No. 10 North Carolina football vs. Virginia: First look, betting odds, key matchup, TV
Halfway home, but still with a long way to go.
That best describes North Carolina’s football season. The Tar Heels have reached the midpoint with a 6-0 record — staying unbeaten Saturday as Southern Cal, Oregon and Louisville faltered for the first time — and now are ranked 10th in the AP poll but still remain an unfinished product.
The Tar Heels came away with a 41-31 win over Miami under the lights at Kenan Stadium, combining enough big plays offensively and defensively against a high-quality opponent for a good win. The Heels are 3-0 in the ACC and have been made three-touchdown favorites by the oddsmakers for their home game against Virginia.
Ah, the rub.
Just when you think this college football season is making some kind of sense, some team rallies from a 29-0 halftime deficit to win (Stanford over Colorado) or unleashes a last-second Hail Mary pass to win (Colorado State over Boise State). Start to strut and you can quickly slip.
The Tar Heels trailed 17-14 at halftime against Miami, and UNC coach Mack Brown was succinct in what he told his team in the locker room.
“I told the players ‘If we’re going to be good, and if we’re going to step up, this is a determining moment in our season, that you’ve got to go back out there and fight,’” Brown said after the game. “They didn’t blink and took the game over in the third quarter.”
The Heels outscored Miami 21-0 in the third quarter. The defense forced turnovers, Drake Maye threw touchdown passes to Tez Walker and UNC grabbed control.
Virginia (1-5, 0-2 ACC) will come to Chapel Hill after taking its scheduled bye week. The Cavaliers also will come into Kenan off their first win of the season, beating William & Mary 27-13 in Charlottesville, beating a team then ranked No. 9 in the FCS.
A year ago, Brennan Armstrong was the Virginia quarterback as the Heels outlasted the Cavs 31-28 on the road, Maye passing for 293 yards and Josh Downs posting 15 catches for 166 yards.
Freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea gave the Cavaliers an early season lift, playing well in a close loss to N.C. State. Tony Muskett has since returned from an injury and again taken over at QB1 as the Cavs now plan to redshirt Colandrea, who has played four games.
Muskett, a transfer from Monmouth and a Virginia native, hurt a shoulder in the season opener against Tennessee. He came back to throw for three TD’s in a 27-24 road loss to Boston College, then was 17-of-26 passing for 232 yards and two scores, and ran for a third TD in the win over William & Mary.
Brown promised there will be no letup this week in practice, that the Heels must be better at avoiding penalties – UNC had 14 for 147 yards against Miami – and in its overall execution.
“This is a week we will coach them hard because they know they didn’t play as well as we would have liked to,” he said.
UNC player to watch: Omarion Hampton
The sophomore from Clayton had 197 yards rushing against Miami and would have had more had there not been UNC penalties. Against a team that was allowing 2.2 yards a carry, Hampton averaged 8.2 on his 24 carries, bursting free for a 60-yarder.
“At the end of the day 28 was making them miss,” Maye said of Hampton, who wears No. 28. “He could have ran for more if we gave him the rock more.”
Virginia is 13th in the ACC in rushing defense at 177 yards per game. The Cavs could see a lot of “Big O,” as Maye called him.
Key matchup: Virginia D against UNC
The Cavaliers will be outmanned at many positions. Maye is handful. Hampton is a handful. Walker is a handful. And there are others who can do offensive damage against the Cavs.
If Virginia’s defensive front can’t create some push, can’t slow down Hampton and can’t get around Maye in the pocket and be disruptive, it will make for a long afternoon for a team that is last in the ACC in scoring defense (31.8 points).
Betting odds
The early Vegas lines have UNC a 23-5.-point favorite over Virginia, with an over/under set at 57.5 points.
How to watch
The UNC-Virginia game will be shown on The CW Network at 6:30 p.m. It’s available over the air and on Specturm cable. Satellite options include DirecTV and Dish Network or stream it on such services as DIRECTV Stream, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, SlingTV and YouTube TV.
North Carolina (6-0, 3-0 ACC) vs Virginia (1-5, 0-2)
When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill.
TV: The CW.
Series history: In a series that began Oct. 22, 1892 (Virginia winning 30-18), the Tar Heels have a 66-57-4 record, winning the last two games after the Cavaliers had won four in a row.
