Normally by early November, UNC students have retired their football attire in favor of argyle-trimmed basketball jerseys. That’s the way it has been for as long as most people can remember — but now the focus has shifted.
The North Carolina football team is the squad to watch as we enter the end of the semester, something that has rarely been the case this millennium. The Tar Heels are 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the ACC, putting them in position to challenge for an ACC title in December.
“Everything is a lot better when you’re 7-1, you know. The food tastes better, people are a lot nicer. Shoot, even the water I drink tastes better,” said sophomore cornerback M.J. Stewart. “So, it just feels good to win. It just feels good to bring a winning tradition back to Carolina.”
There has been a bit of a culture change on campus, something that started with the players before the season even began.
Following the Tar Heels’ 40-21 loss to Rutgers in the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, North Carolina called a team meeting to address some of the non-football issues that affected the team in 2014. By the end of the day, players and coaches filled a white board with problems that needed fixing. They then set out to correct them one by one.
UNC has no doubt benefited from the arrival of four new defensive coaches, including defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. But the change to the team’s mentality has perhaps contributed the most to the Tar Heels’ hot start.
“(There’s) just more team chemistry. More leadership. More continuity within the team,” Stewart said. “We’re just a bond of brothers — a band of brothers — and we play like that on and off the field.”
What has ensued is a case of football fever among the UNC community. While attendance numbers haven’t been stellar thus far, the presence of a successful program is something students are ecstatic about.
