Response to Losing Will Define UNC's Season

Not because it's the Tar Heels' annual rumble with rival N.C. State, but because it marks the end of the hell that will be the season's first five weeks and the start of UNC's real season.

The Tar Heels butt heads with three of the nation's top six teams in those five weeks. How they handle getting their asses handed to them every other week will define their 2001 campaign.

Spankings like the ones they will incur in overmatched travels to power-houses No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday and No. 5 Texas in two weeks are demoralizing.

They'll have long plane rides home with their tails between their legs. In college football, the first few weeks tend to set the tone for the rest of the year. UNC will have the task of bucking that trend and keeping those big losses from defining their attitude.

The Tar Heels could easily head into Raleigh at 1-4 or possibly 0-5. Realistically, the best they could hope for is 2-3.

North Carolina rides to Maryland in Week 2 to take on the perennial homecoming scheduled Terrapins. But this game wasn't a pushover last season -- a 13-10 Tar Heels' victory -- and it won't be in 2001, either.

Maryland (5-6, 3-5 in the ACC in 2000) opens its first season under new coach Ralph Friedgen in College Park against UNC. And people are actually getting excited about Maryland football.

The players will be jacked for their first game under the alumnus and former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator.

This will be the true test of UNC's new coach, John Bunting. Can he get his players' heads out of the sand so they can mentally regroup?

If the Tar Heels don't bounce back from Oklahoma, 0-3 they'll go.

Following the spurring by the Longhorns, North Carolina finally gets its home opener against Southern Methodist (3-9 in 2000). Not a gimme, either, if the team can't get out of the losing funk with No. 6 Florida State looming on the horizon.

The problem Bunting faces is keeping his team from feeling like losers after they lose. And lose they will.

When you feel like a loser, you act like a loser, even if you're not.

"I'm not sure. Hopefully it won't affect the rest of the year that much," Ronald Curry said. "The schedule, there's no slack in it. We're going to have to be ready to play every game."

The Tar Heels won't be able to afford to play like losers once they get

through Week 5.

The ACC is poised to have a break-out year and UNC's remaining non-conference matchup is with respect-hungry No. 30 East Carolina.

The schedule provides no letdown until the final two weeks at home against bottom-feeders Wake Forest and Duke. Georgia Tech's ranked 10th nationally, Clemson's 19th and N.C. State's 48th -- all road games.

There's also no semblance of a break in the schedule until the end of October. The Thursday night Atlanta date creates the season's only off-week the week before.

It's hard to keep a team motivated when it's getting its teeth kicked in week in and week out. The Tar Heels have the potential to have a nightmare of a fall.

But they also could really make a name for themselves and for the start of the Bunting era.

Only strong character and grit will get them through these 12 games with something to look back on with pride.

The record won't be the prettiest, but the obstacles overcome could make any success twice as sweet.

How the 2001 Tar Heels respond to the imminent severe humblings will define this team.