UNC football looks to turn season around against Virginia

After a heartbreaking home loss to Georgia Tech, the North Carolina football team comes off its bye week to face Virginia in Charlottesville this Saturday at 12 p.m. 

Two weeks ago, Yellow Jackets running back Jamal Haynes scored a 68-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left to beat the Tar Heels, 41-34. The loss marked UNC’s fourth straight after starting the season 3-0. But after the game, as head coach Mack Brown walked off the field, he was told former player and student assistant Tylee Craft had died from cancer.

UNC named the nutrition center across from the locker room the Tylee Craft Nutrition Center. The Tar Heels will touch a sign that says “Tylee Strong, Keep Swinging” before they take the field this weekend at Scott Stadium. A UNC receiver will wear Craft’s No. 13 jersey. The Cavaliers will wear a No. 13 decal on the back of their helmets.

“We’re dealing with mental health with players and coaches,” Brown said. “We’re dealing with life’s lessons. I feel like our program is as good as any in the country off the field, and now we’ve got to go back and start winning football games.”

North Carolina will look to snap its losing streak and win its first ACC game of the season in the South’s Oldest Rivalry, a series the Tar Heels lead, 66-58, with four ties. Virginia, however, has won five of the last seven meetings, including a 31-27 victory last year in Chapel Hill. Here are three storylines to pay attention to during Saturday's game: 

Last time out

North Carolina trailed Georgia Tech by 13 with 6:46 to go in the third quarter. The Tar Heels came back and had the ball down three with 1:46 to go in the fourth. Graduate quarterback Jacolby Criswell scrambled twice for gains of 20 and then 11 yards to help set up a game-tying 26-yard field goal for graduate kicker Noah Burnette. But then Haynes delivered the dagger.

Criswell threw for 209 yards and a score and added 81 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Junior running back Omarion Hampton ran 18 times for 137 yards — 7.6 yards per carry.

The Yellow Jackets ran for 371 yards on 48 attempts, averaging 7.7 yards per carry.

“It was a lack of communication at times,” defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said. “Whether it be a check or the base call or whatever the case may be. Making sure the consistency — and it starts with me — the consistency of the communication, the consistency of the application of the techniques to be used has to be there all the time.”

Opponent scout

The Cavaliers are 4-3 — 2-2 in the ACC. They are coming off back-to-back losses at home against Louisville and on the road at Clemson. However, Virginia has outscored its opponents 66-37 in the fourth quarter this season.

Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea has gone four straight games without an interception, throwing six touchdowns over that span. Wide receiver Malachi Fields, top-15 on UVA’s career receiving yards list, has caught 40 passes for 606 yards this season. He ranks third in the ACC in both receptions and yards per game at 5.7 and 86.6.

Safety Jonas Sanker ranks second in ACC with 5.3 solo tackles per game and has been named ACC Defensive Back of the Week twice this season.

Keys to the game

UNC defense will look to contain Fields over the top and prevent Colandrea from scrambling. The Tar Heels have struggled against mobile quarterbacks. Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King ran for 107 yards against them. Colandrea recorded 84 rushing yards two weeks ago against Louisville.

On offense, the Tar Heels will feed Hampton, who is third in the nation at 128.7 rushing yards per game.

“Once we get everything meshing well together,” graduate pass rusher Kaimon Rucker said, “I feel like we are genuinely going to turn this season around.”

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