CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — North Carolina made a statement in beating Virginia 37-13 Thursday.
The Tar Heels, who lost 68-50 Saturday against Georgia Tech, performed consistently on both sides of the ball to respond to their own poor performance.
“I guess we answered the question whether these guys’ll bounce back or not,” coach Larry Fedora said. “It was a total team effort tonight and they deserved every bit of it.”
But the defense, which held Virginia to 350 yards and only one touchdown, scored six points of its own and made the resounding impact on the night.
“I think our defense played exceptionally tonight,” Fedora said. “They were hurt by what happened last week, and they’ve got a lot of pride.”
Fedora said the team did not do anything special to result in the 55-point turnaround defensively, but he knew that at this point in the season, “it wasn’t going to be physical … It was going to be mental.”
UNC scored on its second drive then held UVa. to a field goal in first quarter.
“We told ourselves we were going to dominate,” Sylvester Williams said. “Three points is obviously a lot better than seven, that was the goal.
“We wanted to win the third down percentage too.”