take is so bad that Al Groh has a box packed up with all of his stuff once the Wahoos get back to Charlottesville!
At the half, we have no points, and have shown no way of getting any. As things stand, we are going to get shut out by Virginia.
The only honest way to characterize this game is that we are being slightly outplayed by the Cavaliers.
And that tells you all you need to know about what this season is going to be: We are being outplayed by a team universally, and correctly, regarded as a bunch of losers.
Unfortunately, it’s not merely that we are being out-performed. We have no discernable spark or life.
The only way we win this game is with a turnover or turnovers. It’s not out of the question that we could luck out, as we did against UConn. But even if that happens, we’ve all seen enough to know what the real story is, and it’s appalling. A performance this weak calls into question the direction of the entire program.
They simply don’t seem to care.
Quinn, Shallock, and Houston, maybe, along with the kick coverage teams, are the only ones exhibiting any fortitude.
This is shameful, and I hope the boos are echoing today.
Playing poorly is no sin, but playing without effort and heart is another matter.
Draughn isn’t quick or fast enough to merit all his dancing and attempts to juke defenders. Hit the hole, dude.
they seriously look like they’re point shaving.
there’s no other explanation.
It’s time for Butch to go. You can’t get a team ready to beat up on an ACC bottom feeder? UNC is paying like crap, and all he does is sit there and clap. No fire, no emotion, and his coaching staff is terrible.
I’m glad UNC is paying millions of dollars for mediocrity by someone who’s supposed to be a great coach with all of this talent.
On a brighter note, basketball season starts soon. Maybe Roy can coach both teams.
The game isn’t over yet, at least not technically, but nothing more remains to be decided.
Today was the day that Dook gave the top-ten Hokies a better game than we gave (previously) winless Virginia. Does anything more need to be said?
It’s time to put away the losers’ cliches about how we should all take a deep breath and you can’t judge by a single game, etc. This game establishes us as the worst team in the ACC, probably by a wide margin.
THF noted recently that Butch Davis had a tough third year at Miami before the team turned the corner. That may well be true, but the more important question is: Where’s the evidence that WE’RE going to turn the corner? What talent do we have, or have coming in, that will make such a thing possible?
Answer: There is no evidence.
Maybe Butch Davis will prove me wrong by having a strong finish to the season, although I have no idea how that could happen. But if, as is far more likely, the team continues on its present disastrous trajectory, then Andy’s suggestion that it’s time for Butch to go will start to resonate with a whole lot of people.
JohnBrownsBooty –
In order to be suspected of point shaving, the game normally has to be close. So this one doesn’t qualify.
Point dumping, maybe.
Basketball Mode: Engage.
Seriously though, the writing was on the wall for this season when roughly half of our OL dropped off the planet. That’s our major problem right now; no push on the offensive line what-so-ever.
I don’t understand Andy in Omaha’s point about firing Butch Davis. If you want fire and emotion, go hire Chuck Amato or Dan Hawkins.
It’s Year 3 of the rebuilding phase. Setbacks, like today’s game, happen.
I just have no words for what I just saw. It says a lot that UNC got destroyed by a team that lost on its home field to a FCS school.
Butch better do something, and do it fast. It’s time to get past the excuse of “the offensive line is banged up” or “Pianalto’s hurt” or “we have no receivers.” Good coaching can nullify some issues, and right now, issues aren’t being nullified.
UNC has talent. Butch can recruit. But can Butch Davis and his staff coach? That remains to be seen.
“Butch can recruit. But can Butch Davis and his staff coach?”
ABCers have been saying this ever since he got to Chapel Hill. The current mood on the message boards is they are slightly unhappy with Butch Davis but want John Shoop gone by Monday morning as well as Yates and Draughan out of the starting lineup.
UNC has had about 5 decent seasons in the last 25 years.
Kenan is a great place to watch a game regardless of whether the Heels win or lose and it was a beautiful day today. I am sure that most of the Tar Heel fans had a great time, and that just about says it all for our football program. Fans at real football programs don’t enjoy the game unless they win.
If I had been at the game today, I guarantee you that I would have been having a great time, because I honestly don’t care all that much whether they win or not. Sure I root for them, but I care much more about Women’s Soccer than I do about Men’s Football.
I don’t think Butch is getting fired because I don’t think there is any pressure on him until he has at least five years in, and then UNC has to at least act as though they care whether he wins or not. It is impossible for football and basketball to be at equipoise at any school. It isn’t at Florida and it won’t be at UNC. Now the focus will be even more on Roy’s Boys and the new crop of players. I find that hard to be disappointed about.
I do agree that John Shoop needs to step it up. He has two weeks (Georgia Southern, bye week) to get the offense right before the schedule gets really hard. I don’t know if that means a Houston/Womble combo instead of Draughn/Houston, new QB, or tweaking the offense to incorporate more of a spread look but something does need to be done.
College football is tricky since there are so few quick fixes out there. Mack Brown had a terrible first four years in Chapel Hill as well. I’m not clamoring for anybody’s head just yet.
As much as I want the Heels to be good in football, I’m with william. My wife and I come to games because we enjoy it, not because I expect to see a winning team. We have a good time and always make a weekend out of it, and Chapel Hill is a great place to spend a weekend. However, when you see how well our basketball team and other teams do, and see the kind of $$ that is poured into the football program, it is easy to get frustrated.
Our biggest problem today was that our O-line looked like a they were high schoolers. Yates is not a very good QB, but he had no chance whatsoever. And it is hard for running backs to hit holes that don’t exist.
Today was a bad day for the powers that be to unveil the “New Kenan” stuff. Good luck selling $50,000 boxes with what we saw today.
It’s one thing to come to Chapel Hill to enjoy the weather on a beautiful sunny day in early October, and socializing with friends new and old. But it’s another to do this against the backdrop of a game that was less a contest than an embarrassment.
A school that has all the stuff that Carolina has going for it should expect to field a quality football team. But failing that, we should at least expect to field a competitive football team. The team we have is neither.
I confess that I don’t understand the notion of blase’ acceptance of defeat as just another one of those things. But even if I did, I wouldn’t accept the notion OF BEING HUMILIATED as just one of those things, and that’s what happened today.
I remember posting a couple of weeks ago about how horrible Maryland and UVa were. The whole ACC is just pathetic apparently.
so.
in the 5th game, in the 2nd series, Shoop REALLY opens things up with a run by a…wait for it…wide reciever.
that would be 5 games with the first two series in each game being run, run, pass for no first down.
i will say the same thing i said last saturday. big game, because all conference games are. AT HOME. these guys beat you last year. and to get the crowd fired up its run run pass. wow. that is some special stuff there, butch. way to get the crowd pumped. again.
and again, i GET that the O-line is basically 2nd string now from what we planned. i get it. i really do. but there are plays you can run to lessen the effect. to take some pressure off.
here’s a question. in the 2nd, its 3rd down, and Yates goes to Little on a very quick slant. he takes the snap and maybe puts his back foot back and throws to Little, who is all of 6 yards away. throws behind him, i should say. Little caught it, yes. but, i’m asking. how do you throw behind a guy with basically no drop and he’s 6 yards away? a guy you throw dozens of passes to all week? how? i need to know.
the O line may be trouble, but there are numerous times in these games where Yates has time or creates space and couldnt hit a U-bus if it was ten feet in front of him. thats not the O-line.
you came home, you played a lesser opponent that you shouldve felt some revenge about, and you still managed to play worse than you did last week. thats hard to pull off.
there are 7 games left. my over/under on points that the offense scores is 85.
Just to cheer you guys up, the coaching was actually probably worse in last year’s UVa game. Feel better….?