Even with a 0-3 record, even with a loss to a Football Championship Subdivision opponent and even after only averaging 1.8 yards a carry in its last game, UNC coach Butch Davis still thinks Virginia is a very dangerous team.
“This is one of the things we try to do with our players is, ‘Look at them,’” he said. “‘Don’t read the newspapers. Don’t listen to talk radio. Look at them.’ And the film says this a talented, good football team.”
And though many will disagree with such an assessment — especially after the Cavaliers’ subpar start — Davis sees a physically gifted football team.
He sees UVa. quarterback Jameel Sewell.
“He’s very, very athletic,” Davis said. “He moves in the pocket well. He throws on the run well. He’s dangerous because he can extend plays.”
Last year against the Tar Heels, then-junior Sewell didn’t see any action. And at the beginning of this season, that trend didn’t seem likely to change.
But with the struggles of Marc Verica and converted quarterback Vic Hall, Sewell has started the past two weeks.
He managed just 120 passing yards and was sacked eight times in his first game against Texas Christian University — although he did throw for two touchdowns.
Still, such struggles wouldn’t last long. The following week, Sewell’s statistics exploded.
Again, he tossed two touchdowns, but this time, he combined the effort with 312 aerial yards.
“You watch the plays he made against Southern Miss, where everybody was covered, and he would tuck the ball away. He would always keep drives alive,” Davis said.
Virginia’s new offensive coordinator, Gregg Brandon, has transitioned the team’s playbook to a more spread-option offense, which looks like a much better fit for Sewell. It’s allowed Sewell to line up in the shotgun and gives him the option to run.
And as North Carolina’s defense struggled with Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt, a run-oriented quarterback who racked up 97 rushing yards last week, it would seem that UNC might be worried.
“Not so much because there are a lot of teams around the nation that run a pretty similar offense,” cornerback Kendric Burney said.
“We got to play with a little bit of a chip on our shoulders. We’re not real happy about this loss. As a veteran defense, as a lot of veterans on this team, we know exactly what we need to do to bounce back.”
The same can be said for UNC as a whole, as the Tar Heels will be looking to avenge three straight losses to the Cavaliers.
And according to North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates, that fact is not lost on the team. But either is the loss to Georgia Tech — which UNC hopes to remedy this weekend.
“A lot of guys on the team kind of have a bad taste in their mouth,” Yates said. “The expectations for ourselves and this team going into the season, we didn’t see ourselves losing so early. A lot of guys on the team are pretty angry and pretty pissed off.”
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
